I conducted this project as part of Professor Pringle’s EEB321 class at Princeton University by bracing for the 41 degrees Fahrenheit weather and going behind the Frick Chemistry building to explore the forest. While seeing many different green plants still fighting against the winter weather, was a stark contrast to the large amount of yellow and dry leaves that are seen around the campus. I was always curious why it is that some parts of the world have seasons while others do not where you can observe distinct characteristics of nature changing. Growing up in San Diego, the nature around us usually stays green. However, coming to Princeton there are distinct seasons where leaves begin to get color, brown, and dry up.

While walking around, I found an especially dry beautiful yet dry tree. Beautiful because there is beauty in the change that happens as it is as if a lifecycle of the leaf has come to an end. Within stoicism, I always learned that reflection upon death and the passing of time is a worthwhile pursuit so that was why the dry leaf captured my attention.

After assembling the foldcope and then finding a sample, it was a cool experience to observe the detail of the dry leaf. Especially because it was rather hard work to put the foldscope together and that made the experience even more rewarding. Looking through the lens and a special light, I got to see the details that were not possible to see with a bare eye. From the outside it looks like a plain, dry textured exterior, however, under the closer inspection you can see the leaf veins that once would supply the tree with life through its network of complex photosynthesis processes.

This leaf like many others that are fallen to the ground are a testament that seasons in Princeton are changing. The dry nature of the leafs are a sign that summer's greenery is long behind, fall has ended and its colored leaves are turning to their dry form meaning soon even they will be gone under the snow. All together, it is the cycle of the passing of time in which I find immense fascination, beauty and intrigue.