My name is Leon Wash. I’m a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago. My dissertation, written under Professors Elizabeth Asmis, Mark Payne, and Boris Maslov (Oslo), is about the early development in Greek poetry and philosophy of the concept of nature—or φύσις—and its relationship with certain images and metaphors, especially vegetal and technological metaphors. Is the nature of the world a plant? Or has it been designed by a divine craftsman? These are just two of the questions that I consider. Focusing on the fifth-century authors Pindar and Empedocles, my dissertation combines analyses of the concept of nature in each author with assessments of the precise significance of the authors’ plant metaphors (such as Pindar’s “fruit of the mind” or Empedocles’ elemental “roots”), especially as opposed to their craft metaphors (such as Pindar’s “builders of song” or Empedocles’ “rivets” of Aphrodite that hold organisms together). Together with my friends Dr. Alessandro Buccheri and Prof. Arnaud Macé, I am currently organizing a series of conferences and online seminars under the title “Φύσις καὶ Φυτά: On Nature and Plants in Ancient Greece.” After working on a farm as a boy, as well as in a trophy factory and on construction crews when I was older, both plants and crafts have an unshakable grip on my imagination. I love teaching all ages, and learning from all. My other pursuits include walking, gardening, arts and crafts, and scavenging.