October Scientiae Carnival: The Road Not Taken

I was in the 7th grade the first time I read Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken. Whether one believes the poem is a statement of individualism or a gentle ribbing of an indecisive walking partner of Frost's, there is something so simple and yet profound in that little twenty line poem that it instantly became one of my favorites. Whatever stage of life I found myself in or whatever drama was consuming me at a point in time, this poem has always spoken to me. Life is, after all, about choices. Some we make quickly and others we make only after much hand wringing. Some paths we choose willingly and other paths are thrust upon us. Taken individually or all together, our paths are unique and often complicated pictures of who we are as people.

This month's Carnival has contributions from bloggers who just begun their journeys while others have made the hard choices and are happy with their chosen paths. Still other bloggers are struggling with impending choices that could alter their paths forever.

Hielochica at Postcards from an Intellectual Odyssey, in her first ever Scientiae Carnival contribution (APPLAUSE!), writes of having to choose, at least for the time being, between her love of wilderness education/classroom teaching and her love of actually performing science. Hielochica, the wilderness based science school on an ocean overlook in Maine sounds fabulous. Sign me up!

Karina, in her Ruminations of an Aspiring Ecologist, speaks of taking the road less traveled to Africa to do her research and the difficulty of working in an area where she is a stranger to the language and the culture. Karina, remember to take lots of pictures (Africa is amazingly beautiful) and your quinine tablets!

Ready for your monthly dose of goosebumps, y'all? Candid Engineer must be psychic as she wrote this month's contribution, entitled The Road Not Given or Taken, in April. (Great minds and all Candid Engineer... ;-)) In her post, she describes her search for a postdoctoral position and how things sometimes do really work out for the best. Validation is a boo-tiful thing! (OK, it is October. I am entitled to one really bad pun in my own Carnival, right?).

Janus Professor writes about her tough two body problem of struggling to balance two flourishing academic careers and the needs of their family. With looming potential changes in the works, JP is dealing with the stress of trying to decide on a path that may or may not materialize in front of her. Often it is the waiting and uncertainty that is the worst part of the decision making process.

Over at Raising Scientists, Tina, in her first ever Carnival post (again, APPLAUSE!), describes how she is currently faced with two possible paths. The first is the path she started on long ago involving cancer research. The second is a path that she only just recently allowed herself to consider: teaching at a PUI (primarily undergraduate institution) where the focus is teaching, not research. She reminds us as she moves forward, with those trailing, nagging thoughts of "what if", to remember "to explore all of the possibilities."

The interesting challenges that arise as we go along our paths were discussed by Kate at Academic Ecology. She points out aptly that a path without obstacles probably does not teach us much but that we can also create obstacles for ourselves that having no learning value. She discusses some of her own mistakes and yet somehow, she has ended up exactly where she wanted to be.

Patchi (My Middle Years) describes her "small collection of forks" that led to her present path. Interestingly, she pointed out how daily decisions that tend to go unnoticed can have as large of an impact on our paths as the big decisions. With her 80% rule, she has followed her heart with no regrets.

On a career path I once considered myself, Mrs. Comet Hunter at Apple Pie and the Universe takes her past career decisions in stride even though she admits they probably were not the best for her. She has learned from those decisions and now stands at a crossroads: she does not want to continue in research, but what is next? Whatever lies ahead for her, she is facing it with no regrets.

At the Fairer Science weblog, Pat muses on her path to become an alter boy and the women, both living and dead, who bushwacked through the thick underbrush thereby making our paths a little easier in the process.

And last but certainly not least, PodBlack Cat speaks of not choosing a certain path, regarding alcohol, as a woman and other people's reactions to that decision. She describes the frustration induced by some of the comments she has received over the years for what is a personal decision. Through it all, she has stuck to her guns and has no trouble speaking up for herself when the situation calls for it. Atta girl!

At the conclusion of the October 2009 Scientiae Carnival, I would just like to thank skookumchick for the opportunity to host---I had a blast. To those who contributed posts, bunches of thanks. It was fascinating having a window into your lives.