Hey! Who are you calling unfashionable?

My climatological Scibling Stoat used "geologist" as an insult, I think:

hard rock geologists have done rather poorly in science, because they have become unfashionable

Hey! I resemble that remark!

(Point taken, at least career-wise. In the past 20 years, many departments have replaced retiring rock geeks with climate geeks. But some of us aren't bitter, and most of us accept that climate science has made huge advances in the past 20 years. In fact, I said something like that in a recent survey from... maybe AAAS?)

I blog because I think rocks are interesting. But perhaps blogging about the inherent coolness of rocks isn't enough to save the field. Maybe we need a fashion makeover.

Maybe we need a goddess. Isis has advice about stylish clothes for the air-conditioned office. Maybe she could save us from our fleece and Carhartts... and get us into Science and Nature, too.

On the other hand, geologists aren't universally seen as unfashionable. Why, geologists have even been described as the "coolest and sexiest men alive"...

*looks down*

Maybe we do need help from Dr. Isis. But for other kinds of advice.

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"hard rock geologists have done rather poorly in science"

I've heard this before, and it infuriates me every time. Some people just seem determined to disrespect geology and what we do. It's strange that I never hear similar comments about other fields:

"Oh, those invertebrate zoologists... what a bunch of hacks." "Organic chemists... like, put the L on your forehead."

Hell, Carhartt is an improvement. Back when I was getting my degree we used to buy all our clothes from the army surplus store because it was cheap and held up great for field trips.