StoryCulture

Thinkers, Followers, and Mythic Lemmings

WHAT DO YOU MEAN LEMMINGS DON'T JUMP TO THEIR DEATHS?

My kids converted me to YouTube viewing. In their schools, films posted on YouTube are shown in the classrooms on large SMART Board screens. When I was a school kid in the 60's, a tone signaled the teacher's pet to display the next filmstrip frame, while a voice droned on about far off things like the 21st century. Back then, the Disney film White Wilderness was a treat. A moving picture of life in the arctic. It won an Oscar for best documentary in 1958.

The news broke several years ago that Disney faked the lemming footage in White Wilderness and created an urban myth.  I missed that. Until I played the Time for Kids Arctic Trivia Challenge, I invoked the doomed path of the lemming when convenient to make a point.

Viewing the film almost forty years later, its not hard to see the deception. IMDB has a trivia note about the fabrication. The State of Alaska Fish and Wildlife News gives more details.

WAS THE FOOTAGE IN THIS APPLE LEMMING AD FAKED TOO?

Lemmings gained mythic stature from a master of the hero's journey. The iconic lemmings of our society gain another nuance through disinformation. Whether the facts Disney presented were naive assumptions or intentional fable making is lost in time. The mythical journey of the lemming is more relevant than ever as the definition of a person who blindly reasserts the falsehoods of an authoratative figure.

ARE YOU A LEMMING?

More than once I've recited some version of the now classic mother's line that begins, "If your friend jumped off a..."  with half a smile upon my face. My son wonders if I want him to think for himself as long as what he thinks is what I do. That is the eternal pattern of teenagers and parents.

ARE YOU A THINKER OR A FOLLOWER?

Grasping for Winter in the Arctic

Changes to our climate here, far below the arctic circle, are evident. I've seen fifty winters in Minnesota, and complained this year, just as I do every year. In truth, there is less to fuss about. It's easy to be complacent about evidence of global climate changes. We still have winter, right?

Photo © Matthew Sabo. Published with permission.
Chicago based Matthew Sabo journeyed to the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden. His photo set beautifully captures the abstract beauty of this amazing location.

Minnesota's hemiboreal climate is not as cold and the change can't be passed off as an anomaly. Over the United States storms take different paths, and are more intense. In the arctic and subarctic (boreal) climates, frigidly cold weather is crucial to sustaining plant and animal diversity. The abnormal arctic ice melt in polar regions such as Svalbard, north of Norway, is undeniable. After an email conversation with Giles Breton about Svalbard, I composed this photo essay to express my emotion about a problem whose solution, if we can find one, ought to transcend political boundaries and ideologies. -- Lalla

Ice blocks stand as frozen sentinals, their scale lost in a twilight photograph. My mind glides me into their midst. In eager wonder at an arctic Easter Island, I scan the surfaces for remnants of faces, but discover they've melted away.

Photo © Etolane. Published with permission. Etolane posts a blog in her native French: Vol de mots.

The fierce cold I dreaded isn't there. I am unsettled by signs of spring where it doesn't belong.

Photo © jpghouse Published with permission.

For generations beyond memory, dripping icicles came to this white blanketed world only after a lingering winter. Or not at all.

Photo © jpghouse. Published with permission.

Photo © Marika Eglite. All rights reserved. Published with permission.
Marika Eglite lives in Latvia where her photos express a wonder of nature with the vision of a true artist .

My children's future reaches out an anxious hand to feel the bite of a cold sleek surface.

Photo © Etolane. Published with permission.

Photo © Etolane. Published with permission.

Touch makes the soft surface crumble as on a summer's day.

Photo © Giles Breton All rights reserved. Published with permission.
Giles is based in London, and focuses a thoughtful lens on many subjects home and abroad. His photos of the polar bears of Svalbard deserve attention. Svalbard is located north of Norway in the arctic circle. Norway chairs the Arctic Council for the period 2006-2008. The Council seeks to draw US attention to the fact that polar regions, such as Svalbard, are experiencing climate change more intensely than other areas in the world.
"Svalbard is probably the most stunning place I've ever visited, I was totally overawed by the wilderness. Of course the irony being I saw the Isispynten ice calve only because the ice had melted in the Hinlopen street by June! That's the main access from the north. You couldn't help feel utterly distraught as this serene landscape was just vanishing in front of you." -- Giles Breton.

Photo © Connie Lemperle. All rights reserved. Published with permission.

Photo © jpghouse. Published with permission.

Photo © Kat Ormay. Published with permission.

Winter Attitude

Photo © Matthew Sabo. Published with permission.

This time of year winter instigates a battle between my external reality, thoughts of 'enough is enough', and the knowledge that I need to lead my children by example. Make the best of every situation. Six months of winter is a situation. Controlling my mental outlook is key to survival. I seek enlightenment.

Four days ago while I drove my four kids to school, my youngest cheered as she watched the car thermometer. My garage was 19F(-7C) and as we headed down the road the numbers dropped. As the numbers were called out, "-15, -16, -17, -18, -19 (-28C)." Giggles started up, then grew louder and longer. Giggling at the cold. That's an attitude adults forget.

I admit adults have less to laugh about. My neighbor across the street can’t fit his second car in the garage. That morning his car sputtered in the cold. Worse yet, frost still appears when the dewpoint is -25F (-32C) and a thin veil adhered like super-glue to his glass.

Photo © Harmony.

I felt smug about my +19 degree garage and went grocery shopping. I came home to a garage door that wouldn't open. I got out of the car to investigate what I thought was a blown fuse and heard a buzzing, grinding noise inside the garage. I raced through the front door, looped through the halls, and hit the switch to turn off the motor. It was too late to save the plastic gear that ignored the jammed door and shredded into plastic wisps.That diagnosis was delivered by two cheerful repairmen who came the next day. They made the repair on the spot and declared the cold not so bad if you dressed for it. Hands might have ached, but they didn't let on. All words exclaimed pride over the renewed motor.

In my last post, The Wind Chill Factor, I scoffed at way Minnesotan's declare perkily, "It could be worse." I felt smug, like the child who figured out the Emperor wore no clothes. Can't people feel how brutal the weather is? Since then, I've humbly realized the Emperor was wearing lots of clothes and in fact employed a layering system. I'm underdressed.

Play With the Wind

Photo © O. Joy St. Claire. All rights reserved. Published with permission.
O. Joy St. Claire lives in Ohio, and drives north to Lake Michigan to capture the way the wind whipped waves coat everything in ice. Joy sees harsh weather as a chance to capture something amazing and she wears the right clothes: warm hat, neck gaitor, and a face mask if the wind is blowing.

Build a Snow Fort

© Lalla Porter. All rights reserved.

This is a favorite photograph of my son, taken when he was five years old. Deeply absorbed in making snowballs, he isn't bothered by the fact he can't see well or that his gloves are the wrong size. I call his name and he reluctantly looks my way.

Nature photographers don't ignore their hats, but those who capture breathtaking images engross themselves with the intensity of a cold-fingered child who hears Mom's dinner call and begs to stay outside just a minute longer.

Change of State

Photo © Matthew Sabo. Published with permission.

Matthew took a three day visit to the ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, and met challenging lighting and the cold undaunted. His photo set is full of stunning abstract modern images. This room of snowballs is of the Change of State suite designed by Daniel Rosenbaum and Dylan Pillemar in 2006.

Download a pdf brochure provided by Sweden's ICEHOTEL . If the cost to go as a family of six wasn't beyond my means, I'd book a chance to sleep in a real room of ice. I know my Norwegian heritage is Sea-Sami. My people came from Tromso, in the arctic circle. I think I'll research to see if my Swedish ancestry is Sami too. Cold winter enchants me once again.

The Wind Chill Factor

The weather was cold across the northern United States this past week. Schools closed some places, but not here in Minneapolis. The temperature hit -17F (-27C) without the wind chill factor. People worked, gas was pumped, groceries were bought, and the big concession to the wind was that children stayed in for recess and the coats that make adults look like they've gained 50 pounds were reluctantly pulled out of the closet.

Minnesotans Stay Positive With the Classic: You Know, It Could Be Worse.

Photo © Martin Sharman. Published with permission.

Martin Sharman's keen aesthetic has produced a striking collection of images from locations around the globe. I think the weather looks worse in Austria.

Two different encounters with cold adults netted me the same cheerful words (one was not even a native of this country). At least in Minnesota we don't have tornadoes in winter. Had I heard about the terrible tornadoes in Florida? Well yes, the tornadoes, last week in Florida, were horrific. That didn't make me feel better.

I know how to speak Minnesotan: We can be glad there aren't earthquakes or tsunamis here either. Still, the desire to whine inconsolably like a two-year old in need of a nap wasn't going away.

Does Snowboarding in a Wind-Chill of -35F(-37C) Sound Fun?

© Lalla Porter. All rights reserved.

In Minnesota, bravado is a game of being the first to say: Cold enough for you? A game of chicken. This time I clucked and kept my snowboarder home from his lesson. The ski area didn't cancel class. As the wind howled outside, I remembered why I declined the job of a ski instructor back when I was in college. Ski areas don't close. I'd told the kids I didn't take the job because I fell in love with their dad. That too ...

The weather can be extremely cold here for so long, we have no choice but to be tough. The wind chill factor won this time because what I gave my son to pull over his face would fuse to his skin with each breath. This mother hen didn't remember to get a balaclava with windstopping fabric. Time to play hooky from class.

That Snowboarder Might Become a Victim of the Snow Queen

Photo © Etolane. Published with permission.

I admit the above photo is from a set Etolane took at the Ice Hotel in Quebec, and the boy is ice fishing. But this is fair warning that the Snow Queen will nab you if you drill a hole in the ice when it's this cold, unless you've got a shanty on the lake. Etolane spends an enormous amount of time tolerating the cold to beautifully capture the colors of the glowing rooms in the hotel. No longer preoccupied with the cold wind seeping into my house, my thoughts turned to ice.

My Childish Tantrums About The Cold Were Distracted By All The Pretty Colors.

Photo © Etolane. Published with permission.

Etolane posts a blog in her native French: Vol de mots.

The Pen and Ink Technique of Al Hirschfeld

Sometimes it's the little things that give me a thrill when I see a master of pen and ink at work as in the film The Line King: Al Hirschfeld, which is available on DVD.

I got the glimpse of an ink bottle.

That flash of Hirschfeld's desktop wasn't enough for me. I had to see more. Working with a crow quill pen is never far removed from the disaster of spilled ink. Everyone must come up with a coping method or better yet, a great ink pot.

NOT JUST ANY BOTTLE OF INK: AL HIRSCHFELD'S INK POT

THE LINE QUALITY OF A MASTER ARTIST

If you are a pen and ink artist and watch the film intently, you'll be rewarded with a view of the different ways Al Hirschfeld held his pen to acheive different line qualities.

CROSS HATCHING

HIRSCHFELD'S SIGNATURE FLOWING LINE

DID YOU NOTICE THAT HIRSCHFELD DOES NOT CHANGE PENS?

I WONDER WHAT NIB THAT IS?

AL HIRSCHFELD (JUNE 21, 1903 - JANUARY 20, 2003)

Al Hirschfeld: The Line King

Watching someone draw can be like watching grass grow, but not when it’s Al Hirschfeld. To see him at work in this clip from a 1996 film titled The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story is to be in the presence of a magician. His granddaughter made the film when he was 99. It is available for purchase here.

As a dip pen and ink artist, I love the chance to observe the technique of a master. I was surprised to see how much pencil under-drawing Hirschfeld did and also a sketchy scratchy pen technique. I’d be interested to know how much the way he handled his pen in the film had to do with the fact that he was drawing at 99. Makes me feel young again. Thanks to Steven Silver for noting the film.