13 October 2019 Prepare for 'Lazy Days'

Prepare for 'Lazy Days'

Our work here with the Fedorov is nearly done. The Distributed Network is set up. Weather, skilled planning, and luck were on our side. There are a few final steps that people aboard the Fedorov need to accomplish before they are ready to head back to Tromso. But the expedition is just beginning for the Polarstern, which will spend the next 10 months drifting with this patch of ice. There have been many challenges in setting up the main ice camp near Polarstern. None of these complications are unexpected - MOSAiC is an incredibly ambitious research expedition in one of the most extreme environments on earth.

Researchers, polar bear guards, and logistics experts are working hard to get the ice camp set up as quickly as possible while there is still some daylight available. They are making good progress, but need s time before it is complete. Some of the people doing this work will actually transit back to Tromso with us on the Fedorov. Even though the main mission of the Fedorov is complete, a key part of our job is this exchange of people. It is important that we wait for them to be ready, and we will. Our research cruise leader explained this to us yesterday, stating, "Prepare for some lazy days ahead."

With this in mind, I've become curious about the books people brought with them to read aboard a Russian icebreaker in the Arctic sea ice. For this journal, I've asked people: "What are you reading?"

Beloved by Toni Morrison
read by Daniel Watkins
PhD Student, Ocean, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences
Oregon State University, USA

I heard of Toni Morrison quite a long time ago, so she's been on my to read list for a long time. I came across Beloved in a thrift store a little before coming, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to finally read it. I was kind of putting it off because it sounded like it would be a heavy read. I've been surprised by how vibrant and lively the story is, and I was surprised that it was a ghost story. I essentially knew nothing about it, other than it was an important book to read. Although it does focus on really heavy themes, it does so in a way that highlights the vitality of the reader. It doesn't overwhelm the reader with the enormous brutality that the character has endured. I knew it would be very high quality, but I didn't expect it to be a page turner. I would recommend it to mature readers. It is easy to find books that bog you down in either their heaviness or their style of prose. Beloved has a lightness to the writing style, and some really beautiful sections too.

Au Revoir La-haut
read by Marylou Athanase
PhD Student, Physical Oceanography of the Arctic
Sorbonne University, France

The book takes place right after the end of the first world war in France. There is no hero, but the main character is a guy who was at war. On the very last day of the war, they went into a last chance fight with the Germans. Basically, he found out that his colonel was a traitor and the colonel tried to kill him. Another soldier saved his life, but in the process had his face completely disfigured. This is not the most important part of the story, but you need to understand the context. The war ends the next day, and this man is overcome with guilt about how this person had his face destroyed; the young man's jaw is so altered that he can't eat or drink on his own, he can't even talk. The man whose face was disfigured is ashamed to go back to his family and decides to pretend he is dead instead. The two men come up with a plan to recreate a new life elsewhere. This story is about how they live and survive. It really is a human book. It is mostly about people always crossing each other's life lines. There is no big suspense, it is about different kinds of people and how they can change. It is a really complex book to try to summarize. It is beautiful and moving.

How To Survive a Plague: How Activists and Scientists Tamed AIDS by David France
read by Robbie Mallett
PhD Student, Polar ClimateThe average weather over a particular region of the Earth. Climate originates in recurring weather phenomenon that result from specific types of atmospheric circulation. Science
University College London, England

This book is about a bad thing that has happened and slow-moving scientists and incredibly motivated activists and indecisive politicians and how they all respond - or don't - to a crisis. Sound familiar? It is amazing actually the ways that it resonates with the current climate crisis. I never really knew anything about the emergence of AIDS, but it is shocking how similar the dynamics between science, activists, and politics are to what is happening know. It is a great story about how an amazing solution was found that wouldn't have happened with just scientists or just activists. The activists were amazingly committed to this effort and put their lives on the line, and eventually the scientists were convinced to do drug trials. It is an incredibly sad story. Before there were effective medications, AIDS was a truly gruesome and deadly disease. People from all walks of life came together to make change. Coming out as having AIDS meant risking losing their jobs, their friends, their families. But they were willing to do it because it simply had to be done. It is a book that will show you that the gridlock between science, activism, and politics can be solved in even the most dire circumstances. It is one of the best books I've ever read.

Where the Red Fern Grows
read by Anne Gold
Senior Research Associate/Director of Education & Outreach
CIRES, University of Colorado, USA

This book is about a family in mid-western U.S.; there was a family that was home schooled and taught by their parents and isolated. There was a boy who was obsessed with hunting and dogs, so he worked for two years to buy the dog. It is about his journey to get these dogs and follow his dream and he works very hard for it. And once he has the dogs, it is about the journey that he and these dogs take. They are complementary and make a good team together, him and the two dogs. In the end, this book is about different phases in life and leaving things behind and starting a new chapter. I think it is a very fascinating book. It is a young adult book, so it is an easy read. It has very traditional male/female gender roles that are a little bit annoying. The little sisters are portrayed as the silly little girls and he is the hard tough boy, and that is frustrating. It also seems a little bit unrealistic about how obsessed he is. But it is a fun, fast read and it is good to think about what passion means.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind by Yuval Noah Harari
read by Mauro Hermann
PhD Student, Institute of Atmospheric and ClimateThe average weather over a particular region of the Earth. Climate originates in recurring weather phenomenon that result from specific types of atmospheric circulation. Sciences
ETH, Zurich

This book is about not really about humans, it is about Homo sapiens and how this species -- we -- made it to the top of the world, and if we are at the top of the world, and if that is good. How did we evolve from a simple monkey to something that can be destructive for the entire planet? Why did we shift from hunting and gathering to settling down during the agricultural revolution? Why do we believe in human rights? Why do we believe in countries or nations? Why do we believe in money? I've only ready a quarter of it, but it's amazing. Especially the beginning, like why were we able to cooperate in larger group. There were five or so other species, so why is it Homo sapiens that was able to survive and move around the world. The author describes the cognitive revolution, the agricultural revolution, and the last one will be the scientific revolution. We usually describe the agricultural revolution in romantic terms, but he tells a different story. Populations grew with agriculture, but more people were suffering. The gatherers actually had to work less than the agriculturalists, but evolutionary it was a success. Evolution doesn't care about suffering of the individual.

Kaksi Kaupunkia (Two Cities) by Harri Sirola
read by Jari Haapalla
Research Professor
Finnish Meteorological Institute

It is about Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia during the Cold War. At that time, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union. Finland and Estonia were like sibling countries before World War II, but then the communication was cut off after the war. The Estonians at that time watched a lot of Finnish broadcasting, so they knew what kind of country Finland is. The Soviet Union tried to tell people that what they saw on TV was propoganda. The story is about two people, one in Finland and one in Estonia and they are both artists. So the Estonian person is trying to escape to Finland, and the Finnish person is helping him. The Estonian man and his brother try to escape via boat, but the KGB caught them. I am halfway through the book and he just got 11 years in prison. It is a true story. A normal person, peaceful artist wanted to have a better life and ended up in prison. It is a very good description of the system itself: how the lifestyle there was different, how the trial system in the Soviet Union was. And it is also about the friendship and helping each other. This is a new type of book for me, but I personally very much like books that are relating to recent history. It started slowly because there was so much background description, but once I got to about 70 pages it got better and I wanted to know more.

Leaving Resurrection: Chronicles of a Whale Scientist by Eva Saulitis read by Katie Gavenus
Educator & Program Director
Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, USA

In this beautiful and emotionally compelling collection of short stories, Eva grapples with the smooth and rough edges of being a scientist, a woman, and a human being in both wild places and tight-knit human communities. I've read this book before, and wanted to revisit it while on the expedition since I thought I might have time to really sit more deeply with some of the stories and appreciate them more thoroughly. I'm very glad I chose to bring it. I very much enjoy the style of writing, and the images and stories are wonderful reminders of almost-home for me. In this book, there is a declaration and exploration of love for a place and for animals and people that live there. This resonates for me, both in the specific coastal Alaskan places and relationships she describes, and for the complex feelings of loving a place that is both timeless and rapidly changing, a place that evokes wonder and joy, fear and loss. She delves into her own efforts to balance being in the world as a scientist and being in the world as a whole human being, with all the complicated emotions and subjectiveness and flaws that brings along. Leaving Resurrection turned out to be a particularly wonderful book to read while on an ocean-based research expedition, but I think it is worth reading wherever you are.

Your Questions and Curiosities

Rhys and Leo from Homer, Alaska asked before I came on this expedition if we would have pizza. Today, the answer is yes! The chefs served pizza for tea time. It wasn't my absolute favorite combination of toppings, but it was still a fun treat.

Education Extension

There are a number of wonderful books appropriate for young adults about life, research, and ecosystems in the Arctic. Please add your recommendations in the comments. For younger children, I picked up 4 books about the Arctic from the Homer Bookstore to check out. Two of them were not particularly impressive, but I definitely would recommend the other two.

An Inuksuk Means Welcome by Mary Wallace introduces young readers to some basic words in Inuktitut (Inuit language) and explains how Inuit people use inuksuit to navigate and communicate in Arctic environments. The images are beautiful. I feel like the book does a wonderful job of portraying a few aspects of Inuit culture and life in a way that is straightforward but not oversimplified. In particular, the author includes additional information about different forms of inuksuit and what they are used for. I tried it out with Johanna, age 6, before leaving on this trip and she found it pretty interesting and especially loved the pictures.

Johanna and I were both really enjoyed and appreciated the book Whale Snow by Debbie Dahl Edward and illustrated by Annie Patterson. I actually wanted to bring it with me on the trip to use as an example of great stories for young children, but Johanna loved it so much she insisted I leave it with her. Whale Snow tells the story of young Amiqqaq as he learns about his family's traditions around whale hunting and the concept of the happiness whales bring to them. It is a beautiful story with equally wonderful images and includes a number of Inupiaq words. Johanna was delighted by the pictures and words, but had concerns about the practice of hunting whales. This prompted a meaningful discussion about where food comes from, different beliefs, ethics, and gratitudes surrounding that, the importance of cultural traditions, and respecting other's practices. I'm glad this book served as in impetus for thinking and talking more about these themes. According to the book, you can even read the full story in Inupiaq at the Charles Bridge website; I haven't followed this link myself so I don't know how easy it is to actually find on their website.

And finally, I haven't read it recently, but I do have fond memories of reading and singing Baby Beluga as a child. That might be another good one to try out from your local library. What other books do you recommend?