Cameron McPherson Smith: In my professional, money-making life, I'm an archaeologist at Portland State University (PhD, Simon Fraser University, 2004), and a freelance writer (a published member of the Authors Guild). In my non-money-making, but semi-professional other life, I'm an explorer, with expeditions over the past 15 years taking me from Africa to Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Colombia and Ecuador. I'm working on this series of expeditions in the Arctic to build experience for a solo trek to the North Pole in the next few years. I'm also working on the Manteño Expedition. I've recently written about the Iceland expeditions for The Summit Journal, as a sort of preview to my book, Crevasse!. You can find more about me on my website at cameronmsmith.com.
Or, you can just read the following lines, written by a 19th-century clerk; they about say it all, for me:
"It is needless to describe the agonies I endured while sitting, hour after hour, on a long-legged stool, my limbs quivering for want of their accustomed exercise, while the twittering of birds, barking of dogs, lowing of cows, and neighing of horses seemed to invite me to join them outside."
Robert Ballantyne, clerk at York Factory, 1843-1845.
