Tag: nsf
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Induction McMurdo
Here’s the thing about arriving at McMurdo: It’s kind of like diving into your first week at college. You have a series of orientation sessions, a bunch of classes in different buildings with random numbers, and you meet a lot of new people with names and roles that are hard to keep straight, while also…
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Getting There
For such an enormous bird, the landing was admirably smooth, and once all post-landing checks had been completed, the hatch was opened. Long before we felt the cold, we could see our breath in the air, as the moisture levels in the cabin met the declining temperature. I had read about how stepping off the…
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The C.D.C.
The plan was that I would be on the flight from Christchurch to McMurdo on November 11th. The morning of November 10th, then, I had to be at the Clothing Distribution Center to be outfitted with my Extreme Cold Weather gear (hereafter known as ECW). A few months previous, I’d sent in my sizing for…
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Christchurch
Thursday, 7 November 2019 The last time I was in New Zealand, I was making what I thought was the trip of a lifetime. It was January 2018, and, assuming a trip to Antarctica was unlikely, this was the last gap I had to fill in my research. New Zealand being the jumping-off and landing…
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The Medical
When Apsley Cherry-Garrard was applying to join the Terra Nova Expedition, he was told to turn up at the Expedition offices ‘prepared for a full medical examination.’ Presumably it all happened in one go. Mine was … not like that. I know that most people reading this blog are looking for entertainment, but perhaps you…
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The Spectrum of Selection
It was May 31st, 2018 that I submitted my application to the Antarctic Artists & Writers Program. The automatic confirmation of receipt said that it would be a few months before I heard anything. That was all right. I had lots to do. That summer I was busy writing the script, designing characters, and assembling…
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The Joy of Grant Applications
A spot on the USAP’s Artists & Writers crew is, in effect, an NSF grant. One is not paid for one’s time there, but it is no insignificant expense on the part of the National Science Foundation to house one, feed one, and move one around a continent of ice. Therefore, the application process is…
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Before the Adventure Begins
Originally published 28 September 2019 In November of 2019 I will be going to Antarctica with the US Antarctic Program’s Artists and Writers initiative, which takes a handful of creatives down to the US bases in Antarctica to get the word out about the science being done down there, and increase public awareness of the…