My name is Zoe Cormier and I am a freelance writer from Toronto, Canada. I specialize in stories relating to biology, the environment, and health.
But that’s not what I really wanted to be. I wanted to be David Attenborough. I wanted to make wildlife documentaries. I didn’t want to write depressing articles about how we’ve ruined the planet. I wanted to inspire people by showing them how amazing life on earth is.
Politics, history, and the arts are all staples for a well-tuned mind. But too often politics can be cynical, history depressing, and the arts pretentious. But biology? I can’t get jaded about it. Living things are endlessly fascinating. Complex beyond our imagination. Brilliantly inventive and creative. Infinitely varied and changing.
Which was the original idea for this blog – to document all that is beautiful, inspiring, weird and baffling about living things. To remind us that biology isn’t just about test tubes, statistics and bunnies in mascara. It’s supposed to be about what it really means to be alive.
But it’s hard to revel in the absolute coolness of life when we’ve trashed the planet so bad. The web of life is slowly unravelling. And it’s only going to get worse.
There’s no point in this day and age writing about how amazing life on earth is without remembering that it’s in serious, serious trouble – and we need to act now if we want a future that’s worth living.
So I’m going to balance the good things, like photos of new species in the deep ocean, cool theories about how the brain works, and sickeningly cute wildlife photos (forgive me, I may have a serious science education, but I’m also a sucker for furry brown-eyed creatures – especially orangutans) with the bad things, like tropical deforestation, oceanic pollution, and toxic chemicals that give us cancer.
All served up with a healthy dose of black humour – it really is the only way to cope with reality.
Welcome to Zoetic – the blog for (as the word literally means) all things relating to life, whether beautiful, funny, perplexing, important, scary or depressing.
9 comments
Comments feed for this article
February 6, 2007 at 10:14 pm
June Engel
Dear Zoe:
GREAT blogsite. And of course, all us biologists/biochemists would prefer to be David Attenborough. But failing that, Zoe Cormier is just fine. I think you are doing BRILLIANTLY — well done, and I am mailing you some lovely shots of lovely furry creatures. Your little namesake, my multicoloured purring cat is also sending greetings.
love.
June
February 6, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Donna Read
Dear Zoe:
Love the site. I have no scientific background but can certainly appreciate what you are doing and as always enjoy reading anything that you have written. Your sense of humour is outstanding and your writing is superb.
(Believe it or not when I was a little girl I wanted to be a photographer for National Geographic….did I ever drift). Just feel so proud of you because I know you are someone who really makes a difference.
Love ya!
Donna
January 11, 2008 at 9:04 pm
MK
Dear Zoe,
You absolutely rule. And I am in full agreement. The state of biodiversity is horribly dire and whenever I think about it, I simultaneously wish to run off and cordon off all remaining good wild habitat, and crawl under the covers and hide for a long, long time.
It’s a beautiful planet and I’ve got no idea why so many humans are bent on destroying it. Sick.
~MK
September 4, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Marysia
Hi Zoe,
So glad I took some time to take a peek at what you do. Fascinating stuff…I was supposed to get up from my computer an hour ago…. 🙂
Was lovely to see you my dear, keep up the good work and I hope to see your lovely self soon,
Marysia
xxx
December 29, 2008 at 12:51 am
bruce bilney
Dear Zoe,
I’m an Aussie ranga -(i.e. redhead, short for Orangutan, your favourite animals I see). I’m delighted with your blogsite, glad you like our colouring, and may I say even if your hair isn’t full-on red, it looks good with the sun shining through it and your pretty face does the rest. (As long as we’re saying nice things about e/o !) Yes rangas get a hard time in some ways in Australia and elsewhere, but basically we love our special colouring, the rest can please themselves how they cope with being mouseheads or strawheads or sootheads. (as long as some of them are going to say unpleasant things about Us !) I don’t really despise everybody else for having something different, hell I’m lefthanded too, vive la difference say I.
It’s just a pity about bigotry . . . I think its roots are simple NV !
Yours is a very good site, good to see articulate sites and comments, I’m not being sycophantic here or too-easily-pleased, your site is actually proper literature. Check out my website http://www.ozzigami.com.au and my blog http://ozzigami.blogspot.com/ if you like. By the wayI’ve raised joeys ie baby Kangaroos, and if you like brown-eyed furry critters, you’ll just melt when a little roo puts up her lovely paws to hold your hand or steady her bottle . . .
Anyway best regards, I like Canuks a lot. Better than I like Aussies mostly! Almost as good as Kiwis who I think have carried themselves with much more dignity in foreign and domestic affairs than my own ccountrymen – Though we do have a decent national Government at last, under Kevin Rudd, and especially since our Deputy PM is the lovely and formidable Julia Gillard, who is besides her other attributes a very notable ranga!
March 10, 2021 at 11:37 am
Dora
I’ve only just discovered this site Zoe, yay to you!
June 4, 2021 at 12:24 pm
Brenley MacEachern
Hi Zoe, This is Brenley, the lead singer in the band Zoebliss. Not sure if you’re still keeping up with this blog but I’m popping in to say that your blog on finding the old t shirt was hilarious. The alien is Buddha. hahahahaha
June 4, 2021 at 12:52 pm
zoecormier
Ha, delight to see your post Brenley. You guys still got any merch kicking around?
June 4, 2021 at 12:53 pm
zoecormier
Also – where did the name come from?