WAIT, THOSE AREN'T THE LYRICS, BUT I LIKE IT BETTER THAT WAY: WORDSMITHING AS A FUN AND EFFECTIVE WAY TO COMMUNICATE, EDUCATE, AND ENTERTAIN

As an undergraduate fine art and geoscience student, I developed an understanding that creativity lies at the foundation of scientific thought and problem solving. This approach guided my inspiration when Jen Pierce first introduced me to the union between geoscience and song at Boise State University. Her invitation to Friends of the Pleistocene field trips ignited my love of music, campfires, geology, and song parodies (As a boy, I was a fan of Weird Al Yankovic and still today commonly make up silly songs during fieldwork and daily tasks). Upon realizing my interest in geomorphology during Jen’s Surficial Processes course, I wrote the lyrics to Colluvial Hollow, which was inspired by the Grateful Dead song, “Dark Hollow”.

I’d rather be in some colluvial hollow

Where the risk of slope failure is high

Where saturation overflow, is bound to make it go

It’s just a matter of geologic time

(Chorus)

When it goes, it sounds like a freight train

Ripp’in out everything in its path

It may not go today, but when it does, it will lay

A diamicton upon a strath

When the trees have all been burned by wildfire

And the rain starts pouring down

Reduced cohesion is sure, along with positive pore pressure

To reduce normal force, and cause a slide

(Chorus)

I’d rather be riding a debris flow

Or surfing a big ‘ol sheet flood

Then to be where the slope is low

Too much normal force to let it go

No mass movements to move my mind

Jen continued to play this song for her class and I continued to be inspired throughout graduate school. During my opportunity to TA geomorphology, and through experiences connecting with geology students in Vietnam, I realized that music was an effective and fun way to communicate science, even to adults! As I prepare for an academic career, I continue to integrate my research in geomorphology, hydrology, and ecology into songs like this one inspired by the Woody Guthrie classic “Roll On Columbia”

Roll on Salmon River Roll on

Roll on Salmon River Roll on

Your annual peaks, help our Sockeye to spawn

Roll on Salmon River Roll on

In addition to these processes-based songs about concepts in geosciences, this set at GSA will include fun songs about comradery and fieldwork including Central Rocky Mountains, set to the tune of “Big Rock Candy Mountain.”