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This situated space. A mixed use area where asphalt falls into clear blue water. Possibilities. Of pleasure. Of danger. Both. At the same time. Nostalgic feelings of warm summer nights as teenagers away from watchful eyes. Drinking,experimenting, being together. Why do these places still feel a little thrilling? Even to middle aged academics. On an innocuous Sunday morning. Each with our own sets of bruises and scars. Contemplating our big little lives among the vast minutiae on some forgotten little corner of Lake Michigan. As we collect detritus — our own little archeological experiment — it is interesting to note what catches each of our eyes. Our own layered interests being reflected by what we are attracted to. The questions we ask reflect who we are. The things we notice reflect our own value systems. And we laugh. We make jokes between the big questions. We move together — we realign our energy. We try to ground ourselves. I still giggle. We are missing a member. We wonder what her contributions would be. One of us swims. Later we talk about big transitional changes in our lives. Changing partnerships. Changing roles. With reflection later — considering the absence — another imposition by a virus that is hellbent on creating absence — I am weighing the differences between an interpersonal interaction like this one and the inadequate ways we have become accustomed to “being together.” The animal kingdom is run on an invisible system of chemical release and reaction. Pheromones. So much behavior is predicated on this non-verbal communication. A female silk moth attracts her mate with the pheromone, bombykol. Her antennae emit it — his receive it. These chemical signals expand far past sexual attraction. Neonatal rabbits respond to the pheromones of their mother to produce suckling behavior. An ant colony’s entire collective behavior is orchestrated through this hidden form of conversation. They signal defensive strikes, mark trails, and alert to food source. Without this connection — an ant, in effect, loses its colony. Similarly, honey bees rely on pheromones in every aspect of their cooperative lives. Foraging. Defense. Orienting themselves — all with the same chemical blueprint. Could it be out of the realm of possibility that humans are reliant on concealed modes of transmission as well? Despite ads marketing pheromones as some sort of personalized sexual language — a wild oversimplification of how this chemical system operates — clear evidence hasn’t surfaced yet. Our vastly varied reactions to stimuli make human responses difficult to study in comparison to other animals. Is this what is missing in our isolated worlds? Unspoken chemical bonds — imperceptible to our conscious. Felt, but not understood.