Steve Mentz is professor of English at St. John’s University in New York City. His environmental- and blue-humanities publications include the books Ocean (2020), Break Up the Anthropocene (2019), Oceanic New York (2015), and Shipwreck Modernity (2015). During his Landhaus fellowship, he published the poetry chapbook Swim Poems (2020) and completed An Introduction to the Blue Humanities, forthcoming from Routledge in the summer of 2023. He (still) tweets @stevermentz and blogs at www.stevementz.com.
Steve Mentz writes about five ways of seeing the Steinsee, an Alpine lake close to the RCC Landhaus (based at an eco-farm outside of Munich), where he stayed during his RCC fellowship. His last day at the Landhaus is also the shortest day of the year, and the lake, though covered in ice, still entices. To Steve, the lake is an eye, open to the world. The water is an invitation to swimmers when the air is cold, and also on warm summer days. It reflects, it distorts, it creates connections. Through prose, images, and poetry, Steve encourages readers to dive in.
