In a world of repetitive home office clean-ups, Freya is teetering on the brink of mental breakdown. Whereas al of our brilliant suggestions, such as cooking, befriending your neighbours, brush up on your programming skills, consider a career outside academia, acquiring new hobbies or wasting your time watching silly movies, have not posed good enough of an answer to alleviate the worries floating around that anxious yet ambitious mind, she pleads in search of a new honorable occupation:
I want to do science outreach, but I don’t know where to start. Can you help?
Dear Freya,
Of course I can. First of all, you’re reading this blog post, right? I’ll let you take a moment to grasp the implication of this here question. … …. You got it? … … No? … Really? … Well, let me spell it out for you then; this GD section within that broadly extensive realm of EGU blogs is plastered with email hyperlinks which you should make use of and present yourself as our next Ocean Vuong. But with some geodynamics-flavoured sprinkles atop the cupcake of literary extravaganza displayed in our little pâtisserie des sciences de la Terre. Although we are well-stocked as of now purveying a mouth watering ensemble of scholarly tidbits, there is always place for a chic Millefeuille {“Vraiment ravissante”}, a luxurious Mattentaart {“Amai, een kloeke deugddoener”} or, of course, a scrumptious Waffle {“Ge zijt in ‘t zak gezet als ge niet de Bruxelles én de Liégeoise kiest”}. My thought bubbles just popped in there {“Whoopsie”}. With those delicacies ready for you to deliver to us. From your own perspective and as unparalleled handy-work, no doubt.
If you’re not quite there yet, that is to immerse yourself in our little corner of the science outreach world, you can build one of your own choosing. Consider a vlog where you present outstanding issues in geodynamics including social-economic red flags for futures prospects in a cosy home office environment. I happen to know your first guest; did you choose already? Or you could destroy the internet with a flurry of TikTok videos to demonstrate your skills with the Subduction Shuffle, the Polar Wander Waltz and, of course, the Faulted Floss. I’m confident that will get the kids interested in Earth sciences. Lastly, in case online stuff isn’t really your thing, you could always go old school and get yourself some in-person time. At elementary or high schools, if they’re open during these times, as you can’t get to them early enough. When you can convince us that your research is interesting, surely you can convince some underage, thumb-cracking, short-spanned social media aficionados with your PowerPoint? No? I would then try it with the pièce de résistance of your baking breath: a Croquembouche edifice, atop a double Chocolate layer filled with zartschmelzende mélange and some écrit sucré. {“Dju, dees is goe!”}
Yours truly,
The Sassy Scientist
PS: This post was written knowing a good exercise regime wouldn’t come amiss.
