Edward A. Bouchet Award: "Caminante, no hay camino, se hace el camino al andar..."(Antonio Machado, Spanish poet), or the brief tale of my parallel physics and advocacy paths

In my presentation honoring the memory of Professor Edward A. Bouchet, I will describe the salient points of my parallel paths in physics and advocacy that led to my speaking today at this DAMOP 2023 meeting. In each case, I owe much to the right circumstances and to wonderful people who have helped me along the way. I will mention my "initial conditions," the different situations and opportunities in physics and advocacy that have been presented to me over the years, the essence of my scientific research at the different stages of my career, and how what I have done may have impacted others. Throughout all of this I will emphasize how the "collapse of my wave function" implemented Machado's "principle." Last, but not least, I will share some thoughts on how I think my work may connect and honor Bouchet's memory.