He raises his nose in the air and sniffs at the air, trying to get our scent, but the wind isn’t cooperating with him. He knows we are there, but what we are is a mystery. Just as I’ve never seen a polar bear before, this polar bear has most likely never seen a human […]
Everything just felt wrong. I didn’t know how to carry the lens, hold it or even lock it into place! It felt as if I had grown a third arm or 11th finger; everything was awkward, and everything seemed to take longer and be so much more difficult. Over the last nine years of doing […]
I pulled on my gumboots, bundled up in my layers of coats and rain gear ready for a messy trek through the forest. Rodney, our expedition leader, announced today was the day we would do a long tundra hike. I had been waiting for this moment to get out and really stretch my legs on […]
Meghan’s face comes alive as we approach the bird cliffs. She’s calling out bird species for the rest of the people in the zodiac and rattling off the extremely subtle differences between the rare birds of the Arctic. She finds different species in various little crevices with her binoculars as if it’s a Where’s Waldo […]
It’s a beautiful thing when you have complete control of your life, and you don’t have to commute to work and report to an office every day. In fact, I’ve been living this location-independent life for so long now that I forget how fortunate I am. I can never take this gift of motion and […]
We gathered around Richard listening intently to his instructions about the Anadyr Russia immigration process, “Russians don’t smile much, so you shouldn’t either. When you go through immigration, just try to be solemn and not too loud and fit into their culture the best you can.” I thought about my past travels to Russia and […]
No, Germany didn’t sneak into Whoville and actually steel Christmas, but if the Grinch had wandered into Annaberg Germany to steal Christmas his bag of contraband would have most certainly been weighted down with German Stollen Cake. I’m not sure that he would have made it back to his perch on the mountaintop. Butter Stollen […]
You put them on your tree every year, but have you ever wondered – why? Why do we hang glass balls on a tree – it’s really kind of strange if you think about it. Yet we do it all around the world, year after year, after year. I’m often fascinated with how things became […]
I feel giddy like a 7-year-old at Christmas. I look out over the barren tundra, a new environment for me, and think about how it makes me feel free and hopeful. The clouds break, and a crack of blue sky appears as if the game of hide and seek is over, and it can finally […]
The warehouse is chilly, dimly lit, and smells of paint. Curtis is dressed in black from head to toe and gives me the go-ahead nod. I look at all the cans in front of me, pick up the pink one, shake it, and push the top gently; my first attempt at graffiti is exhilarating and […]
