StoryCulture

Nanook of the North Inspires Me to Be Stoic

Predictability soothes some people. To others it's a curse. January in Minnesota. The thermometer read -17F (-27C) last night. Heartier souls than I do not need to look beyond their inner resolve to survive a Minnesota winter. Bring the bassinet. I am in a fetal position.

In my defense, I plead it's the womb effect of curtains that remain shut. A feeble barricade against the north wind. Bed sheets hang in interior openings to keep my drawings from ruffling to the ceiling, like paper airplanes on the drafts.

My daughter came home from school recently, enraptured with the film: Nanook of the North. Curious, I got my hands on a copy and suggested we gather as a family to watch on winter's coldest night. We'd enjoy a sensory perception of Inuit life. A bright bunch, they knew I was fixated on the sense of cold -- and a little on the Inuit's taste for raw meat. Would I swap Sushi for popcorn? I watched it alone.

Nanook of the North preview

(Rent or buy the film to see the scenes where the pace picks up... and winter survival.)

Nanook is a silent film with upbeat orchestration that dates the film more than the placard subtitles. I think Disney mimicked the soundtrack for their "documentary" film White Wilderness.

Flaherty's film is an idealized portrait of traditional Inuit life in the early 20th century. It is considered salvage ethnography. Anyone who wants to salvage the last vestiges of my life as a luddite artist in a frigid home better film a utopian image. Give me a minute to put on my half-fingered gloves and grab my ink pot -- while my husband expertly stokes the fire near my desk.

Outside our cloaked windows, I've discovered my daughter is building an igloo on the shore of our frozen lake. Shimmering. Romantic. Idyll. There is no way I'll chew her frozen boots soft like an Inuit mother.

-Robert J. Flaherty's own account of filming the first theatrical documentary film can be found HERE.
-Interesting background information on Robert Flaherty, and expeditions to the land of the Inuit, is detailed on Cinema Web. CLICK HERE
- Nanook of the North DVD information: at amazon.com. The ability to jump in and out of winter weather with my controller makes me giddy.

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.

Ice Houses That Make Being Cold Fun -- The Art Shanty Projects

© Lalla Porter. All rights reserved.

Weekends at the Art Shanty Projects on Minnesota's Medicine Lake are when all the action takes place. I enjoyed wandering around in the quiet of a Friday afternoon with two of my children. We made the town our own.

After the experience, I can wax poetic. The truth is I went while the temperature was a balmy global-warming 35F (2C), to see if it was worth exposing myself to the weekend windchill so that all of my kids could check out the little village on the ice.

THIS IS MY MENTAL IMAGE OF THE WEEKEND WEATHER

Photo © Glenn Gooch All rights reserved. Published with permission. Taken on a trip to NWT Canada, Glenn's excellent photo set titled North of Yellowknife gives another take on ice houses.

Imagine:  My Visit to Cape Cod

© Lalla Porter. All rights reserved.

Pick the row up, transform these cozy cottages into canvas tents, and plop them in Canada's Arctic Circle. Click on Glenns' link to see if your mental image coincides with his reality.

>Is this descendent of Arctic Circle Sami's really complaining about the cold on Medicine Lake? Yes.

The visit is worth the drive, but I will wait and suffer the crowds when the Walker Art Center runs shuttle buses of families out next weekend, or better yet, wait for February 10th, when local art cars are promised to be on the ice and let's for hope warmer temps. Yesterday's numbing wind is gone, but it's 0F (-18C) out there. Brr!

AT LEAST I DON'T DRIVE THE KIDS TO SCHOOL IN THIS FROZEN CAR

Photo © Jeff Harkness All rights reserved. Published with permission.

If the the concept of driving on ice worries you, Art Cars on Ice will only make you elated to be on terra firma. Surreal images of strange cars and even stranger objects on snowless ice in the rain sends my imagination off in about five tangents.

The owls on the roof of OurBurr Shanty are made with bark. I've seen the name of this shanty spelled two waya OurBurr and OurBrr. Rather than braving the aforementioned cold and knock on their door, I rely on the fact checking of Judy Arginteanu. If your curiosity about ice shanties is fired up, read her article, then dig out your warmest clothes and head to the beach.

© Lalla Porter. All rights reserved.