Hello! My name is Alan. Ever since I was a very small boy I have always adored the way the wind rustled the grass, how the birds sang atop their conifers, the fresh fallen Sierra snows crunching beneath my feet, the fresh mountain air… nothing compares. When I dreamed as a kid I dreamed I could someday work outdoors and not be stuck in an office all day. I also loved history thanks to my dad who is a history professor so I guess you could say I inherited my love of history and nature from him taking me on hikes through the wilderness and telling me about the past. When someday I become a father I hope to be at least half as much of a good one as he was.
When it came to choosing a vocation I chose archaeology. For me, it offered a perfect mix of blue collar and white collar work, although I have a preference for the grunt work out in the field. So to further my career goals I did an archaeological field school near the Four Corners in Colorado. It was one the highlights of my life as I was learning about the trials and tribulations of the local native tribes, and how archaeologists changed from a bunch of looters into people who helped their communities. I was working for the Pueblo Tribe, and working for this community really made me proud to call myself an archaeologist!
Back around Christmas time, I was looking for an internship to apply for. I wanted to find a job where I could not only be a help to my local community but also do a job that would be professionally fulfilling. I got an internship with SSI in January 2025. Sierra Streams Institute (SSI) met all my expectations and exceeded them. These past couple of months have gone by in a flash, as the proverb says “time goes by fast when you are having fun”. What I do for my part in SSI is primarily look at bugs under a microscope. Every sample is something new, a different experience every time, it really feels like a treasure hunt and it never gets old, at least to me. It is always a fun surprise to find a Coleoptera (beetles) in my sample, they are always so interesting to look at and study. Ephemeroptera (mayflies) kind of creep me out a little whenever I see one in my sample. For want of a better word, they look mean!
When I first took this job, I didn’t really expect to learn much. On this front I was gladly proven wrong. I have certainly received an education, which I will use for my future academic prospects. For one I would say that working here definitely helped me in working in a team environment, it definitely helps that the people here are some of the kindest I ever met. Another thing I can point out is that I am basically a master at using a microscope at this point and I will for sure be using one a lot more in my archaeological career. I will never forget SSI and my wonderful time here.
Now personally I am a pretty boring guy, I have to admit. I like to read a lot of books about obscure figures in history. To be honest I like any history book I can get my hands on. I also love sci-fi and fantasy books. For example ‘SandKings’ is one of my favorite books about a guy who used warring ‘insects’ for entertainment. When I look at the bugs under the microscope I am always reminded about SandKings and imagine how all the bugs I’m seeing were involved in some sort of war and somehow ended up underneath my microscope. I also like to write, usually about the stuff I like to read. Writing about people who are not well known or cared about in history is what I like to do most, because I think everyone should have the right to be remembered. “Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name.” Ernest Hemingway.
Finally, I wanted to share a story from my time as an archeologist. Near the same area of the Four Corners while traveling through the desert my team and I needed to assess a nearby site for any possible damage or vandalism since the last time it was checked was around 20 years ago. When we arrived at the trailhead, we were a little confused on where to go! The only thing demarcating the trail were just stacks of rocks. Luckily we brought a GPS for scenarios just like this one. When we got to the site thanks to the marvels of modern technology, nothing seemed to have changed within the 20 years that had passed, even down to the pottery shard and the structures looked as though the people built it yesterday. You could almost say it was frozen in time, but it was much too hot to say that. When we finished up all our clerical work which took up the better part of the day, we started our trek back to the car, and to our absolute horror…. The GPS was dead. For whatever reason maybe someone left it on, but figuring out how the GPS was dead was not the pressing matter, the pressing matter was how to find out where the car was. We knew generally the cardinal direction we came from so we walked that way first, futilely following those piled rocks but trying to find them was almost impossible because they were almost all knocked over, so it was hard to tell what was once a waypoint, or if it was just a pile of random rocks. We soon gave up on that idea. We were low on water and had to ration it, but just in case we filled some of our empty bottles with unclean river water. Now just walking downstream from a small rivulet for what seemed like hours it was starting to get dark, we did not know if we had to sleep out here in the desert where it got to 30 degrees at night. When we were at our lowest, most dire of points, we saw a light in the darkness a few miles away, but we had to cut through some brush and clamber down some cliffs which was not easy at night. We got to a house, we had to wake up some unfortunate sleepy farmer and use his phone to get a ride back to the car. At least I can think of one positive thing from this experience, and that is I get to tell this story every once in a while.
All photos are credited to Alan Bradley.