farewell to the golden state

dear readers (if any yet remain),

a quick note to follow up on the progress of my Arctic activities since my travels - next week I am moving to New York to pursue further studies in that great City, thus bringing me closer (physically and scholastically) to the North and it's wonders. i continue work on several artistic projects from these wonderful travels, that with time have grown in scope (epic travels, after all) and require further hibernation for the moment. see you on another coast!

-e

årsdagen / vuosipäivä / jubilæum / anniversary

One year ago today, at nearly this exact hour, I returned to California at the end of 263 consecutive days of travels in the North. I remember feeling ecstatic, anxious, surreal, excited, apprehensive and a little sad. I couldn't help choking up as I saw the greenery and blue skies and warm sun over San Jose in late October. These feeling were followed by pure excitement as I began imagining the immense piles of vegetables and fruits I was going to stuff myself with for the first time in months, especially avocados.

At the baggage claim with my mom and my gentleman friend, we waited for the pack in which I'd been carrying all my worldly possessions. When he lifted it off the carousel he staggered under it's surprise weight and said he couldn't believe I was even able to lift something that heavy! But I had, and I did, for months on end, along with two pieces of hand luggage which I dragged around 5 countries on trains, buses, boats, ferries, airplanes, hitched rides, bicycles, and my own two legs.

Before I left on my travels, I had never:

-experienced a real winter
-eaten meat
-killed an animal for food
-skiied
-been in a proper sauna
-tasted a cloud berry
-touched a reindeer
-gotten seasick
-heard a geysir
-smelled an iceberg
-milked a cow
-attended church nearly as much
-felt more out of place
-felt more free
-had a Sweden-shaped hole in my heart
...among other things I have yet to tell.

This year has flown by much faster than I had anticipated. I can only interpret this as a direct result of how I changed as a person through these adventures. And how did I change, exactly? You will see. For now, here's an old-time Inuit verse from a book I found in Greenland:

One day when I am done,
one day when I am dead,
the sight I saw
will move another.
Another will get to see it,
a new age will see it.
Therefore I gasped for breath,
therefore I gasped for air,
strongly moved as I was.

Umeå > Echo Park

i got best package no. 2 from Norrland the other day



tackså mycket för min ordboken, Jonas!!

Arctic Studies Center Newsletter

It's been a little while since I last had the pleasure of visiting the wonderful folks at the Smithsonian's Arctic Studies Center, but I present to you here now a little article I wrote, as well as some photos, for their annual newsletter from February 2008 (how did it slip my mind to post this till now?), regarding the Demonstration for Culture in Nuuk, Greenland nearly one year ago this month. The ASC newsletter is, as always, chock full of the what's-what and who's-who in the fascinating world of circumpolar anthropology, and the 2008 International Polar Year. Thanks again to Dr.'s William Fitzhugh and Stephen Loring for the opportunity, and Abby McDermott, their research assistant.



The link to download the PDF is here:
I'm on page 35!

finlandia gardens

a few snaps from my visit yesterday to the Finnish Folk Art Museum in Pasadena, the only one of it's kind outside of Finland. it was actually closed, but a sympathetic fellow museum book store employee from the Historical Museum let me in to take a few photos for reference anyway. kiitos!

the plumes of pine trees

here are a few high-res scans of artifacts from my travels which i've been slowly archiving. it seems every time i open another bag/box/envelope/notebook (still too full of feeling for me to do very very often yet) i find another dozen things to scan...anyway, i'm putting these and the rest all together in something i'd someday like to call a book.

Witches' Sabbath/May Day

Happy Walpurgis Day
Godt Valborgsmässoafton
Hyvää Vappua!

in Germany, Sweden, and Finland...

from Wikipedia:

Historically Walpurgisnacht (April 30 - May 1)is derived from various Pagan spring customs. In the Norse tradition, Walpurgisnacht is considered the "Enclosure of the Fallen". It commemorates the time when Odin died to retrieve the knowledge of the runes, and the night is said to be a time of weakness in the boundary between the living and the dead. Bonfires were built to keep away the dead and chaotic spirits that were said to walk among the living then. This is followed by the return of light and the sun as celebrated during May Day.

one year ago today I celebrated Vappu, May Day, the student's day, in Rovaniemi, Finland. holiday buns and picnics were eaten, Koskenkorva and all manner of liquor-y spirits imbibed.


me one year ago

...in retrospect i should have had a little party tonight. or at least a bonfire. NEXT YEAR!

also, thanks Odin

drottningsgatan

so i've settled in Los Angeles pretty well again, working at the bookstore of a big art museum here. i like working there since i get to be around so many international people (visitors, visiting scholars, curators, etc.), but today, my day of days was made when this evening in the bookstore i was greeted by the sight of the entourage belonging to Queen Silvia of Sweden.



oh yes. oh yes. anyone who's talked to me since i've returned from my travels knows of my extremely nerdy love for all things Scandinavian, specifically Swedish.

unfortunately, i didn't get say anything to her because in my excitement:

1.) i couldn't decide on the appropriate way to address a royal person, i.e. "your highness" (?)

2.)i couldn't decide if that would be too crass/nerdy/embarrassing of me

friends, when i saw H.M. Drottning Silvia standing about 6 feet from me in a perfectly tailored white skirt and jacket, i got kind of teary eyed.

because the Queen of Sweden was at my job and it was awesome. YES!

godt nytt år

well, i thought it was about time to write a little post here, mainly as a reminder to myself to keep this blog going through the stages of the project that are taking place now that i am back home in Los Angeles.

time has gone by very quickly since i returned to the US, i can hardly believe that the end of January 2008 is around the corner. next week, January 29th will be the date that exactly one year ago i departed on my journey with a one-way ticket to Sweden.
for sure i'll be marking the occasion by enjoying a bottle of glögg, the Swedish mulled holiday wine, that i received recently in the mail from my pal Jonas in Norbotten (see image below). this could possibly be followed up with some "Black Death" Brennivín from Iceland, since it's my day off the next day...

in other news, i submitted my review of the Demonstration for Culture in Nuuk, Greenland in September to the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center and will provide a link to the issue when it is available (the deadline for submissions was pushed back to (January 10th '08).

there were negotiations this month and last month for an event/lecture on my travels at the Velaslavasay Panorama, but the booking schedule and my schedule have not been compatible so far - but i have not abandoned hope! the Panorama is just an incredible place, where one may see lectures, puppet shows (many with an Arctic theme), and most excitingly, the 360-degree North pole panoramic painting, The Efflugence of the North.

so! i'll be posting developments as they happen - i feel content that things are settling down now with the turning of the New Year and look forward to getting lots of work done.

meanwhile, feast your eyes on these amazing Swedish treats!!

tell the bees

here are some photos of what i did on my first two days back in the United States.

my hosts for two nights were the amazing Toni and Sam Burnham of Washington D.C. Toni took me to a Franciscan monastery where i observed the feeding of bees close up for the first time. these are just a few of the hives she takes care of around town. we talked bee folklore and bee patron saints. later, i helped put labels on little honey jars. when i awoke the morning i was to fly to California, found a big jar of home-made Capital Honey tucked into my bag, "produced and bottled at an undisclosedlocation".

















first proper North American meal - stuffed poblano chile pepper with tortillas at the Museum of the American Indian





Prof. S. Loring of the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center


a friend acting strangely, but then...

...back home again, just time for halloween. i love my friends.

wunderkammer

ok ok ok i am truly planning to post a very belated photo update once i unload my 2MB memory card... some fun things are in the works relating to the Nordic Arctic travels for the beginning of December, which i'll post information about soon. i've moved back to Los Angeles and am engaged in employment in the bookshops of two museums: the Getty on most days, and the Museum of Jurassic Technology on Tuesdays during the new holiday hours. feel free to stop by and say hej.

placemarker.

i've been home in California now for a little over one week and it's been busy busy. i also caught the flu within the first few days and have been feeling low energy and a little overwhelmed at times. within the next few days i hope more business will be taken care of, including posting a few more images,updating my main website and resume, and buying materials to get started on some stuff in the works. reminder to self: send e-mail to M.L. and work on that article.

i want to write more about my feelings about being home for now vs. away, but i think i need a little more time and for sure to get over this head cold before i can write anything worth sharing. but i will take this opportunity to thank all the folks who read this little ol' blog and wrote something now and then - my adventures were all over the place and writing here did help me focus and reflect on where i'd been/what i'd done/seen. check back sometime later this week if you're into it!

it's against the law to frown in....capital city

i arrived in Washington D.C. last night, after a bittersweet goodbye to rainy Reykjavik. i'm staying for one more night (tonight) before flying on to California in about 6 hours. my hosts this time are a sweet and funny middle aged couple comprised of Antoinette (a beekeeper) and Sam (exec of some kind). they live right in D.C. and keep six hives of bees - check out her blog CityBees for more on that. anyway, she picked me up from the airport yesterday and took me to get Mongolian food (!!!), after which we came home and watched the Metalocalypse episode where they destroy Finland, and ate cookies until i passed out from jetlag. yes.

here are some photos from my last days in Reykjavik. some things i don't have photos of but are worth mentioning, specifically the Icelandic Love Corporation retrospective at the Reykjavik Museum of Art. wow. i can't remember the last time i smiled almost continuously through 3 large galleries of one group's work...it was a brilliant, inspiring, beautifully put together showcase spanning 10 years: the performances. the drawings. the champagne. the top hats. the mirror-lined coffins. the licorice portraits...phew. i never wanted it to end, seriously.




went over to Svanny's parents house to eat waffles, drink lemonade and play with puppies.


these little hunting guys are worth about 150,000 isk each


first encounter with the sheep's head


"the red hills"









helga


namesake vessel outside the secret old sailor men's coffee shop near the harbor





















warning: if you want to spare yourself the sight of the delicacy known as ye old Icelandic singed/boiled sheep's head, skip the next three photos











you have to admit this is kind of funny


svanhvit likes the eyes and the tounge the best









two photos from the start of the Iceland Airwaves fest i took before my camera died (at 12 Tonar recordshop)


Rokkuro (IS)


Gavin Portland (IS)





goodnight rvk



anyway i actually have some fun snaps from my day in DC that i'll post when i'm home in California, including feeding bees at a Franciscan monastery, the first American meal in 9 months, hanging out at the Arctic Studies Center, etc.

see you tomorrow.