James Okonkwo, 53, taxidermist and artist whose work addresses animal death through the specific craft of preservation. He did not train as a therapist but is frequently asked about grief, which he considers an artifact of the work. He believes the refusal to look at dead things is a modern peculiarity with downstream consequences for how people understand loss. His studio doubles as a grief observation room, informally. He does not charge for the informal sessions.

Sung-Min Park, 47, amateur cryptographer who has been decoding messages in public noise sources—radio static, CCTV footage, ambient city audio—since 2011. He has found no messages. He considers the absence of messages informative. He maintains detailed logs and submits occasional papers to cryptography conferences that are reviewed politely and not accepted. He distrusts GPS on the grounds that he cannot verify the signal source. He uses paper maps.