180: The Forest Raised Me Better than My Father

Today on our show, we bring you a story by Darby Bergl, a PhD student at The Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (ECOSS) at Northern Arizona University (NAU). Her story is about resilience and survival in the face of a volatile father. Darby has a passion for ecology and the study of carbon dynamics in temperate forests, which she interjects into her story. Darby’s story was originally performed on stage at the Flagstaff Festival of Science in October 2023. This was a Collaboration with ECOSS, Northern Arizona University, and Story Collider, a podcast that airs true science stories. Darby was totally present while telling her story on stage and her delivery was spot on.  Writing Class Radio worked with Dr. Bruce Hungate and Dr. Jane Marks, ecologists and professors at NAU. They have been taking classes with us for about three years. Last year, they were like, Hey, we gotta get our students to personalize their science stories and then they hired us to work with their students online and in person and all of it culminated in a show, which got a standing ovation. Jane and Bruce know that connecting on a personal level will help scientists convey their messages to a broader public and hopefully save the world.  Darby Bergl is a PhD student at NAU in the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society at Northern Arizona University. Darby’s research focuses on the interactions between climate and soil biogeochemistry in terrestrial ecosystems. She is interested in utilizing radiocarbon techniques and modeling approaches to comprehend how C cycling, turnover, and storage will change over time and how this relates to the global C cycle. She plans to use the findings to participate in discussions about the carbon budget in northern hardwood forests with stakeholders, policy advisers, and community members. Writing Class Radio is hosted by Allison Langer and Andrea Askowitz. Audio production by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski, Chloe Emond-Lane, and Aiden Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler. There’s more writing class on our website including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats, and live online classes. Join our writing community by following us on Patreon.  A Transcription of this episode can be found here. If you want to write with us every week, you can join our First Draft weekly writers groups. You have the option to join Allison on Tuesdays 12-1 ET and/or Mondays with Eduardo Winck 8-9 pm ET. You’ll write to a prompt and share what you wrote. If you’re a business owner, community activist, group that needs healing, entrepreneur, or scientist and you want to help your team write better, check out all the classes we offer on our website, writingclassradio.com. Join the community that comes together for instruction, an excuse to write, and the support from other writers. To learn more, go to www.Patreon.com/writingclassradio. Or sign up HERE for First Draft for a FREE Zoom link. A new episode will drop every other WEDNESDAY.  There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other, than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What’s yours? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.