Frank Hurley is arguably one of the best Antarctic Photographers of all time. I’ve known and loved his photos since the start of my infatuation with the continent, but I only recently picked up his book. Turns out he was also a wordsmith. His short account of life with Sir Ernest Shackleton aboard the Endurance showed that there was much more going on than the photos he snapped. The pages have snippets of diary entries, detailed accounts of conversations, and poems that he wr

It’s been over a month now since I’ve gotten back from the Arctic. I could have written this then but I wanted to be sure. I wanted to be sure that it was real. That I wasn’t on some post expedition high that I would dwindle down from and say “oh, it was ok”. But that has not been the case as I still can’t find the words to describe the trip. Even this blog is a futile effort. And yet it’s ONLY been a month. I can already see the ways the connections, the knowledge gained, th

This trip has been years in the making. It must have been at least 5 since I’ve heard about it. A couple more for me to hear more about it and learn of its impacts. And now the time is finally here. In a couple days I’ll be going North with over 120 students from all over the world. Many of them consider the starting point of Ottawa to be very far South. This trip will change the lives of everyone on board. Opening up new interests, relationships and learning things we didn’t

What does it mean to be Educated? What does it mean to be Educated? Have you ever had a conversation and walk away thinking…”Wow that person is so smart?” Now what about that conversation made you feel like that person was smart? Was it the spectacular vernacular they used? Because they bragged of their Ivy League education? Was it because they knew about about current events? The way they dressed? How they held their head high? Knew which red wine was the best? Is there on