I’ve been frequenting Marlon James’ blog since I read his book John Crow’s Devil. He doesn’t post often, but when he does, it’s awesome.
His most recent post might be his best yet, even though it’s utterly gut wrenching. Is black culture “allergic to intelligence”? he asks.
“Of all the interviews I
sunrise_paddle.jpg
Originally uploaded by Suffering the Benz
Anyone who knows me knows my interests become obsessions pretty quickly. Enter my latest obsession: paddling.
I’ve been going out in the canoe one or two mornings a week, slipping out of the cove before sunrise and exploring the Tennessee River as day breaks. This morning I saw my first truly transcendental sunrise after a series of cloudy, brooding paddles. This photo barely does it justice. I had to stop and drift for a while just to drink it in.
As I paddle, I leave a trail of croaking, pissed off herons in my wake. Often they’re dead asleep on a dock or a rock as I approach and I get incredibly close before they awaken and take indignant flight. Other times the warily watch my approach and move on only when it’s clear there is no alternative.
This morning I cut immediately over to the south shore at Parks Bend after exiting Duck Cove and paddled downstream about 2.5 miles to Sequoyah Heights. There’s a red buoy there that I set as my goal, and when hit it, I crossed to the north shore and passed the osprey nest on Coulter Shoal daymark as I headed back upstream. An osprey chick and one of the adults were in the nest, taking off and flying around for a bit while I passed.
I’m going to start uploading my paddling pictures to a Flickr photoset called, appropriately enough, Paddling Pics.
Voting is open in the latest installment of Root Clip. I posted a note on the Maroon Ventures blog about this, so I won’t ramble on here. Just go vote. It’s very cool and worth checking out.