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Hi --I'm Carol Tuckerman, a McBride student at Bryn Mawr College, majoring in English. I grew up in upstate New York, and my home is currently in Oregon.

In Oregon, as throughout the West, there are a number of environmental issues and habitat concerns that seem to be affecting various bird and fish populations.  I've also seen this firsthand on the Hawaiian Islands, where I've participated in several habitat restoration projects with Wilderness Volunteers. Many native Hawaiian bird and plant populations (which exist in symbiosis) are quite fragile, due to the arrival of newcomers, such as the mosquito, which is considered an "invasive species".

Globalization, and the spread of commerce, whether by cargo ship or plane, seems to be influencing species change. It occurs to me that literature expresses this trend towards globalization as well, as human populations are more fluid (thanks to air travel), and ideas are quickly circulated over the internet.  

I am looking forward to learning more about biology and Darwin's theory of evolution, and how it may relate to other realms, such as literature. 

A few questions: 

What are some parallels between how a work of art or literature evolves and how a species evolves? 

Is the concept of evolution inevitable in biological, environmental and literary contexts, if we consider that adaptation is likely necessary for "success"? 

What is the measure of "success" in biological and evolutionary terms? How might it be different (or similar) from how we consider "success" when evaluating literature?