Cheese
Going through a presidential election in Antarctica
McMurdo is a strange place to go through a presidential election.
I don’t think it’s right to say it’s an apolitical place, because all the work that happens down here is ultimately political in one way or another. But besides a few hushed voices, besides a few searching looks, besides a few small pieces of paper that read “fuck fascist pigs” pinned to the entry hall cork boards in some of the dorms…life went on. It was disorienting and frightening to me, someone who fears for the future of not just Americans, but the entire world, with Trump’s re-election. The next four years (if, indeed, our democracy is strong enough to dispel Trump’s sure attempt to extend his presidency beyond the term limits set out in the Constitution) will be at best, chaotic, and at worst…well, let’s not go there.
Because at McMurdo we had our own problem. Not as consequential for the planet, but much more immediate: cheese for the pizza that every McMurdoite (McMurdoer? McMurdoan?) depends on for fuel and comfort was buried deep in a fortress of boxes on a cargo pallet, inaccessible to all. A sad, small handwritten side reading “PIZZA TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE” adorned the glass door we so fondly gaze at fresh, hot, melt-in-your-mouth cheesey-good pizza through.
The election is looking bad enough, I thought at dinner that night, and there’s not even PIZZA to get me through this???!?!?! It was dire, emotionally speaking, I have to admit.
Three days the pizza kiosk sat dark and cold. But pizza cheese, and with it pizza, finally made a dramatic return at lunchtime yesterday. I immediately took a piece to accompany the rest of my meal (whatever that was already forgotten), and I wasn’t alone. To see pizza on so many other people’s plates at once was oddly heartwarming.
Since then I’ve heard that the South Pole station lent some of their cheese to us, and that the Seabees (Navy construction workers currently on station) were called in to excavate the cheese (and they called it Operation Deep Cheese — a throw-back to Operation Deep Freeze, the US’s initial codename for establishing bases in Antarctica). Which of these is true — both? Neither? Who cares? There’s pizza!
As for the election: not that you need another person to weigh in, and I don’t really have a quippy explanation for what’s happened. I don’t think there’s an easy answer. And the semi-conclusion I do have is tough for me to accept because I so strongly believe we have a moral imperative to make personal sacrifices when necessary for the betterment of all. If we take voters at their word1 when they say the cost of everyday goods (like cheese…) was the primary incentive for voting for Trump, and even suppose Trump somehow would make grocery prices lower even though he’s very likely to do the opposite—well, groceries being expensive has been a challenge for me too, and something we should make every effort to improve, but at the end of the day, I’m willing to pay higher grocery prices and cut back on buying certain types of food to protect democracy, just like I’m willing to pay higher taxes for better schools, public transit, parks, and libraries. I know it carried more weight when I was financially insecure and felt this way than it does now when I’m relatively comfortable, but my fundamental feelings haven’t changed.
Harris’s loss is a resounding rejection of that belief system by the American electorate.
The most grace I can extend at the moment is this: if it felt like the cheese was buried on the pallet, not for hours or days or a week, but years, and it doesn’t seem like it’s coming back, but you can still remember what it was like when it was there, or you’ve heard about it? That sensation of warmth on your tongue, that security?
…
In some ways, hey, I get it. I’m descended from a long line of homeowners but will probably never be able to afford to buy a house. I’ve only just started making serious progress on paying off student loans I took out over a decade ago. But then again…it’s just cheese. Right? IT’S JUST CHEESE!
A big “if,” in my opinion, but sure, we’ll go with that for this moment. I’ll probably write something about feminism/being a woman in Antarctica soon.