Big Dead Place : Inside the Strange and Menacing World of Antarctica

Johnson’s savagely funny [book] is a grunt’s-eye view of fear and loathing, arrogance and insanity in a dysfunctional, dystopian closed community. It’s like __M\*A\*S\*H__ on ice, a bleak, black comedy.”—__The Times__ of London 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. Johnsons savagely funny [book] is a grunts-eye view of fear and loathing, arrogance and insanity in a dysfunctional, dystopian closed community. Its like M*A*S*H on ice, a bleak, black comedy. The Times of London Welcome To Big Dead Place, A Grunt's Eye View Of America's Antarctic Program That Shatters The Well-worn Cliches Of Polar Literature. Here The Heroic Camaraderie And Romantic Desolation Give Way To Sterile Buildings Populated By Characters Like A Crazed Manager Who Fills His Boots With Antifreeze, Boozy The Clown, Ghosts That Haunt The Food Freezer, And Horny Employees Who Grab Rare Private Moments Coupling On The Altar In The Chapel Of The Snows. Also Included Is A Glossary Of Antarctic Slang And Bureaucratese, And 16 Pages Of Color Photographs.--book Jacket. Foreword / Eirik Sonneland -- Frozen Realm Of Mystery -- The Offshore Account And The Alien Abduction -- Little America -- The South Pole -- The Most Peaceful Spot In This World -- The Grinder And The Projected Mayhem Index -- The Ice Annex And The Medevac -- Disaster City -- The United States Exploring Expedition -- The Antarctic Service Awards -- Faith In Science -- The Ironworker And The Russian Bride -- Asbestos Memo 1 -- Asbestos Memo 2. By Nicholas Johnson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [255]-257). Is it the pristine but harsh frontier where noble scientific missions are accomplished? Or an insane corporate bureaucracy where hundreds of workers are cooped together in hi-tech communes with all the soul of a suburban office park?Welcome to Big Dead Place, a grunt's eye view of America's Antarctic Program that shatters the well-worn cliches of polar literature. Here the heroic camaraderie and romantic desolation give way to sterile buildings populated by characters like a crazed manager who fills his boots with antifreeze, Boozy the Clown, ghosts that haunt the food freezer, and horny employees who grab rare private moments coupling on the altar in the Chapel of the Snows.The Foreword is by Eirik Sonneland, who claims the longest unsupported ski trek in the continent's history. Also included is a glossary of Antarctic slang and bureaucratese, and 16 pages of color photographs. I STEPPED FROM MY ROOM in the upper hallway of Dorm 202 to go for a piss down the hall.