I Think We’re Done Here
And just like that, we’re done. With the science, that is, for the most part. I was just coming on shift, around 11:30 p.m., and the zoo crowd was doling […]
The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves
We’ve been in heavy ice for the past few days, back in the Bransfield Strait pushing and bumping and grinding our way from survey station to survey station, trying to […]
A Change in the Weather. And Science!
Of course, the idyllic weather didn’t last. By evening we were back in the Bransfield Strait, heaving our way through pack ice with a wind chill of -47F. Or so […]
A Sense of Calm
Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean We’re about 70 miles northwest of Elephant Island, […]
Antarctic Daze
Somewhere in the darkness of the distant dream there’s a slow bzzzzt bzzzt bzzzt and a hand clamps gently on your wrist. You know what it is, and it’s not […]
Stepping Through the Door
The word “immersive” comes to mind. The last three days have been a blur, but now I remember: once you get started, they’re always a blur. Just seeing her, rising […]
Lost in (Geographic) Translation
Times like these I find myself feeling a strange kinship with Vonnegut’s Billy Pilgrim: habitually disoriented, but at peace with a peculiar penchant for finding himself unstuck in time. Unlike […]
Wait – Antarctica Again?!?
Given the big emotional and literary run-up I’ve given to previous deployments, it’s kind of embarrassing to pop up here and say, “Oh, uh – I forgot to mention that […]
Sometimes the Destination is Only the Beginning
It’s somewhere past midnight, and the song continues to pour forth, swirling and rising to the damp sky like the flames from this campfire we’re all gathered around in the […]
Not Feeling It
Day four of the writers conference and, honestly, I’ve given up on trying to find my groove. My morning pages have two new lines in at the top since Sunday, […]
