Happy New Year à la bohême
Midnight at McMurdo on 1/1/2020 Conditions: Temperature 34°F, (23° with windchill); partly cloudy. Population=826 Since our arrival on the ice, I've struggled to describe the people who come to McMurdo. I've made categories in my head: the 20-35 year old here for adventure (and a few hook-ups) prior to entering that rat race; the career McMurdian who comes year after year and for whom McMurdo is their life; the scientists who linger on periphery of the community both literally and figuratively, occasionally removing their icy wet suits to jump into the warm pool of McMurdo life; the Air Force personnel for whom McMurdo is just a six week trip to the zoo; and the older McMurdian getting one last hurrah before retiring to grandchildren in Arizona (is that me?) But the categories, in truth, don't hold up. Whenever I try to nest an individual in a pigeonhole, I find that person is not a pigeon but a penguin. Then, in an email to Lauren, it hit me....