It probably doesn’t need to be said that it’s been another challenging week in terms of concentrating on work (especially when work & politics overlap in the current US federal government targeting of science, DEI, etc. – I was really disheartened by ASM & HHMI this week, among others). I’ve been doing some reading, but only a little in my “study leave” books .

I read a paper yesterday – very cool to see a discussion of Diego Rivera’s microbiology (and public health) art in murals he created! I plan to bring this into Intro Micro next time I teach it. Not sure exactly where it will fit into my course, but given the proximity of the University of Windsor to the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum (DIA) (home of the Rivera Detroit Industry murals), I imagine a number of our students have visited it. (I go to the DIA pretty often, myself, and always visit the Rivera Court to see the murals, which appear to be a popular attraction for visitors of all ages.)

I’d love to do more connecting science with art. I’ve seen so many examples of powerful, engaging, and memorable science art, and so many of my students are incredibly creative and talented in this area (e.g., Dominika Boron, the artist/scientist who created some of the images on this site and that I use in my classes). This is an area where I also want to learn more, and I feel like I need to learn more. This is something I didn’t include in my study leave plans, but maybe it’s something that could help with building motivation and finding meaning in my work.

With that in mind, I pulled out a book from my “to be read” pile, one that I picked up on a vacation a while ago, an impulse buy.  I finally feel like I might be ready to take it on (or at least, begin). I appreciate fungi and art, and hopefully that will be enough to learn from this book!

References:

Cabello, F. C., & Godfrey, H. P. (2024). Microbiology, Public Health, and the Murals of Diego Rivera. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 78(6), 1662-1668. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciad715

Ostendorf-Rodríguez, Y. (2023). Let’s become fungal!: mycelium teachings and the arts: based on conversations with indigenous wisdom keepers, artists, curators, feminists, and mycologists. Valiz, NL. [Bookshop.org | Indigo-Chapters]