From the Neighborhood to the Lab

I hope in the upcoming posts to catalog what my life has been like during the transition from the life in the neighborhood to the life at Fermilab. More than anything I don't want to say that one was better than the other...they are both great times in my life and I think in seeing how these two communities work and influence the world around them I have a blueprint for building a better life.

So in the neighborhood there were twenty or so central people who lived and gave to one another. A perfect example of this was an art show that was put on primarily by three girls (Mary Ellen, Carie, and Claire) but became the pet project of everyone in the Neighborhood. This show was called "Barefoot Art Guild" and was held about once every two months. What was truly amazing about this show is that what started as a small gathering of friends to share the art they created quickly grew to a show that spanned a city block, had live musicians come in from many different cities, would last 8 hours, and never charged a dime (except for food...which was still primarily given away)

In this example of my community I found the meaning of selfless enjoyment. Putting together, organizing, and breaking down these art shows took many hours and often a lot of resources. But the neighborhood always banded together, giving time, money and equipment to make sure that a good time could be had by complete strangers. All this was done without expectation and with very little drama. It was at one of the last Barefoot Art Guilds that it struck me why the Neighborhood functioned so well. Simply put, we were all interested in having a good time, and what was the unsaid truth is that we had a better time together than apart. So, by giving of what little we had to a common cause that would gather friends we could have a better time.

Seems simple enough. Give to your friends for the sake of fun. Don't be selfish with your resources and try to benefit those around you. The concept of the Neighborhood was all these things...but it was also more than that. It was a desire to be larger then our parts. We were becoming a force in College Station because there were many of us all contributing, watching out for one another and working for a greater good. Barefoot Art was just one of the many facets that the Neighborhood gave and in the future I will write more as to exactly what it was and maybe produce a timeline.

But more to the point I realized how this idea has leaked into my professional life here at Fermilab, and it is a good thing. I work with an amazing adviser (Prof. Dave Toback) and two other graduate students (Eunsin Lee and Adam Aurisano) on Supersymmetry searches at CDF. We do our work for the most part without a post-doc, and without our adviser being on site. Moreover, we all have wives or girlfriends, and Eunsin and Dave have kids. We have outside interests and responsibilities, however we are leading the way in photon searches and I see our institution as a leader on CDF.

 How is this possible? Simply, we give to one another, we support each others research, we give to each others lives. I wouldn't say that we are necessarily best of friends, but most of us in the Neighborhood weren't that way either. Instead we see that we are better when we give to each other and build something bigger than the individual. We support each other without ego or selfishness, and very little drama.

This idea, how did the Neighborhood change my life and how do I apply this to the world I am stepping into. Be it in particle physics, rock climbing, social life, moving...or whatever is part of the subject of this blog. The connection between Fermilab and the Neighborhood I hope can be teased out even further in future posts.