Last Friday I saw the first musical to be performed at Reed in 15 years: Paris Commune. This musical promised to be different from other Reed theater productions because of its genre, but what was unexpected was the show’s relevance to the political and social events on campus this semester.

Behind every piece of replacement glassware, custom-machined electrode, neatly chilled reagent in a microfuge tube, and well-acclimated rat, there is a team of people who put in the hours to make experiential science learning possible at Reed. They lurk in rooms crowded with cabinets, in remote corners, in basements, and even in sub-basements, working hard to keep all kinds of lab classes and research projects well-equipped and running smoothly.

They are the stockroom staff.

From Biology, Physics, Psychology, and Chemistry, The Grail brings you the inside scoop on the lesser known corners of Reed’s science departments.

I rustle down a semi-trodden path of grass and ferns and heave myself atop a boulder carpeted with lichen. I feel strangely at home here in this climate, on this mountain wrapped in fog that makes the trees look like evergreens when I squint.

But I am not at home. I am atop the Gran Piedra, a windy peak that crouches in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra.