Yi Shun Lai lives in Southern California, and she can talk to you forever about plants and animals and deserts both hot and cold. She volunteers for ShelterBox, an international disaster-relief organization, and was once invited to be a crew member aboard an Antarctic cruise line. She's the author of novels Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu and A Suffragist's Guide to the Antarctic and memoir Pin Ups. You can read her essays in Shondaland and Brevity. Find her on the web at TheGoodDirt.org.