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on the fateful day of may 18th, dr ken miller (author of the biology 11 textbook, along with his faithful friend dr. joseph levine) sent august griffin and myself an email.
of course, we initiated this sending because we sent him one first, but the point is that he responded.
We asked dr. miller about his horse allegra, who is featured in the textbook when they talk about genetics and hereditary traits.
"About two years ago, we traded her for another horse with a farm in Minnesota. Allie has a foal of her own and is now happily living in Minnesota. We now have a new baby on the
farm, a colt called Remy. Remy was born in August of last year."
We also were wondering if he had a favourite parasitic platyhelminthes or nematode, and he was quite shocked to hear a question as precise as that:
"Ha! A favorite parasite?? Not really. Although for sheer opportunism and gross-out value, it's hard to beat the human tapeworm, Taenia saginata."
he then wished us success in the future and was happy to hear that we were so enthusiastic when it came to the biological world.
this email sent our spirits flying high, and encouraged us to try to contact the man of our dreams: dr. joseph levine.
so what next?
we had to wait. we had to wait days and days, recieving emails from the postmaster, telling us that the delivery of our emails had been delayed, or even failed.
but we are troopers. we stuck through it. we sent emails and emails to the love of our life. AND IT PAID OF, DAMNIT.
the date was may 25th, 2005. it was a regular old day, a day of school, the student council, a trip to the dentist, and then once home, a checking of the email.
but something was different.
THERE WAS AN EMAIL FROM A SPECIAL SOMEONE. and you guessed it, that special someone was mr. biology himself.
there was screaming. there was phoning. there was more screaming. there was a formal reading of the email over the phone. there was a forwarding of the email, and there was a printing of the email.
and this is what it said:
[please take note that we had asked dr. levine some questions in our email to him. in his reply, he takes time out of his incredibly busy schedule to answer them.]
Hi!
Please accept my apologies for not responding sooner. Things have been seriously busy around here between work and family and such, and I did want to answer you with more than a "yes, I'm here" answer. Enthusiasm for science these days is something to be treasured and encouraged.
1. Are you extremely fond of all the plants and animals you have ever met?
No, not every single one of them. And my "(expletive deleted) list" tends to evolve over time. During cool wet weather like we've been having, slugs often crawl to the top of the list, while in winter, mealybugs and scale insects top the charts.
2. Did you once win a goldfish at the county fair with a lucky toss of a coin?
Yes ... if I remember correctly (it was probably twice your lifetimes ago now), it was one of those "toss a coin into a bowl and win the fish inside" kinda booths.
3. Did you name this said goldfish "Oscar?"
Indeed I did.
4. Did you receive a PhD from the fish department at Harvard University?
Yep. The founder of that department (Henry Bryant Bigelow) figured that no one in the general public would know what "Ichthyology" meant, so he started the tradition of informally calling it the fish department.
5. Did you ever really like hydras?
As a matter of fact, I still do.
6. How often do you spend time with your plants?
Well, this is either the best or worst time of year to ask that question, depending on the answer you want. Right now, I spend enough time digging, planting, and repotting that I can NEVER quite get all the dirt out from under my fingernails. (I rarely wear gloves, because I usually need to feel the texture of the soil I'm working with.)
7. Did you write the Biology textbook, published by Prentice Hall, with the help of your good friend Dr. Ken Miller, and his horse Allegra?
Well, sort of. Allegra really didn't help much with the writing or editorial process.
So ... assuming that my answers indicate that I am, in fact, the guy you've been looking for!
