When I imagine my inner child, I think of a picture of me that I keep on my coffee table.
I’m 5, maybe 6 years old. Osh Kosh B’Gosh overalls. Bangs. Holding a plastic fishing pole with a magnet hanging at the end of a string. I’m standing in front of a shallow, blue, also-plastic pool, catching magnetic paper fish.
I am SO GOOD at this. You can tell by my smile.
Now, imagine a totally different little girl, standing on a Hawaiian shore at night. She’s gazing up at the universe.
Then, imagine her lowering her gaze into the water… Until she quite literally couldn’t look any deeper.
Flash forward a few decades, and Dr. Dawn Wright (AKA “Deepsea Dawn”) has become the Chief Scientist of the Environmental Systems Research Institute, and the first and only Black person ever to visit the lowest known point on Earth. They call this remote location “Challenger Deep”.
It was very easy to say YES! when the opportunity came for me to ask her what it felt like at the bottom of the world.
We use Google Docs to prepare for a show. When our production team agrees on a show idea, we will announce with an enthusiastic, “START THE DOC!”
Usually, the first thing we do is Jackson-Pollock it. All of your questions, just throw ’em in the doc. Don’t worry about what the first or last one should be. If it seems trivial or tangential… we’ll sort that out later. Splatter-paint the doc with your questions. Jackson-Pollock it.
But this doc operated differently.
Our intern, Lateshia Peters, pitched this show. When she was a little girl, I imagine that she had her toys lined up and lovingly labeled with their names, personal histories, and purchase dates.
Because Lateshia had researched everything about Dr. Write: Accomplishments, degrees, personal background. Context, context, context.
The list of questions was pages long. Spanning from growing up in Hawaii, to The Dive, to what the future has in store for such an adventurous spirit.
By the time I finished reading the doc, I felt like I had a pHd in Deepsea Dawn.
Then, it came time to connect for our interview.
Here’s something most people don’t know: I have a regular practice of testing my psychic abilities.
Every time I’m about to connect with a guest on Zoom, I press “record” and say out loud whatever color I predict is prominent in their room or in their piece of clothing.
According to my spreadsheet, I am often wrong. Which means my psychic abilities must have strengths in other areas!
But any guess would have been correct when I connected with Dr. Wright. Behind her were colorful rainbow Christmas lights, assorted LEGO sets, and posters!
And as soon as she said hello, I heard the little girl in her. The one standing on the shore looking up… Then looking down into the sea. I could hear the enthusiastic, curious, funny person she has probably always been.
When she talked about getting in the submersible and sinking down into the ocean, I heard that little girl.
And when she talked about the beer bottle they found at the bottom? Even in her shock, I could hear the passion of that younger version of Dawn, still so very much present.
But I could really hear her inner child when I asked her about her best friend: Her mom.
Jeanne Wright died just seven months before Dawn went to the bottom of the world and set a record. The smile–and sadness–in her voice when she talks about Jeanne, that feels familiar too. The way we all hold grief so tenderly.
On a playing card made by artist Clyde Beech for a program called SuperScientists, Dawn is drawn like the superhero she is. Information borders the card: Her title, her heroes, her accomplishments.
At the bottom is her top tip: “Practice kindness and build a discipline of speaking up–ask questions, bring issues to your local leaders, speak out on matters that you care about!”
As we were saying goodbye, I realized: Our two inner children just spent the hour playing together! Me, the shallow-sea fish-shaped magnet angler with supercool overalls, and her the seaside scientist who actually made it all the way down to the deepest known part of our world.
It made me wonder, what else does my inner child want to do?
What about yours?
Wanna play?
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