aurora borealis

Nina sees a project through from a distant beginning to a colorful end, or at least to a plateau, a stopping-point with AuroraLive — a collaborative live/online project happening on 05 February – tomorrow! I recall back to 1998 when she and Stephen Kovats visited Tornio when I was teaching there – on their way to the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory for consultations. the aurora borealis is a scintillating visual experience. catching the eye at unexpected moments, mind cannot first untangle the electromagnetic information that the darkened sky is swirling, and neck immediately gets a crink between the cold and the angle of view. unlike the dark-sky spectacle Lyrids in temperate June or the Persieds in warm August — too damn cold to lie down and watch the aurora usually. needful of dark warmth, no Lights, back to earthen gravity floor and face to the eye-soaking mesmerizations. once I saw them in Arizona. as this is a darksky place, especially to the north, on the rim of the horizon, a glow where no far city plasma should be. I discounted the vision until confirmed later. at the latitude of Casablanca. a reminder of polar lives.