M.J.: Is there somewhere you haven’t been that you’d love to visit?
Jessica: Oh, so very many. I love immersing myself in a place, surrounded
by all that makes it what it is: the people, culture, natural habitat, wildlife —
everything. I’d love to go to Wadi Rum, South Africa, Antarctica, the Arctic
again, the Himalayas, India, Japan, China, Patagonia, the Amazon, the Nile —
everywhere!
M.J.: If you could step into a painting and spend a day there, which would
you choose?
Jessica: Today, when it’s overcast with the remnants of our heavy snows, I’d
choose one of Albert Bierstadt’s paintings of the Rockies or Sierras so I could
enjoy some sun, a long hard hike, and quiet solitude.
M.J.: Do you need quiet solitude to work?
Jessica: I definitely do best with that. The reality of daily life is that quiet is
sometimes in short supply. I try to have it as my work environment.
When I’m in the parks, there’s nothing like a 10-mile hike to some secluded
area where it’s just you with all the thoughts and feelings you experience in a
place like that. But sometimes being able to enjoy that level of solitude requires
a significant adjustment. Slowing down from the usually brisk pace of life can be challenging. For example, early in my last residency I
set out on a twelve-mile day hike that I had been looking forward to for a long time. I’d been going, and going, and going, wondering if I
was maybe getting close. Then I came to the first trail marker: one-half mile. “Seriously? Ugh,” I thought. “Well, time to come up with
a coping mechanism to keep me going.” I decided to see how accurate my phone’s step counter is and devised a means to keep track of
counting into the thousands as a way to keep my mind off feeling overwhelmed. I had to do this for most of the hike in, but on the way out
I was in my usual groove.