Field Notes: Do the Work

In a recent post on X, journalist Steven Greenstreet (@MiddleOfMayhem), a vocal critic and skeptic of all things related to the Phenomenon, shared this brief post: “In order to be a truly faithful UFO believer, you need to live your life by this mantra: ‘Maybe the people who lie all the time are telling the truth.’”

I (@expedition_37) responded to him with this: “There’s another option—you can do the work yourself. You can explore sites where UFOs were reported, talk to experiencers, study science and history, and then arrive at your own conclusions. You don’t need to outsource your opinions to other people. No one owns the Phenomenon.”

My reply wasn’t just a knee-jerk reaction to his post; it reflects how I’ve lived since starting Expedition 37 in February. This has been especially true over the past three months as I’ve spent my nights in the field, searching for evidence of the UAP Phenomenon on the highways and roads of southern Kansas.

Doing the work yourself is the most unfiltered way to explore the UAP Phenomenon, but it is not easy. Directly engaging with the Phenomenon through your own efforts is challenging and costly in many ways. It can take you to places—physically, mentally, and spiritually—that you never imagined you would go.

I know this to be true.

For weeks, I’ve been trying to write this third post in my “Into the Night” series. But every time I start, whether writing or editing photos, I find myself at a loss to convey the stories of what I’ve experienced while doing the field work.

Every photo, no matter how long I work on it, falls short of what I imagine in my mind’s eye. How can you tell the story of months spent on the road in 1/60th of a second?

Every word I write falls short of explaining things I experienced that, frankly, would sound crazy to most people. How can you find words that sound sane when describing events that have no reasonable explanation?

I can’t do either of those things right now, and I may never be able to do it in a way that meets my own standards. But posting this imperfect post is part of doing the work.

It is not easy to post this, because I know it falls short of what I want to share. But could that be the point? Maybe part of doing the work is realizing that it may not be possible to find the perfect answers, photos, or words to describe the indescribable. Maybe the search for perfect answers, photos, and words is an impossible task.

Perhaps one of the results of doing the work yourself is realizing that the goal must be seeking progress, not perfection.