Glaciers: See Them Before They're Gone

I’ve always been impressed by the incredible spectacle that glaciers provide. I can’t think of a better way to see the forces of nature in action. Natural climate change accelerated by man-made global warming is causing many of the world’s glaciers to recede at a rate faster than ever recorded. Some of the glaciers most accessible to travelers are in danger of disappearing in our lifetime. So if you want to see them, travel soon and bring your camera.

Here’s where to see some of my favorite glaciers that are accessible without too much effort:

Glacier National Park, Montana: The largest concentration of glaciers in the Continental United States is melting away. According to the park website “The glaciers in Glacier National Park are melting. In 1850, 150 glaciers covered the landscape. Today in 2006, there are only 27 glaciers left inside the park, a 75-80% decrease. If current warming trends continue, it is projected that between 2030 and 2050, there will be no more glaciers in Glacier National Park.”

Glacier National Park offers the chance to see the disappearing glaciers from your car or from a bus tour. Hikers and backpackers can get much closer to the action.

Mer de Glace
Photo Credit: Christopher Gould

Chamonix, France – This fabled winter resort in the shadow of Mont Blanc is home to Europe’s second largest glacier, the Mer de Glace. A cog-wheel train travels to the glacier from the center of Chamonix in only twenty minutes. There’s a spectacular overlook and little cable cars will take you down to the glacier itself where you can explore a man-made ice cave, the obligatory glacial attraction. I love the unearthly blue glow within the ice with the constant dripping in summer. The industrious French don’t let the drips go to waste; the meltwater of the Mer de Glace generates electricity in a little hydroelectric station.

The steps to the Ober Grindelwald Glacier
Photo Credit: Becky Gould

Grindelwald, Switzerland – The postcard-perfect Grindelwald Valley is home to a walk-up glacier (if you don’t mind a 1500 step wooden staircase). The Ober Grindelwald Glacier is a small glacier that’s receding up its valley. It is a perfect geology lesson as you walk up the small valley with less and less life as you approach the glacier, the bare rock just recently uncovered for the first time in centuries.

Inside Ober Grindelwald Glacier
Photo Credit: Christopher Gould (timer)

Glacier Bay, Alaska – Glacier Bay National Park offers a large-scale version of the same geology lesson where the enormous Glacier Bay has been uncovered in the last 250 years as glaciers receded. Most visitors visit the park aboard cruise ships – it’s only accessible by water and air.

Viewing Hubbard Glacier from Radiance of the Seas.
Photo Credit: Becky Gould

Disenchantment Bay, Alaska – Located in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Disenchantment Bay is home to Hubbard Glacier, the largest tidewater glacier in North America. Tidewater glaciers advance all the way to ocean waters where huge pieces “calve” and break off with a thunderous sound. Hubbard Glacier is advancing and its face measures over six miles wide. Cruise ships have recently begun to visit this incredible glacier.

Bernardo O’Higgins National Park, Chile – Hubbard Glacier’s South American twin is the Pio XI Glacier. South America’s largest tidewater glacier is most easily seen by cruise ship or tour boat.

typhoon xangsane in the philippines

"In Laguna, the PNRC chapter reported that 31 people had died in floods and a landslide as of September 30, 2006. At least 3,283 houses are destroyed and another 8,768 damaged."

one of the things i have been super busy and stressed with in 2006 has been the setting up of a small home cottage workshop in the philippines, where auntie millie is, and we have successfully trained a main sewer who has since also learnt how to cut patterns, 1 main sewing assistant, and 2 learning apprentices. we have provided these non-high-school graduates, who would otherwise have been jobless and living in poverty in the countryside, with a means of livelihood, a skill, a full-time proper-paying job, and a home.

i drowned my sorrows last friday night with b and 2 close friends who were the only ones who understood what i do and have been doing, because i was woken up by an early 6am morning phone call on friday, that the house we had rented as the workshop and living quarters for them, has been entirely flooded by the typhoon. my brand new computer there is now a goner. 2 brand new industry sewing machines in water, and my brand new delivery van is now under repair. power has been out for 5 days, still out most of the day now, and will reportedly be full restored only after 3 weeks... no electricity, no nothing. my mum has strongly advised me to buy a power generator, so i guess i'm getting one soon. i can tell that she feels very stressed and disappointed for me as well, but has told me to be strong and continue with what i have to do... i've tried to perk up over the weekend, occupying myself with stuff... it's getting harder as the shit piles up, and more and more business people decide to owe me money, and things like paypal screws up when it's not supposed to... sometimes i just feel like giving up and not put up a smiley front all the time... i'm just saying all these now, i'm leaving to re-stock littleoddforest merchandise at the esplanade shop an hour from now, and i'll be all 'smiles', again.... :(

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4223578.html

another storm on the way while power is still not fully restored... power generator not there yet... sewers are upset as we have just spruced up the place a few months ago after the 2 new apprentices moved in....

thanks for all your kind regards, i'm really touched by all your emails and phonecalls.. i'm fine, just not very verbal about sad stuff, i can type it out okay, but am really bad at saying it or showing it on my face.. so please forgive me for not knowing what to say over the phone and over dinner today...

a lunch date

i had a nice little lunch date last saturday, with a littleoddforest regular customer cum sms friend cum bitching partner, mandy or demightyshiva as she likes to be called, heh

she would be the third customer-friend person (that sounds gawd damn awful! i don't know how else to call it. haha) whom i've gone out with, since she has blogged about it, i have to as well!! no, it's because she's so freaking nice! in a sarcastic har-har kinda way, but nice. you can tell.

she baked me yummy mini-muffins!!! (she's yellow-skined mini mandy martha stewart, you know) i shared it with b, lana, s and gang and they all ate with envy.

she got me sweet little presents as well, knowing how much i miss chicago and love cats (she abhors them, though not nearing anywhere at all to shedding any kitty blood), she got me lovely kitty magnets from the museum shop while in chicago on holiday, how thoughtful of her!! and yes, evil her got me potbelly's freebie fridge magnet as well, still attached to their menu?? that's not so nice of her as it was hell imagining the smell but not being able to have any!?? see, the evil nice kinda person she is :p

it's nice to know you, kinda freaky though, what with the number of coincidences we share... primary schools, ex-colleagues, friends.... and for the last time, i'm not puny. petite is the word. and you're not very large either! hahaha aren't you shorter?? heh. and yes, wine makes my tummy churn, even with food. i'm a hard liquor, beer kinda girl. drinking session next time yah? :p

paypal problems

Dearest littleoddforest shoppers,

It has come to our attention that many of you have recently tried to place an order with us and make payment via Paypal unsuccessfully. We're really terribly sorry about this!!!

This is a Paypal glitch, and is no fault of ours, our email and business information are all valid and verfied! It has been frustrating, and Paypal is supposedly still trying to solve this payment problem now.

We do not wish for you to have an unhappy experience shopping at littleoddforest, so this is what we propose to solve this problem -

If you'd still very much like to go through with your orders, do reply to this email with your order details - Item/ Specifications/ Quantity, and also your Name and Shipping Address.

We are able to manually send you a Paypal invoice for you to make payment for your orders.

Sincere apologies for this hassle, thanks so much for your kind understanding and hope to hear back from you soon!

xoxoxo!

A Vintage View of the Matterhorn

I've been busy working at the Ava Gardner Festival this weekend, that's why there have been no lengthy posts. My next post will be about visiting glaciers before they're gone. That made me think of this great view of the Matterhorn, from my collection of vintage travel post cards. This view is a hand-tinted photograph taken in 1898.

If you're interested in climbing the Matterhorn, I talk about that a little on the Kensington Vacations website -- click the photo of the castle next to "Seeing the Sights."

Photo Credit: Christopher Gould Collection

what is indie

If it's cool, creative and different, it's indie

POSTED: 3:36 p.m. EDT, September 22, 2006

By Catherine Andrews
CNN

(CNN) -- Sean McCabe said he remembers when indie was truly indie.

"I spent my formative years going to record shops and spending hours hunting down obscure things," the 35-year-old art director from New York said with a laugh. "It was indie on every level."

But, McCabe said, things have changed.

The term "indie" traditionally refers to independent art -- music, film, literature or anything that fits under the broad banner of culture -- created outside of the mainstream and without corporate financing.

In music, for example, the term refers to music produced and funded by any band or label not affiliated with the four or five major corporate labels like Sony or Epic. The same holds true generally for the music and film industry.

Eugene Hernandez, editor-in-chief of indieWIRE, a site dedicated to independent movies, said the definition of indie was founded on the virtues of self-publishing and self-releasing books, magazines, tapes, records, and just about everything else from buttons to clothing to posters.

"If you're going to be as strict as possible, the only definition was DIY -- do it yourself," he said, referring to the ethos of the punk bands and labels that flourished in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Ryan Schreiber, the editor and founder of Pitchfork Media, a popular online magazine that chronicles the indie music scene, said the definition also embodies a sense of idealism and an anti-corporate attitude.

"[The term] has also, for years, been sort of the de facto label for an entire subculture of idealistic artists and music fans who place a lot of stock in the idea of making music for yourself or your friends, rather than for profit or popularity," he said.

Richard Nash, who runs New York-based Soft Skull Press, an independent publishing firm, said indie outfits are not necessarily beholden to the same profit-based bottom line and shareholder pressure that most corporations are.

They are, consequently, freer to publish and release products that may not have tremendous commercial appeal. "In our situation, we really do recognize that what we do is not always economically rational," he said.
Indie's meaning evolves

Since the scene's inception in the late 1970s with the advent of punk, some say that the term indie has evolved into something that has far less meaning than the original rebellious, creative, do-it-yourself aesthetic.

"For me indie is convenient to use as a term, but it's hard to actually accept that it actually exists on any meaningful level now," said McCabe, who is best known for his work with Interpol -- a popular band from New York City who, coincidentally, just left their indie label to sign with Capitol, one of the largest major labels around.

According to critics, indie is now nothing more than a branding tool: a highly commercial and money-driven movement, more concerned with marketing a particular image instead of culture with a truly independent nature and passion for its art.

In May, Dave Cool, a Montreal-based filmmaker, released "What is Indie?" -- a documentary that takes a look at indie musicians and attempts to determine what being indie actually means.

With major labels and corporations now handling distribution for some indie record labels and major film studios buying or inking deals with what were once independent film studios, the definition has become "irrelevant at this point," Cool said.

As far as films -- their content and development -- are concerned, indieWIRE's Hernandez has had to relax his definition as the waters of independent film become muddier.

"You just know it when you see it," he said. "An indie movie either sort of feels right or it doesn't. For me, an indie film is one that is made outside of the traditional Hollywood system, typically driven by a filmmaker who is in control of the project."
Corporations catch on

The adoption of indie music by corporations started in the mid-90s, when Nirvana, a fiercely independent rock band from the state of Washington, exploded onto the mainstream. Their success and wildly loyal fan base -- both of which continued to exist after lead singer Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994 -- convinced mainstream radio and labels that their kind of music could be popular.

"There's always been this idea that if independent music was given wider exposure that a lot of artists would appeal to a broader audience," Schreiber said.

"The popularity of bands like Nirvana and Sonic Youth in the early '90s proved that to an extent, and we're now beginning to see that again with bands like Modest Mouse, Death Cab for Cutie, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs."

The same happened in the movie industry with the success of films like Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction."

Consequently, the lines have been blurred between the two camps.

For example, smaller music labels, eager for financial success on a wider scale, have adopted business practices of major labels once considered anathema in the scene, like hiring PR firms and street teams to market their records and licensing songs to advertising companies.

Conversely, major labels and film studios now use the indie tag to market authenticity, often slapping an indie label on a piece of art, even if the label isn't necessarily accurate, to attract a hipper, younger demographic eager for original and offbeat entertainment.

"Films by those big companies tend to get a lot more of the attention and sort of get perceived by the mass public as being indie when maybe they aren't really and those films may take attention from the really indie films made for just a few hundred thousand dollars," Hernandez said.

Yet there are many examples that prove simply inking a deal with a corporate entity doesn't mean compromising an idiosyncratic artistic vision.

Bands like Sonic Youth and Built to Spill, who have signed with major labels, and directors like Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola, who have made films in the major studio system, have largely retained their authenticity and identity.

Meanwhile, many independent hip-hop labels that have distribution deals with larger corporations have developed and promoted acts that never cross over into mainstream pop culture.
Internet fuels indie growth

Another factor that has erased the line between what it means to be indie and what it means to be corporate is emerging technology like the Internet and file-sharing systems that have allowed for more accessibility and better distribution for smaller labels and imprints.

"The Internet is definitely the most significant influence on indie culture at the moment," Schreiber said.

Online outlets such as iTunes and MySpace have made it easier for fans to find original music, or for bands to set up their own sites and distribute their own music. And video uploading sites like YouTube allow aspiring filmmakers to showcase their work to potentially millions of people, without viewers ever having to step inside a movie theater.
story.superchunk.gi.jpg

Mac McCaughan of the band Superchunk co-founded Merge Records in 1989.

"The limits of physical retail don't exist in the digital world," said Glenn Peoples, a popular music blogger and veteran of the entertainment industry.

The Internet has erased the need for a brick and mortar shop, allowing for even the smallest of music labels, clothing boutiques or magazines to become available to the masses.

But technology has also made a prime staple of independent culture -- its exclusivity and autonomous nature -- nearly obsolete, diluting the intimacy that the scene often defines itself by.

"Because independent music sprung up as an antidote to the mainstream, there's probably always going to be an overarching sense of superiority there -- people who believe independent music is inherently better than pop music," Schreiber said. "But elitism exists in every subculture, so I don't know if it's an intrinsically indie attribute."

Susan Shin, who was a DJ at her Wellesley University's independent rock station for four years, was more fervent about the consequences of the increased attention.

"From the perspective of a die-hard hipster from the days of old, publicity for [indie artists] means that more people know about them," she said. "And if everyone likes them, they become a bigger name. I feel it's an affront to me that someone with vapid tastes could be exposed to the stuff that I like.

"But again, that's because I'm a snob."
A culture that's here to stay

Most observers, however, think that, despite big business dipping its toes into indie waters, true independent culture can survive, though the definition might remain ever-changing.

Plenty of indie labels like Dischord Records in Washington, Merge Records in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Drag City in Chicago, Illinois, are thriving. Independent films often make splashes at prominent film festivals and once in a while even snag an Academy Award. Independent publishing firms, though scarce in number, are slowly gaining more clout.

And even if indie doesn't literally mean independent, do-it-yourself art any longer, that doesn't mean it will ever fall off the radar. "These days indie is more of a philosophy," Cool said. "If you can maintain control and integrity over your art, whether on your own or with a corporation -- that's what's important."

The indie spirit has been commodified and re-envisioned as a marketable lifestyle just like punk, alternative and grunge before it, Pitchfork's Schreiber said. "But those are all permutations of the same very resilient subculture," he said.

"If the last 30 years are any indication, after every last cent has been wrung from it, it'll just burrow back underground and continue on its own terms," he said. "You can't kill the ideal."

CNN's Curt Merrill contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/19/indie.overview/index.html

The French bed...

Here is a photo of the French bed I mentioned in my previous post which I bought at Shepton. Isn't it dreamy? We are going to have a hard time finding a mattress and base for it because it is a slightly awkward size, measuring about 3 feet 10 inches wide, but we will eventually sort it out. It is so lovely that I think it will be well worth the effort.

Cant you just picture it all dressed up with vintage linens and quilts?!