Hector Albanese, 72, retired lighthouse keeper who operated the Point Judith station from 1979 to 2004, when the light was automated. He learned Morse code at 17 and still thinks in it occasionally, translating ambient rhythms into dots and dashes without intending to. He does not consider this a problem. He lives near the coast and can identify the light signature of every lighthouse within forty nautical miles from memory.

Dr. Elena Cross, 38, linguist and author of a single 900-page monograph on the letter E in Indo-European languages. She has not used the letter E in personal writing or conversation since 2020, treating it as a methodological experiment she intends to eventually conclude. She is difficult to correspond with. Her academic writing uses E normally. The line between the experiment and the person has become unclear to her and she finds this more interesting than troubling.