Title
The Ship, The SS Universe Explorer
September 14, 1999
The sky's light this evening was a yellowy rose as we sailed toward the straits of Juan de Fuca. In the distance we could see British Columbia's Mt. Baker receding. Land was still close at hand, pretty islands and discrete land shapes gradually growing less distinct as we steamed on.
My father looked quite confident in his blue blazer with his silvery features and hair. He exhibited a warm, outgoing strength and friendliness, as he went to meet the parents of the students coming on board.
The captain, Don Ryan, said tonight in his introduction in the ship's largest room, the Union, to the newly arrived students that, as captain of this ship under maritime law, he has more power than judges, lawyers, and police over us.
Life on board the ship is influenced by its architecture; labyrinthine passages, and two narrow main corridors on each deck, like those of an airplane. Students sleep outside for the adventure and because their rooms are crowded.
What about life on board? Students walk down corridors and attend classes. People gather at meal times in the two dining areas. Group life centers around the Union, meal times, classes and in people's rooms. People go out to the decks for fresh air and exercise. There are almost no plants on board and generally there are very few ships on the horizon so life is focused within the ship's bounds. There are a mass of students (627), so many it's quite easy not to know everyone aboard and to continually recognize new faces.
Core course, a daily class which all Semester at Sea participants are required to attend, seeks to provide a common forum and lectures which help the community learn about and understand the ten different countries we'll visit. Coordinated by Jack Harris and Lori Barker-Hackett, they have focused so far on the how people's perceptions influence what they see. "Core" provides a venue for the approximately 30 professors to present short talks about their fields of expertise as they relate to the voyage and the themes of globalization, multiculturalism and life on the planet in Japan, Hong Kong, China, Viet Nam, Malaysia, India, Egypt, Turkey, Croatia, Italy, and Morocco. Students will be quizzed and graded on these lectures.
Initially in core course, Lori told the story of the elephant and the four blind men who, when asked to first touch an elephant without knowing what it was, and then describe it, each described their part very differently.
September 20, 1999
Yesterday the waves were calmer and most of the passengers had gotten over their seasickness. The sun came out and people were sitting at all the tables at lunch on Promenade deck near the Harbor Grill Cafeteria. New friendships have formed and students are beginning to concentrate on their studies.
The layout of the ship. (Diagram) Most of the Semester at Sea Participants - students, staff, faculty and senior adults - live and interact on six main decks: Sun deck, Observation deck, Promenade deck, Upper deck, Main deck and Hollywood deck. The ship is laid out, like aisles in a large passenger airplane, along two main passageways on each deck with many cabins off each corridor. There are two main passenger dining rooms, about 7 classrooms, a small library, a computer lab without Internet access and the union, a room organized around a circular center which can hold 300 - 400 people, about half of the Semester at Sea passengers. The bookstore, and the field office lie between the Harbor Grill and the union where much of life onboard takes place. The Core Course which is mandatory for all Semester at Sea participants is held in the Union with a closed circuit TV broadcasting the event to satellite classrooms.
The ship itself is designed to house, feed and a community . It's a self-sustaining unit.
Thursday, September 23, 1999
People seem to be growing more comfortable with one another. Life is settling into familiar routines. I don't hear many people complaining about sea sickness. We lost a day on Monday, September 20, 1999 as we passed across the dateline at exactly noon. We were approximately 50 miles from the Aleutian Islands steaming toward Japan. In the field office we finished with Sale 1 and distributed a Statement of Confirmed Trips today. Tomorrow students will have a chance - alternate day - to sign up for trips which still have space in them. I work with Karen Burns and Rain Banbury. D'one Brende, Shawna Miller and Graciella Moreno are our work studies.
As I practiced my bagpipes this evening around 2100 hours on observation deck, with the big sky and the moon, and the silver swath of the moon constantly rippling and shifting in my sight as the ship moved, I was amazed by the scale of openness of the vistas. All I see is black sky 18 - 20 miles in every direction with no obstructions, ships, city lights, car or other city sound - just the sound of the ship moving through the water.
Friday, September 24, 1999
We arrive in Japan on Monday. The Field Office is busy putting invoices into students' boxes. I spent 13 and ½ hours in the office yesterday. I've missed core course for a number of days now due to Field Office deadlines. I see my parents infrequently because I'm so busy, but I'm looking forward to traveling with them in China, Cambodia and Italy.
I've been reading Brian Morris' Anthropological Studies of Religion. Hegel's attempt to grasp human reality in a cosmic whole is a seminal anthropology of religion concept. Herodotus lays claim to the first historical record of describing 'the other,' in his case the Persians.
Saturday, September 25, 1999
After 9 days of cool North Pacific autumn weather, the temperature warmed yesterday evening. Humidity is in the air this morning in my cabin without portals 6 levels down from the top. We arrive in Japan the day after tomorrow having traveled about 8,000 kilometers or 5,000 miles fueled by bunker oil in this 600 or so foot ship. It amazes me that except for the craft in which we move, we have seen so little evidence of human life. The views from this ship's decks, 360 degrees around, of sea and sky are primal, possibly similar to views our ancestors might have seen 100 million or even a billion years ago. So far we have only seen the distant lights of one or two ships and a far off glimpse of the Aleutian Islands. Other than humans, there is almost no other plant or animal life on this vessel. And except for the breaching of a whale, few of us have seen fish or birds. We heard there was a nuclear war that had destroyed all life on all continents - and it could have been the case for all we know - but someone squelched that rumor.
Semester at Sea voyage-related communiqués and information travels to and from the main office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania mostly via e-mail and fax. The public can call or fax for $12/minute or $12/page through the radio room. We get about 3 Xeroxed pages of news everyday, posted near the main stairwell, which include US headlines, some stock market and sports data, and a few personal interest stories.
Sunday, September 26, 1999
Dynamic data is one of the key bases of computing and knowledge in general. Corporations and all institutions which use computers - a global trend - all orient themselves around constantly changing information which is continually moving faster and faster. At lunch my parents, Joyce Binam, the computer specialist on board, and I ate lunch with Richard, the just retired head librarian at Harvard University. I mentioned how one of the key problems for libraries in this time of rapidly changing technologies is how to store data in a lasting fashion when the drives and readers of different kinds of media are changing every couple of years. Data migration may lead to data loss. Acid free paper is still one of the longest lasting media. Richard, who is working on the Jstore project, said that paper is just too costly relatively to digital media. Richard, grew up in Connecticut, went to Wesleyan and lived quite close to where we lived in Hamden, Connecticut when my father was an associate professor at Yale at setting up community health plans. He now is spending his splitting his retirement between Florida and Connecticut.
Last night, the entire ship heard a cultural preport lecture about Japan with Administrative Dean Ed Glattfelter giving a brief overview on the Tokugawa and Meiji periods in Japanese history and Barbara Peterson showing slides of beautiful Kansai Japanese architecture including Himeji Castle and many temples. Roy Berko talked about nonverbal communiciation and Japanese culture. Steven Breese (Winbigler) talked about Noh and Kabuki drama.
How is Japan moving into the digital age? What will we see in the streets and on the ground as this ship full of Westerners comes to Kobe, Japan?
Monday, October 4, 1999
We left Japan two days ago after visiting for five days. The Japanese's orientation to the future as seen in their technology, their rebuilding of the port of Kobe for the 21st century, their collective sense of cohesiveness, their consistent warmth, friendliness and helpfulness impressed me. While an orientation to precision, to miniaturization, the working within limitations and lack of defense spending after WWII seem to have contributed to their economic success.
Their city's urbanization, the lack of space and green in the cities I saw, the tightness of the buildings were less satisfying.
What the students pay and receive
9 November, 1999
Except for looking out toward the vast ocean around us, most of us have no interest in the thinking about or exploring the space just beyond the decks of the ship. It's nothing space. Our minds are mostly focused on the microworld of the ship, the people the ideas, our friends. Even ideas, generated by the news for example, from the U.S. or wherever we come from, begin to lessen in significance. We can only receive a 4 page news brief.
11 November, 1999
Jason Proctor tried to climb down the ship to touch the water last night on his own while inebriated, slipped out of the life buoy and fell into the ocean. In the 100 years of collective experience on the part of the ship's officers, they have never successfully found a man or woman who fell overboard. Last night we all were lucky, all the safety procedures worked and we found him. A quick thinking proactive student threw in the water about 5 life buoys which were essential in visually spotting Jason soon after.
Everyone on the ship had to muster after 1 a.m. last night to determine who was on the ship. Many people were up until about 3:30. Much of the ship's community was drawn into the drama that Jason's foolishness produced. His death would have cast a pall on the community as have his foolhardy actions. Students' alcohol use has since come into question.
12 November, 1999
The Statement from the Executive Dean in the Dean's Memo read
In the early morning of Nov. 10, 1999, the S. S. Universe Explorer experienced a traumatic Man Overboard emergency. A student of the Semester at Sea program, Jason Proctor, went overboard while tampering with life-saving equipment on the port side of the ship off of Prom Deck. The emergency occurred at latitude 15 50.6 N, Longitude 41 30.3 E; the bridge received the emergency call at 0030. A Williamson turn was executed by the ship and the student was recovered and taken into a Universe Explorer boat, manned by six crewmen, at 0110; he returned to the ship by 0116. The fact that the student was in the water for only 40 minutes is testimony to the professionalism and superb seamanship of the Captain, Officers and Crew of the S. S. Universe Explorer. As a consequence of his actions, Jason Proctor is being dismissed from the Fall 1999 voyage of Semester at Sea and will depart from Egypt. He is presently under medical observation with limited visitation. Other matters related to last night's incident are still under investigation.