Big Dead Place

May 16, 2005
When Johnson went to work for the U.S. Antarctic Program (devoted to scientific research and education in support of the national interest in the Antarctic), he figured he'd find adventure, beauty, penguins and lofty-minded scientists. Instead, he found boredom, alcohol and bureaucracy. As a dishwasher and garbage man at McMurdo Station, Johnson quickly shed his illusions about Antarctica. Since he and his co-workers seldom ventured beyond the station's grim, functional buildings, they spent most of their time finding ways to entertain themselves, drinking beer, bowling and making home movies. The dormlike atmosphere, complete with sexual hijinks and obscene costume parties, sometimes made life there feel like "a cheap knock-off of some original meaty experience." What dangers there were existed mostly in the psychological realm; most people who were there through the winter developed the "Antarctica stare," an unnerving tendency to forget what they were saying mid-sentence and gaze dumbly at the station walls. And if the cold and isolation didn't drive one crazy, the petty hatreds and mindless red tape might. Though occasionally rambling and uneven, this memoir offers an insider's look at a place that few people know anything about and fewer still have ever seen. Photos.

June 1, 2005
Everyday life in modern Antarctica is not the struggle against the forces of nature that is often portrayed in the stories of the early explorers. Instead, in Johnson's tome, it is filled with the mundane tasks required to keep a community functioning (cooking, cleaning, construction) and to support the U.S. presence on the continent. Johnson, who has worked in Antarctica for several years, most recently on garbage detail, here tells the story of life in the small and isolated McMurdo station. From inane Antarctic personalities and events to frustrating bureaucratic games, Johnson offers readers an unsentimental, sometimes even bitter, view of what it means to work here. While some readers will find the language offensive, this humorous and and often wittily sarcastic account of a place that people tend to romanticize should be read by anyone seriously considering working in Antarctica; it is also the only book available that shows modern Antarctic life and culture from the worker's perspective. As such, it is recommended to larger travel and social science collections. -Sheila Kasperek, Mansfield Univ. Lib., PA

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