Gosh, I just enjoy reading your essays and the weaving you do with multiple stories to make it one. So beautiful! Sad thing - I have never seen Jaws. I can't seem to make the attempt, it seems scary to me.
I was a swim teacher from 15 to 26, it was a great time. I taught adults who were afraid of the water back then. City pools attract a wide variety of people and it does feel like we are more segregated now, it is a shame. You are a treasure for us. Your simple and touching voice I can now hear it my head(I’ve listened to enough of you on podcasts) is so reassuring and also a warning to me, maybe for others too, that the direction we are all traveling isn’t towards the good times. It looks like a rough road ahead. I really felts the tears in this one.
Gosh dang you have a knack for turning eyes into rivers!
I would ask you to please stop? But I know we’re long in need of cleansing.
Even if it’s by fire. Or swimming with sharks.
Thank you, my inspiration and terrifying standard. …I’m not entirely sure I could be navigating this lifetime without the words you’ve opened a vein to unleash and burn into our time with the light of true North.
What a beautiful story you've given to us. Your words come from a pure and sincere heart. I'm not surprised that they do. Even at a very young age you had the wisdom to fall in love with patience and kindness. The Great Spirit has blessed you.
So much to respond to. But at core, you said it all with “sharks are beautiful.”
Indeed, they are astonishing.
Wish I could show you a video I took of an octopus today. Nobody hates an octopus, but after today’s experience, I can never eat one again. And they used to be my favorite protein.
I was on Martha’s Vineyard summer of 74 on a church group bike trip and we stumbled on a filming staging area with a mechanical shark. We weren’t clear on what the movie was or who Steven Spielberg was (but who did back then). But that siting of the mechanical shark was my Jaws moment. Thanks for offering a different lens to view this experience. I am saddened by the fact that we don’t have many of these mass cultural events that blur out our many differences, with art and media being so fractured and individuated.
This was terrific. I still try to surf at 74 (I stress the word "try") and am always terrified of the ocean because of Jaws, just as I'm always a bit concerned when I shower after seeing Psycho when I was kid. But the real sharks today, as you imply, are outside the water.
Having said this, what I will remember most about this terrific piece is this: "There is bureaucratic racism. There is economic racism. There is cultural racism. There is cluelessness that is mistakenly perceived as racism. There is universal misanthropy practiced by total assholes. And then there is the outright rage and hatred directed at a specific group of people."
This should be repeated at least 5 times a year in every school in the country, not to mention in the House and Senate.
Well, the title is fantastic on its own, but this story transported me. So much feeling and experience and history and ommentary packed in here. You've hit it out of the park!
Wow. Great story. I think I saw Jaws at the army base theatre in Munich, Germany. Luckily no great bodies of water near us other than the Isar River. I can barely swim too and am terrified of the “ deep end” anywhere. Thank you Sherman.
"I’m not happy with our culture. I’m disappointed in the people who share my politics and the people who don’t. I’m especially disappointed in all those fiction writers and poets who are writing bitter work that increases our separation from one another."
My essay today was a rare piece of satire focused one of the uglier voices in our world right now. The lines above make me wonder if it was the right thing to do. Like you, I mostly write about connection, nature, shared values, how division is what those currently in charge (I tend to not want to think of them as leaders) want to maintain. But I struggle with feeling like I'm not doing enough to stand against the harshness being modeled at the top. It is a precarious place to be. Thanks for your perspective, Sherman.
Gosh, I just enjoy reading your essays and the weaving you do with multiple stories to make it one. So beautiful! Sad thing - I have never seen Jaws. I can't seem to make the attempt, it seems scary to me.
"quiet quitting" how sad and how evocative
I loved this essay, so much to think about in it.
I was a swim teacher from 15 to 26, it was a great time. I taught adults who were afraid of the water back then. City pools attract a wide variety of people and it does feel like we are more segregated now, it is a shame. You are a treasure for us. Your simple and touching voice I can now hear it my head(I’ve listened to enough of you on podcasts) is so reassuring and also a warning to me, maybe for others too, that the direction we are all traveling isn’t towards the good times. It looks like a rough road ahead. I really felts the tears in this one.
What a wonderful story- so much for me to remember from it. Who knew a movie about a shark could inspire such thoughts.
Gosh dang you have a knack for turning eyes into rivers!
I would ask you to please stop? But I know we’re long in need of cleansing.
Even if it’s by fire. Or swimming with sharks.
Thank you, my inspiration and terrifying standard. …I’m not entirely sure I could be navigating this lifetime without the words you’ve opened a vein to unleash and burn into our time with the light of true North.
🔥💃🔥
“Quiet quitting” … That really hit home.
It’s hard not knowing where you are or who. …And this is what it makes one feel like doing.
That’s why I started writing as a kid.
It’s also why I “quite quit” a little bit.
It’s exhausting to belong nowhere at all.
What a beautiful story you've given to us. Your words come from a pure and sincere heart. I'm not surprised that they do. Even at a very young age you had the wisdom to fall in love with patience and kindness. The Great Spirit has blessed you.
So much to respond to. But at core, you said it all with “sharks are beautiful.”
Indeed, they are astonishing.
Wish I could show you a video I took of an octopus today. Nobody hates an octopus, but after today’s experience, I can never eat one again. And they used to be my favorite protein.
I never thought about this. Stupid me.
I was on Martha’s Vineyard summer of 74 on a church group bike trip and we stumbled on a filming staging area with a mechanical shark. We weren’t clear on what the movie was or who Steven Spielberg was (but who did back then). But that siting of the mechanical shark was my Jaws moment. Thanks for offering a different lens to view this experience. I am saddened by the fact that we don’t have many of these mass cultural events that blur out our many differences, with art and media being so fractured and individuated.
This was terrific. I still try to surf at 74 (I stress the word "try") and am always terrified of the ocean because of Jaws, just as I'm always a bit concerned when I shower after seeing Psycho when I was kid. But the real sharks today, as you imply, are outside the water.
Having said this, what I will remember most about this terrific piece is this: "There is bureaucratic racism. There is economic racism. There is cultural racism. There is cluelessness that is mistakenly perceived as racism. There is universal misanthropy practiced by total assholes. And then there is the outright rage and hatred directed at a specific group of people."
This should be repeated at least 5 times a year in every school in the country, not to mention in the House and Senate.
Touching and beautiful.
Well, the title is fantastic on its own, but this story transported me. So much feeling and experience and history and ommentary packed in here. You've hit it out of the park!
Wow. Great story. I think I saw Jaws at the army base theatre in Munich, Germany. Luckily no great bodies of water near us other than the Isar River. I can barely swim too and am terrified of the “ deep end” anywhere. Thank you Sherman.
"I’m not happy with our culture. I’m disappointed in the people who share my politics and the people who don’t. I’m especially disappointed in all those fiction writers and poets who are writing bitter work that increases our separation from one another."
My essay today was a rare piece of satire focused one of the uglier voices in our world right now. The lines above make me wonder if it was the right thing to do. Like you, I mostly write about connection, nature, shared values, how division is what those currently in charge (I tend to not want to think of them as leaders) want to maintain. But I struggle with feeling like I'm not doing enough to stand against the harshness being modeled at the top. It is a precarious place to be. Thanks for your perspective, Sherman.
As a person who grew up beside the ocean, sharks are indeed beautiful. It's just wise to stay away from them.