Breaking the Ice
 For Kim and Lois Anne Harris, a spring term sabbatical trip to the frigid climes of Iceland proved to be a life-changing experience, one that the Jewell communication professors expect will resonate with the warm glow of memory for many years to come.
 The team of veteran Jewell professors spent three months headquartered in the capital city of Reykjavik . Kim, who directs Jewell's theater programs, went to study the Icelandic sagas, the heroic accounts of the country's heritage passed down from generation to generation and eventually recorded in texts written between the 12th and 13th centuries. Lois Anne, who teaches communication courses and is advisor to The Hilltop Monitor student newspaper, planned to investigate the issues surrounding the country's astoundingly high literacy rate, which officials place at 95 to 99% of the population.
What unfolded during their stay was a remarkable journey of personal and professional discovery that in many ways defied the couple's expectations of a country and culture that is known for a lack of warmth in both its climate and its people.
“We had an opportunity to meet so many people, including the director of the national library, the senior minister of the national church and the directors of the national theater and the national museum,” Lois Anne says. “We were invited into so many homes for so many wonderful experiences.”
In preparing for the trip, the Harrises encountered multiple references to the “Arctic stare,” a term coined by W.H. Auden to describe the Icelanders' emotionally distanced demeanor.
“But when you start talking with them, that melts right away,” Lois Anne says.
  Get-acquainted conversations often centered around three recurring questions: Where are you from; what do you think of Iceland ; and what do you think of George Bush?
“There is a tremendous dislike of pretension,” Kim says. “The people are defiantly non-hierarchical and independent. A common saying in the country is that Iceland is a nation of 280,000 people who believe that they are a nation of 280 million. Someone said that the country is a shrimp that thinks it's a whale.”
The couple quickly discovered that the study of the sagas and the study of literacy were inter-related, as the sagas provide a common cultural bond and a link to the formation of reading skills.
For Kim, the Icelandic sagas offered a way to pursue his lifelong interest in basic human conflict: “From the time I was a child, I've never understood why people fight and go to war. It's such a huge question, and the Icelandic sagas provide a microcosm for studying those issues. This is a group of Viking-farmers who came together and created the first modern parliament in 930. That tension between blood vengeance and the law was fascinating to me.”
In her examination of the country's claims of literacy, Lois Anne discovered that officials lack a shared definition of what constitutes literacy, which makes accurate measurement virtually impossible to document: “It's a very homogenous society, and the language has not changed at all over time. I had an opportunity to interview some of the country's top experts in literacy, and the more in the know people were, the more they seemed to question some of the claims of near-universal literacy.”
 The tangible end result of the sabbatical study will be two separate projects. Kim will be writing and producing a play built around the Icelandic sagas; Lois Anne will be working on a paper documenting her study of the country's literacy issues. But perhaps more important are the intangibles resulting from the Harris's life-enriching experience.
“ Every single thing I do will be affected by this experience,” Lois Anne says. “My teaching of multiculturalism and pluralism will certainly be directly affected. It is an incredible gift to us, and in the end to our students.”
Weeks after their return to the states, the Harrises continue to assess the lingering impact of the trip on their lives, along with the unexpected bond they forged with the Icelandic people.
“I didn't expect to meet people who became close friends, and I didn't expect to experience a spiritual commonality,” Lois Anne says. “I honestly never felt so accepted and so connected in my entire existence.”
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