1. If you’re going to try to describe the High Arctic, begin in the middle. Start with the pack ice. Its slow, flat movement. Its turquoise depth. How strange it is to stand on an island drifting in the current. How the pack ice waited until we had a brief electrical failure to close around the ship for twelve hours, at the far northwest edge of Svalbard, closer to the North Pole than any human town. We were confident and giddy in the midnight sun. We danced on the deck. We took up smoking. We led a fencing clinic. We played dice with gummies as currency. #arcticcircleresidency #svalbard
