Antarctic Artists and Writers Collective Event, April 29

I was invited to this Zoom Webinar by Professor Leigh Ann Christain (better known to us local poets as Annie Christain). I had recently seen the movie Concrete Cowboy (available on Netflix) & one of the panelists was Greg Neri, author of the YA novel Ghetto Cowboy upon which the movie was based. As often happens with such events, I had little idea what I would be seeing & hearing but was easily drawn into the fascinating stories & images the 3 writers presented. The other panelists were Susan Fox Rogers & William L. Fox.

Trish Suchy from AAWC gave a brief introduction to the organization & its programs that brings artists from all genres — writing, photography, music, performance art, etc. — to the Antarctic for inspiration, exploration, & collaboration. The participants are from the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program (AAWP). SUNY Cobleskill is a partner in this effort & is where Professor Christain, who served as the chair of the panel, teaches.

Greg Neri read poems that were inspired by his visit to Antartica & the photos he took there. He said he did little writing while there & based his poems largely on the images he had taken & on his memories. He was charming -- intellectual, warm & poetic.

Susan Fox Rogers is the editor of the anthology Antarctica: Life on the Ice (2007); she a writer, teacher & birder. She described the “extraordinary silence” of the continent, & commented on how “ugly” it is. She said that as she went to each settlement she would ask "where you sleep, what do you eat, & where do you pee?" Sound about right to me.

Science writer & art critic William L. Fox read from an essay titled “Building on Ice,” full of facts & figures about Antartica, commenting upon the “immense contradictions” of the place, the kind of things I like hearing in "travel literature," not that I want to plan a vacation there.

You can find full biographies of the panelists on the AAWC website which also contains information about their programs & about their members. I’ll leave the travel to Antartica to others, it gets cold enough here in Albany, where I also know I have warm places to pee.