Back in 1984 and 1985, I was living in Newfoundland, a student at Memorial University and a staff writer on the student paper, The Muse. There are multiple directions I could go with this story at this point, but the reason it has been on my mind is that I need a light table and I don’t know where to find one. We used to have these big light tables in the layup room, where we would burn the midnight oil (among other things), every other Tuesday night in order to get the paper to the press on time.

Light tables can be helpful when going through sediment samples in search of tiny pieces of plastic. Sometimes they’re easy enough to see with the naked eye but there are some pieces that are more visible when viewed through the light. If you know where I can get one of those layup-type tables, preferably one of the smaller sizes, please let me know.

Meanwhile, I made one. A prototype, if you will. This one is going out to Lakeridge Middle School this week, where students will be using it on collected samples through the end of the school year. Once we see how it holds up – or doesn’t – I’ll have a better idea what direction to go next.