NonCompliant Cyborg

Hi, I'm JA, a disabled queer cyborg, marine scientist, embroiderer, photographer, poet, and otherwise curious/creative person.

Tumblr was one of my internet homes years ago, but I haven't been an active poster in years here and decided to start over. The layout is definitely worse here now and idk how folks connect here these days, but if you somehow find me, please tell me.

Some Intro Info/Questions I'm Hoping Someone Might Want Answers To:

What game do you associate most strongly with a specific time in your life?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

Hi fisch,

As far as I know I first saw and learned about ctenophores in Spring of 2016. I had a graduated student who was mentoring me who had been part of research that compiled the first Pleurobrachia bachei genome. He loved them so much and would turn bright red anytime anyone called them jellyfish and would have to work so hard to to get past his own wall of enthusiasm for them and deep desire for them to be accurately appreciated to explain what they actually were and why it was actually really cool they weren't jellyfish and how they were very likely the earliest branch of animal. Sometimes, I'd joking call ctenophores jam fish or I'd call jellyfish false ctenophores to rib him.

I spent a lot of time that Spring with him out on docks at all hours looking for ctenophores and learning the names and life histories of anything we could spot together. Ctenophores were always my favorite to watch. He told me all about an embryology and larval development graduate level course he'd taken he thought I'd love and I vowed I had to take it some day.

I came back to the field station ocassionally and we'd meet up and look for ctenos and play boardgames. In 2018 I managed to make it back for another term of college out there. He had less capacity but we still met up when we could. He died later that year, far too young. He left me with his love of ctenos and life histories and evo devo and an incredibly frustrating level of pedantic enthusiasm always duking it out with an equal desire to educate empathetically.

Later, I worked on developing preservation and staining methods for CT scanning ctenophores to create 3D models of them. A local ctenophore expert also connected me with some researchers that had been begging her to send samples for years and I ended up providing collections for a few different labs a few times. Eventually, I got to take the embryology and larval development course my mentor had always wanted me to. Then after that I ended up doing some contract work that including 3D modeling of ctenophores, among other animals, which lead me to do some independent research developing low cost imaging tools for transparent animals (including ctenos). I still want to finish up the latter, but ironically some of the equipment I need to order is not low cost enough for me to afford currently.

In 2022 or 2023, I also decided it was time to start seeing more ctenos and take it into my own hands to make that happen. I bought a fishing light to go out observing on my own and in late 2023 I joined iNaturalist. Starting in 2024 I made it a goal to be out by the water looking for critters at least half the calendar days a year. It didn't take long before I ended up the top global observer of ctenos on iNat. I'd be absolutely delighted to live in a world where I was dethroned though - we need more cteno observers and appreciators. It's a little ridiculous the percentage of the observations that are mine... especially for certain species and for my region.