Mark wrote, "To me, a safe but sanitized society is not what I want." Mark, I bet you'll like this quote from JM Coetzee's Age of Iron. I keep thinking about it as this pfd - pretty frustrating debate - rages on. Makes me think of how differently we all define and value "life." Courtney In the picture you sent of the two boys in the canoe, for instance, my eye wanders from their faces to the ripples on the lake and the deep green of the fir trees and then back to the orange life jackets they wear, like water wings of old. The dull bland sheen of their surfaces quite hypnotizes me. Rubber or plastic or something in between: some substance coarse to the touch, tough. Why is it that this material, foreign to me, foreign perhaps to humankind, shaped, sealed, inflated, tied to the bodies of your children, signifies so intensely for me the world you now live in, and why does it make my spirit sink? I have no idea. But since this writing has time and again taken me from where I have no idea to where I begin to have an idea, let me say, in all tentativeness, that perhaps it dispirits me that your children will never drown. All those lakes, all that water: a land of lakes and rivers: yet if by some mischance they ever tip out of their canoe, they will bob safely in the water, supported by their bright orange wings, till a motorboat comes to pick them up and bear them off and all is well again. A recreation area, you call it on the back of the photograph. The lake tamed, the forest tamed, renamed....What can these two poor underprivileged boys paddling about in their recreation area hope for? They will die at seventy-five or eighty-five as stupid as when they were born...By no means do I wish death upon them...No, I wish your children life. But the wings you have tied on them will not guarantee them life. Life is dust between the toes. Life is dust between the teeth. Life is biting the dust. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Absolutely beautiful, Courtney. Thank you. The sentiment is very appealing, and reminds me somewhat of the ongoing debate about the concept of "wilderness", and whether the entire concept, which presumes "non-wilderness", is harming our planet. (Check out the magazine Orion. . . fascinating stuff.) And since we are in the business of passing along favorite quotes today, I'll give you one of mine -- albeit not quite on topic (whatever that is at this point). The quote is from Sterling Hayden -- yes, the actor -- who was also (I should say first and foremost) a renowned schooner captain: "To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen, who play with their boats at sea -- 'cruising,' it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. "Little has been said or written about the ways a man blasts himself free. Why? I don't know, unless the answer lies in our diseased values. A man seldom hesitates to describe his work; he gladly divulges the privacies of his alleged sexual conquests. But ask him how much he has in the bank and he recoils into shock and stubborn silence. "'I've always wanted to sail the South Seas, but I can't afford it.' What these mean can't afford is *not* to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of 'security.' And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine -- and before we know it, our lives are gone." It goes on. And every time I quote it for someone I can't decide where to stop. The quote is from Hayden's book "Wanderer." For many years, the book was out of print, but it has now been re-released. (I was actually kind of disappointed when it was re-released, as I collect older editions.) Hayden was a very interesting man. Hollywood didn't deserve him. Mark *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Sailboat Restorations, Inc. writes: > > <snip> > > It goes on. And every time I quote it for someone I can't decide where to > stop. The quote is from Hayden's book "Wanderer." For many years, the book > was out of print, but it has now been re-released. (I was actually kind of > disappointed when it was re-released, as I collect older editions.) Hayden > was a very interesting man. Hollywood didn't deserve him. [I was going to ask who the author was and where I could find the book as I couldn't find it on amazon - however I did find it on Barnes and Noble] author: Sterling Hayden ISBN: 1574090488 Price: 16.15 He also wrote a few other Sea Faring books that look interesting (Voyage and Down to the Sea). Glen Acord - Eugene, OR Member: WKCC, OKCC, UO/OP, OOPS Boats: Neckie Rip (WW) and waiting on my SK. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
At 08:57 PM 9/10/00 -0700, you wrote: >I bet you'll like this quote from JM Coetzee's Age of Iron. I keep thinking >about it as this pfd - pretty frustrating debate - rages on. Makes me think >of how differently we all define and value "life." Gonna have to read that book. (An excellent and thoughtprovoking passage snipped.) There are getting to be too many artificialities between ourselves and our experiences. This may be a bit off topic -- it's part of a column I wrote back when I was doing the magazine for the North Country Trail Association -- but it immediately came to mind: ------------------------------ Over the years, I've tried to give my daughter some pleasant outdoor experiences that, while it may not make her into an outdoors nut, will at least leave her with some motivations and experiences in that direction. Occasionally, however, this good intention backfires. One summer a few years ago, when she was about eight, we happened to be in Munising, Michigan. On the edge of Munising, there is a small volume but rather pretty waterfall, named, naturally enough, Munising Falls. I remember when there was nothing but a sign along the road, a small parking area, and a dirt trail leading up to the falls -- not all that many years ago, either. By the time I took my daughter there, the parking lot was twenty times larger, paved, and had a visitor center. There was also a paved trail up close to the falls, but you could still clamber up along a narrow ledge under the rim of the valley, up under the falls, themselves. It turned out to be a magical experience for a little kid, to walk under the waterfall. Two years ago, my daughter and I were passing through Munising, and she told me about how much she'd enjoyed the experience and wanted to go back and do it again. We hiked up the trail, to discover gates and guard rails and signs preventing us from doing what thousands of people had enjoyed. A risk of falling, it seems . . . although I didn't find guard rails along the Grand Canyon while I was there last summer . . . My daughter was hugely disappointed. "How could they do that?" she asked. "Get used to it," I told her. "Experience your delightful times in the outdoors when you can, because before long the developers and the interpreters and the insurance agents will be along to change a natural wonder and joy into a sanitized, safe experience. The best we can hope for is to let the developers have a few of the easy to reach ones, in hopes that we can keep them from some of the wilder, harder to reach ones." -------------------------- -- Wes *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
>There are getting to be too many artificialities between ourselves and our >experiences. "The world is too much with us, late and soon," no? >This may be a bit off topic -- it's part of a column I wrote >back when I was doing the magazine for the North Country Trail Association >-- but it immediately came to mind: [snip nice excerpt] Very enjoyable, Wes. It reminds me very much of a short story by one of my favorite writers, E.B. White. The story is called "Once More to the Lake." It tells of a similar return to a wonderful childhood place with the writer's son, only to find disappointment. . . A great little essay. Since it came up <g>, allow me to please offer a little plug for E.B. White. If you have children, you *must* get to know this great writer. Of course, ever since the recent trivialization and commercialization of "Stuart Little," at least that book has acquired some acclaim (although the true point of the story is, I fear, lost on the consumers of Stuart Little "stuff"). [Point of relevance: Stuart saved the day in one of the great boat scenes of all time.] White also wrote "Charlotte's Web," of course, which is a wonderful story, inspired by the fact that Mr. White didn't like people to kill pigs. And then there's "Trumpet of the Swan." . . . And for those, like me, who need a little help now and then with their grammar, Mr. White and Mr. Strunk gave us a famous little book known affectionately as "Strunk and White" (how clever). White was born right down the road from where I live in NY, and (like me) fell in love with Maine and made it his real home (great minds think alike, no?). And of course, E.B. also gave us Joel White, his son, who was one of the more inspired boat designers of the 20th Century. What a guy. Mark a little quote from Charlotte's Web to finish. . . "Do you understand how there could be any writing in a spider's web?" Oh, no," said Dr Dorian. "I don't understand it. But for that matter I don't understand how a spider learned to spin a web in the first place. When the words appeared, everyone said they were a miracle. But nobody pointed out that the web itself is a miracle." *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Regarding Hayden, BOOjum wrote: >[I was going to ask who the author was and where I could find the book >as I couldn't find it on amazon - however I did find it on Barnes and >Noble] > >author: Sterling Hayden >ISBN: 1574090488 >Price: 16.15 There is a page for the book at amazon. The link is as follows: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1574090488/qid=968696093/sr=1-3/104-9 605473-2859906 >He also wrote a few other Sea Faring books that look interesting >(Voyage and Down to the Sea). Voyage is not that great. It was written much later, and Hayden had his share of problems (alcohol being one of the primary ones). Hayden's big failure in life was that he succumbed to the McCarthy witch trials and "named names." He never lived it down. Mark *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
SRI writes: > Regarding Hayden, BOOjum wrote: > > >[I was going to ask who the author was and where I could find the book > >as I couldn't find it on amazon - however I did find it on Barnes and > >Noble] > > > >author: Sterling Hayden > >ISBN: 1574090488 > >Price: 16.15 > > There is a page for the book at amazon. The link is as follows: > > http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1574090488/qid=968696093/sr=1-3/104-9 > 605473-2859906 Except that B&N currently lists it as in stock 8) Not that it matters much, but I do prefer to shop Amazon over B&N. Glen Acord - Eugene, OR Member: WKCC, OKCC, UO/OP, OOPS Boats: Neckie Rip (WW) and waiting on my SK. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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