Prologue: Science as Story --

I. First Experiments. What If? Coming of Age as a Scientist -- Saying Yes to the Mountain -- Whatever Discomfort, Find Beauty -- Research as a Muse --

II. Ecotones. How to Pee Standing Up : Rules for a Woman in Climate Science -- Dear Spartina : A Science Love Letter -- From Scientist to Animal -- An Interview with the FBI --

III. On the Hill. View from the Lactation Room At the White House -- The Secret Mice of the Smithsonian -- Thank You for Lobbying Our Office -- Congressional Lactation Diary --

IV. Water Czar. Water Is the Medium -- Storming the Stage -- Strangers Form Constellations : That Make Sense of the World -- The Irrational Logic of Our Bodies : on the Landscape --

V. Frontierior. Not Funny : Reckoning with Complicated Truths -- Fuck Carpe Diem -- Packing for an Overnight : at the State Capitol -- Where the Night Stars Are Orchids --

Epilogue: The Blank Canvas.