on jasmine green tea and honey, ready to hike into a dense, rural Rhode Island forest as an ecological survey observer, my bright red rain boots patterned with paisley umbrellas marking me immediately as a bit of a straggler given to distraction. It’s five a.m. on a Saturday, slightly misty with the dank promise of a humid June day. I try in vain to keep up with a team of enthusiastic ecologists and breathless birders with impressive gear but promptly find myself alone in the woods. The properly attired naturalists have dispersed around a bend
