Newsletter #174 - The Ice Storm
Beauty and fragility
A few weeks ago an ice storm blanketed the area where I live.
The ice coated everything around my property in a half-inch layer of crystal.
I'm always drawn to these fleeting moments of transformation – when familiar landscapes become alien and enchanted overnight. There's something magical about how temporary it all is, how this perfect crystalline beauty exists only for a few hours before disappearing.
Whenever I hear the term "ice storm," I always think about Ang Lee's 1997 film, "The Ice Storm."
Set in suburban Connecticut during the winter of 1973, it follows two families navigating personal crises as a literal ice storm descends.
The film uses the ice storm as its central metaphor - a perfect visual representation of its characters' emotional states. Everything appears beautiful but dangerous, revealing but distorting.
The ice creates a fragile veneer that threatens to shatter at any moment.
There is also a key party, but we won’t get into that this week.
As I photographed the trees and branches encased in ice, I kept thinking about how this metaphor applies to our world today.
Like the film's 1970s setting, we're living through a time of cultural division and political uncertainty. Technological changes are reshaping how we share and connect with people. Economic anxieties are affecting how we live and raise questions about our collective future.
In the movie, the characters maintain a frozen facade of suburban normalcy while underneath, everything is fracturing. The ice storm simply makes visible what was already true.
The beauty of ice is how it transforms what it covers. It doesn't always destroy - sometimes it preserves. It reveals structure and form in new ways, while simultaneously creating fragility.
By the film's end, after the storm passes, the characters face a changed landscape. Some connections are strengthened, others permanently broken. The facade can never be fully restored.
I wonder what will remain altered after our own metaphorical ice storms pass.
Which structures will prove resilient? Which will crack under pressure? Which might emerge transformed into something new entirely?
I have no idea. I'm freezing. I can't wait until spring.
ARE YOU SUBSCRIBED?
If not, hit that button below. This newsletter usually comes out once a week. The main stories will always be free but you can pay and if you send me your mailing address I will send you something special in the mail.
You can also support this newsletter by hitting the “like” button or sharing it with a friend.
Thank you!
Zach Vitale knows his way around a key party or two.
Kristen Neufeld is looking for pure magnesium chloride ice melt. Please message her if you have any connections.
noahkalina.com / Instagram / Threads / YouTube / Bluesky
Lovely photos.
Of note: Ang Lee's movie was based on a novel by Rick Moody, who grew up in Connecticut.
Beautiful shots, but how on earth were you able to walk around on that slippery ice?