Solstice

God Jul och Gott Nytt År!

Happy Holidays--all of them.

Two days until Solstice and four days until my Donars family arrives!

Cold and snow in the air are the harbingers of the Solstice. Göteborg really felt like winter this week. Cold, wind and snow that is not melting (no real accumulation, but a lining of white here and there). And even though the snow did not pile up, there is nothing like a strong cold wind and snow in the air on a winter night... I am romanticizing winter these days. Call it winterphilia. I love it.

Maggan informs me that snow is on the ground in Ljusdal, it shall be a white Christmas for us! I meet Kerry and the kids at the airport in Stockholm on Wednesday, and then it is onto a train bound for Ljusdal, Maggan, Alex, Jacob, Ulrik and all! We are hoping to eat a lot of Maggan's great food (she told me that the freezer is full of moose) and in between meals we hope to ski, skate and just be together! I am so excited.

This time of darkness is a time of amazing light. The Swedes make sure that candle light fills just about every room…from the fika room (break room) at the Institute for Cultural Geography to every café…candles and "star lights" are everywhere. It seems to be such a basic aspect of people relating to nature…worshiping the light during the dark time of the year (note, the Swedes worship the light during the light time of the year as well.) Thank goodness for earth based ritual.

Christmas is quite the event in Haga (my neighborhood, above). Each weekend there is a "Julmarknad" (Christmas Market) in the street where you can buy food, gifts, etc. or just wander and enjoy the music and energy--the streets are packed and lively. Here are a couple photos of a youth orchestra marching band, the Göta Lions! They were terrific…I stood on a corner and watched them perform--sort of like the Christmas City of the North Parade! (Duluth reference).

Here is my favorite Christmas picture:

It is a memorial to Raoul Wallenburg, a Swede famous for his efforts to house, protect and ultimately save the lives of thousands of Jews in Hungary during the Nazi occupation. Mr. Wallenburg was captured and executed by the Soviets in 1947. I walk by this memorial often and was surprised one day to see it transformed by Christmas trees for sale. I found it exceptionally beautiful.

Here's to the wonder of the good deeds of people and to the beauty of winter! I wish you all snow and cold, with warm places to appreciate the winter outside...

Joy on Hönö

Although December is not the recommended time to explore Sweden's West Coast, I recently spent time on the island of Hönö. I was there for a workshop exploring the question: What belongs in a changing nature? Needless to say, it was a very engaging, if not challenging, workshop (Don't use the word "joy" in a presentation with a group of academics...long story and lesson for me about how language closes minds). Anyhow, I want to share some images of December on the islands…all that you can find in books and on the web are pictures of June-Aug. But you’ll see that December can be beautiful too…

This is the island of Hönö. About one hour from city center via bus and ferry.

The village is an interesting mix of traditional and modern.
















Everything grounded in rock.












Ice in this picture...I can't wait for every bay and every
lake to be frozen (wishful thinking?)...långfärdskiskor! (back country ice-skating!)

















This is a picture of Vahur, from Estonia. Varhur presented his work in "re-photography" at the workshop. Re-photography is the use of replicated images of an exact site to provoke thought, present change or challenge perception...it is a great tool for interpretation and Vahur expanded my ideas of how I could be using this idea as an educator. Anyhow, one great thing about this year is meeting people from far away places; Vahur is the first Estonian I have ever met...

Nobel

I attended the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Stockholm yesterday. It was thrilling to be a part of a tradition that recognizes contributions many have made to human understanding. It is a great example of Sweden’s international effort and reach. This is a small country with a global presence that is well beyond it physical size and population (Carl Linnaeus, Abba, IKEA, Tiger Wood’s wife Elin…need I say more?). December 10th is one day when much of the world turns to Sweden. Note, this photo below is from the Nobel web site and is the banner for last year’s ceremony, but my pictures inside the auditorium are so bad…

The Swedish flag above the stage of the Stockholm Concert Hall during the 2008 Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2008 Photo: Hans Mehlin

Here is the briefest of primers on the awards…Alfred Nobel, a Swede, established the Nobel Prize and funded it via his enormous wealth (he invented dynamite--interesting to think about that…); He vowed that great advances in Science (chemistry and physics), medicine, literature and Peace (and, eventually economics was added) should be recognized regardless of national origin. Given the timing of the establishment of the Nobel Awards, the peace prize was “given” to Norway to acknowledge the longstanding peace between Norway and Sweden and the peaceful split of the Union between these two friendly neighbors (i.e. Norway’s final step in a long awaited independence from both Denmark and Sweden). The Norwegian Nobel Commission was charged with awarding the peace prize each year (hence Obama in Oslo) and the Swedish Commission awards all of the others. The ceremony at Stockholm’s Concert house is “noble”—solemn, yet celebratory pageantry! A Nobel Committee member gives a speech about each recipient (in Swedish) and then the King awards the medal—(I’m not sure how they get their 1,000,000 USD?). And between each step is music--really lovely.

One poignent moment of the ceremony this year was watching Nobel laureate Charles Kuen Kao's apparent confusion on stage (the man hailed as the father of fibre optics). He is suffering from Alzheimer’s, which reminds us of human tenure and vulnerability amidst the power of such an event.

I attended the Stockholm ceremony with the other Fulbrighters and we celebrated after with wine and a Thai feast. I can honestly say that the interaction with my fellow Fulbrighters in Sweden that makes me feel a sense of great possibility. These people are doing important things in many fields from cancer research to documentary filmmaking. While Nobel is limited to recognition of rather traditional categories of “great thought and action” (with the Peace Prize representing the most broadly defined of the awards) there is so much other thought to celebrate. Thus, watching the awards and being around such creative thinkers as the other Fulbrighters, I can’t help but be reminded of the incredible depth of human potential...some of it we find a way to award and some we can just be thankful for.

The Nobel Awards have a bit of the Oscar type buzz surrounding them…a long line of limos for the VIPS, elegant gowns or tuxes for the VIPers, etc. And the day-after gossip in all the Swedish papers. In reading the coverage, it seemed that the Queen took the biggest hit from the press, with one katty reporter asking why she wore used drapery from the castle for her dress…and another proclaiming it her “worst year.”

My photo Journalistic credentials continue to decline, but I do have a number of roofscapes that I would like to share. What is a roofscape? In this case it is the scene from my hotel room in Stockholm…another way of looking at the city and thinking about people and space. I get a similar view from the gym where I have been doing yoga in Göteborg and have developed a fondness for seeing cities from this perspective. It is a different view that we don’t think about so often—a metaphor for my time in Sweden. I have had the wonderful opportunity to live in Sweden, twice--two of the most challenging years of my life! And, I don’t think the challenge is about Sweden. It is what one learns about oneself that makes such adventures so difficult and rewarding. You’d think the anonymity of a far-away place would make it easier to dodge life’s big questions, but actually, I think it makes them that much more present…