At the edge of the world
North 9 October – morning anchor Holmiabukta We motored out of Lilliehöökbreen that night [maybe the night of the 8th?], moving through the fjord while we had dinner and then onto the […]…
scholarsandrogues
Recent Articles
Uncharted water
Uncharted pop-culture We moved the other night, from the beach with the sand and glacier cubes to the north into another fjord. Anchoring on one side of Lloyd’s Hotel (Möllerfjorden), we did […]…
The Fourteenth of July Bay
7 October Sunday Möllerfjorden – Lloyd Hotel Yesterday – Fjortende Julibreen Yesterday, we continued motoring north along the strait between mainland Spitsbergen and the barrier island to the west; the water was […]…
Whatever day it is, there are not enough synonyms for sublime
Svalbard Blues The Mercurial blues of Svalbard tell us time is a-wasting and the days of glacier glow are passing. …
Out of sync
Fluid time It appears that I am out of sync. Dates in my journal and dates on the photos and the memory of each day’s locations do not agree. I realized too […]…
Fridtjovbreen, Gullstrandfjellet, and Hisingerfjellet
The landscape equivalent of surround sound …
Musings in the ice
3 October Hamnodden I’m already having trouble finding space. It’s just after 0600; the kitchen is waking up. I thought I would have time before everyone else got up. Ok. So, finding […]…
The stuff of dreams
Day 2, or 3 Sky, water, snow, mountains, and light all come together, fading one into the other or standing rigidly separate. Hard lines between water and mountains and mountains and sky […]…
A day of abstracts
Water, light, and movement…
3 October 2018 – Day two, or is it three?
Time zones and timelines At some point during my trip, I realized that I never changed the date and time on my camera to reflect the European time zone. Photos I take […]…
At the end of the day
Last impressions of the first day…
Ymerbukta and Esmarkbreen
Views from a glacier front…
Esmarkbreen – not quite monochrome
Along the glacier’s edge…
Setting sails
2 October – Ymerbukta We left port yesterday afternoon with the motor but put up the sails quickly and fairly flew across the fjord. We helped with the sails – a token […]…
The Divine Arctic Comedy, Heaven
Heaven Air Future Sublimate. Dissipate. Eliminate. Obviate. Retreat – Sublimate, v.: to pass directly from the solid state to the vapor state; archaic: to improve or refine, as in […]…
The Divine Arctic Comedy, Purgatory
Purgatory Ice Present Millennial. Annual. Tangible. Visible. Advance – Water became ice. Masses of ice ranged from the north across oceans, continents, and islands; tongues extended from mountain tops […]…
The Divine Arctic Comedy, Hell
A co-resident on the Arctic Circle asked me to write three essays to introduce her exhibit opening this June in the Montefalco Museum, Montefalco, Italy. The gallery has three rooms one […]…
And the rest of the crew
The people, part 3 Last but not least, this rounds out the cast. Twenty-eight residents and 11 crew members set sail for two weeks on the waters of the North Atlantic. Tight […]…
There are no bit parts
People, part 2 As each person on this trip takes shape in my photos, I realize that they all held leading roles as stars of their own Arctic show. […]…
The characters take the stage
A few characters As a field biologist, I often said there was a reason I worked alone in the woods for so many years. Not quite a misanthrope, I don’t suffer fools […]…
Dog parking at the end of the trail
When the season’s over There are fewer than five miles of roads on an island more than 500 miles from the nearest landmass. At the end of the season, ride your snowmobile […]…
Only I can save us from climate change
When I’m tyrant, the first order of business will be prioritizing a sufficient response to climate change. Sharing priority will be damage control and mitigating the effects going forward through the implementation […]…
There are no words
Death I know that there are no words to make death better and so, I often remain silent for too long when people I know suffer a loss. For all the power […]…
Pay-go Vichyism: you want Trump in 2020?
Because this is how you get Trump in 2020 The Intercept just gave us a fabulous gift, by which I mean a gift filled with unreality and myth, that illustrates what our […]…
OK, people. Listen up. This is not a drill.
This is a drill. One early autumn afternoon, toward the end of The Arctic Circle residency, many of the residents and crew were on deck pulling down the sails from our morning […]…
Mixed Media
Tools of the trade Not known for my technical skills or my use of cutting-edge technology, I found some photography challenges in Svalbard. The cold, the instant fog-up when entering the ship […]…
Throw the old bums out. Throw them all out.
If you’re young, vote for a younger Congress “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” — Jack Weinberg, 1964 “I’m confident we’re going to win.” — Mitch McConnell, 76, Senate majority leader, during Kavanagh […]…
Antigua
The tall ship Antigua The Arctic Circle residency is conducted on a tall ship. Twenty-eight residents, six crew, and four guides set sail from Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen to explore the west coast of […]…
Lake Albigna, a glacial lake in retreat
Lake Albigna, near Vicosoprano, Switzerland, 2,163m (7,096 ft) above sea level. Dammed for hydropower in the 1950s, a gondola was built to transport equipment and workers to the base of the glacier […]…
A thread of ones and zeros: from Cooper to Svalbard
Then Cooper Island seems a lifetime ago, the light, the endless bird calls, the sand, the cold and eternal, infernal wind. They are far away now. I returned to Cooper the following […]…