The price of flowers is skyrocketing, as anyone who has purchased an arrangement recently can tell you. We encourage our members to disassemble their bouquets from Valentine’s Day, birthdays, Mother’s Day, dinner parties, and especially Thanksgiving, and dry what can be dried for use during Wreath Week. Drying is not rocket science – put a rubber band around stems and hang upside down on a cabinet handle, door, or hook. Not everything dries well, but a surprising number of unlikely blooms do, and often look nothing like their original form. A dried rose is clearly still a rose, but during Wreath Week we spend time every year asking “What is this?” while holding up an interesting stem or pod. Sometimes they are blueberry twigs, or garlic scapes, or calla lilies, transformed. A bit of spray paint gussies up items that are a little too brown. There is brown (rich chestnut brown or deep mahogany,) and then there is brown (who tracked that in brown.) Below is a graceful wreath from 2010 with plenty of dried flowers, appropriate for an indoor setting.
The Arctic has long fascinated people from around the world. Learn how myth compares with reality through the experiences of an Arctic scientist and traveler.
Polar bears (not penguins!). Indigenous Peoples at home in a world of ice and cold. Dreams of wealth from furs and minerals. The Northwest Passage. For these reasons and many more, the Arctic looms large in our imagination. Join an experienced Arctic scientist and traveler to dig beyond our first impressions and discover why the Arctic may be even more interesting and relevant than we know.
For most people, the Arctic is a distant realm, full of unlikely creatures such as the narwhal as well as fur-clad hunters equally at home on ice floes as on open tundra. Nowadays, the Arctic also makes news for the rapid loss of sea ice and for the increasing development of resources and transportation routes. The changing Arctic affects the world’s weather and climate. Mineral development can disrupt traditional ways of life. China, Russia, and the United States vie for influence and opportunity in the far north. How do these stories intersect?
Led by an expert on Arctic science and policy, Henry Huntington, this interactive seminar will explore why the Arctic continues to fascinate us and why the Arctic matters now more than ever. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with an increased appreciation for the peoples, environment, and significance of the Arctic.
This January 5 Context Travel conversation is part of a 3-part series on the arctic with Dr. Henry Huntington. Each session is designed as a stand-alone seminar as well as part of the series. $36.50 per session – register by clicking the links below.
Henry P. Huntington earned his bachelor’s degree in English at Princeton University and his master’s and doctorate in Polar Studies at the University of Cambridge. He lives in Eagle River, Alaska, where he works as an independent researcher and on Arctic Ocean conservation for Ocean Conservancy. Huntington’s research activities include reviewing the regulation of subsistence hunting in northern Alaska, documenting traditional ecological knowledge of marine mammals, examining Iñupiat Eskimo and Inuit knowledge and use of sea ice, and assessing the impacts of climate change on Arctic communities and Arctic marine mammals. Huntington has been involved in a number of international research programs, such as the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, the Program for the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, and the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment. He was co-chair of the National Academy of Sciences committee on emerging research questions in the Arctic and a member of the Council of Canadian Academies panel on the state of knowledge of food security in the North. Huntington has written many academic and popular articles, as well as three books. He has made long trips in the Arctic by dog team, open boat, and snowmobile.
This 14 day Harvard Alumni itinerary is a fantastic tribute to the savannahs and primates of Uganda. It is an incredible journey into the Pearl of Africa, exploring the rich mosaic of different floras and faunas. Start with game drives and bush walks in the rich savannah plains of Kidepo Valley National Park. Then onto Murchison Falls National Park where you cruise the White Nile, view the magnificent Murchison Falls and explore the wilderness in your safari vehicle. The itinerary also includes memorable trekking experiences for both our closest relative, the chimpanzee and the mighty mountain gorilla and the thrilling chance to search the Ishasha wilderness for tree-climbing lions, hyena and other wildlife. A luxury, private guided safari portraying some of the best bits that Uganda has to offer. The trip begins June 2, 2022.
As the global situation regarding COVID-19 continues to develop, so do University precautions and protocols. Harvard is currently allowing fully vaccinated faculty and staff to travel within the United States and to international destinations rated Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 for COVID-19 by the U.S. (CDC). While many scheduled trip destinations currently may be Level 4, the CDC ratings remain in flux, changing daily. Since group travel is planned far in advance, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to confirm your study leader’s participation before cancellation fees begin for your program, but we remain hopeful the destinations offered will fall within the bounds of University protocols to send faculty. For pricing and complete details on itinerary and lodging, visit www.alumni.harvard.edu You do not need to be a Harvard alumnus to participate, to be clear. This trip is rated Activity Level 4, requiring that you be in good overall health and able to hike for 4 or more hours in relatively high altitude conditions.
