USC scientists and a team of undergraduate and graduate students journeyed this past summer to the Lena River in Russia, the world‘s seventh-largest river.

During the six-week research mission, a joint team of USC and Russian scientists and students studied sediment and water samples from the river as part of a global climate research project. The Lena River‘s increasing flow of water is believed to be affecting deep currents in the Atlantic Ocean, which in turn could prove to have vast effects on global climate.

A six-page article gleaned from USC student journals on the Lena River voyage appears in the December 2003 Carolinian. The following are previously unpublished images and poetry produced by Lauren Heath, a 2003 media arts graduate who accompanied the research team as a visual documentarian.

Just Visiting

Birch murder beautifully
lines the Russki cafe
Foggy from remnants of
grilled shashlik and
Poured baltika number 7
Laughter parades thru foreign visitors
Curious stares command attention
Parting glances, Smiles ensue
Locals provoke "Do you speak English"
in their native accent
Broken conversation
Facial expressions, Hand gestures
speak most eloquently
Nazderovya!

Incandescent Individuals

All the same
once the walls of
judgment and shame crumble
eat with our hands and mouths
frown with our hearts
laugh with our best friends
lash out with the same tongue
scream with the same lungs
protect our naked bodies
with cotton and sheep skin
paint our faces
crayon our hair, burnt sienna
mow our roads with speeding machinas
fish the fish
water the garden
drink the river
we share warmth together
we are cool together

Babushka

Fluff the dust with frayed footsteps,
Babushka
Your country loves you much
but their admiration pays you little
Babushka
Glass, plastic, for a ruble
Sift through the steel can
and take thy daily bread,
Babushka
Swollen ankles, worn face, hard eyes
This should not be where your future lies

Sand Of Glass

Bare feet, naked feet
Covered feet, overlooked
Warmth, sun, energy
Summertime at the Lena
Bury me, pains of reflection
Brown, green, blue,
luminescent rocks mingle
with the sandy earth
Cries of joy, screams of laughter
Bury me, overlooked
Life, Love
Children playing in the brown
green, blue shimmering
rocks resting with the
the earth, the sand,
the swiftly flowing life
the Lena