Pearls of Wisdom: A True Story
Pearls have magical transformative powers: their ability to take an irritant, encase it and convert it into a glistening jewel is a fantastic metaphor. A pearl's creation story is a case in point: natural pearls form when a microscopic parasite enters a bivalve mollusk and settles inside the shell. Irritated by the intruder, the mollusk forms a pearl sac of external mantle tissue cells and secretes calcium carbonate and conchiolin to cover the irritant. This secretion process is repeated many times, thus producing the hardened pearl. Natural pearls come in many shapes; round ones are the exception, and are therefore the most rare. Traditionally, pearls are given for graduation, confirmation, nuptials, those big milestone ceremonies, many of which occur in the balmy month of June. These...