September 28th 2000

towards wellness:
how do you say 'yola' in english? ketch?
-a long, narrow, flat-bottomed rowboat...?
went rowing in th hudson yesterday as th sun set behind th new high rises on
th jersey city waterfront. not counting th coxswain, there were four of us
joining our efforts@ th oars.
...it only took me three weeks to be there by five-thirty on a wednesday
since my friend gaynor cote told me about this outfit- 'floating th apple'- &
yesterday, she managed to get away from her desk @ th united nations in time
to join th crew in a second boat. she tells me they actually have a couple
of dozen riverworthy vessels, some of them setting off from red hook in
brooklyn... i was fairly envious: th furthest we sailed from port was th
northern edge of battery park city- maybe there were too many beginners among
us- where gaynor told of crossing th hudson to th jersey shore on her earlier
outings.
my zitz(?)bones are sore for th first time since i was a student @ th martha
graham school of contemporary dance almost twenty-five years ago...! my lower
back is also feeling th effects, but not as bad as i feared from th initial
weariness after an hour (-& a half?) of pulling oar.
growing up in vega baja, a couple of summers when i was around fourteen we
had th most unusual boat- an 'arkansas traveler', a broad aluminum shell
made for drifting around ponds & down muddy creeks, fishing rod in hand. i
may have done some rowing on that boat, though i seem to remember we mostly
took it on family outings & would power it on those occasions w/ a
two-horsepower english outboard- a 'manchester seagull'?? not manchester,
ridiculous...
i just flashed on th last time i actually went rowing in vega baja: i'd been
up all night doing psychedelics w/ my outlaw friend raymond orsini & @
daybreak, we 'borrowed' a cousin's boat, dismantling a rusty padlock to get
into my uncle's beachfront property. we rowed out to th peñones-sharp
outcroppings of brown, calcareous rock that rise out of th ocean in a line
to define th inlet that is 'la playa de vega baja' - & picked sea snails-
'bulgaos' that we had my aunt marian's domestic & cook boil for us...she
made a comment about how back home in st. kitts they had some of those- only
three times th size, nearly big as yr fist!
anyway, th story last evening seemed to be not just about working on form &
technique, but about immediately developing & sustaining th awareness to
fully engage whatever level of skill one had in th service of building a
group rhythm- to rowing as a team.
not easy, but a beautiful, exhilarating, crucially meaningful experience for
me under th circumstances: developing th skills involved in teamwork- for
film production, for webprojects- seems to be th main task & focus of my life
these days...
bighugs, david=(8{>

wieder unterwegs?

- translation: en route again?

what can we do? we were born w/ th great unrest. our father taught us that
life is one long journey on which only th unfit are left behind.
-caribou eskimo to dr.knud rasmussen, quoted
by bruce chatwin in 'th songlines'

i finally read 'th songlines'. my friend marylou(merilu?) meibers, who passed
on last month, had recommended it to me- & chatwin as an author in general-
when it first came out...so i wanted to acknowledge her importance in helping
me set this direction...gonna miss you, ms.m...
i may adopt that term, 'th great unrest': all too often, when i start on th
theme of desire, people tend to identify it exclusively w/ sex- which is,
admittedly, th crucial area we tend to experience desire in relation to- but
think of ambition, aspiration, greed, hunger- even nostalgia & longing- & how
they all participate in th outward direction of a self that seeks its rest &
fulfillment in th objects & circumstance that pleasurably ensure its physical
survival & psychological coherence: in th obliteration of its own perceived
lack & incompleteness, & th control of its satisfactions...?
thru wander/lust/media.com as internet start-up i want to explicitly address
each of th elements in th company/project's name & build a business model
that grows from th realization of th limits of virtual 'content, community &
commerce' & its consequent contextualization in geography, localism & brick &
mortar shelters for our liferoutes.
i wd hazard a broad definition of lust, even: lust is precisely th human
tendency to distort th relationship between sex & desire by narrowing th
focus of sexual activity to th purely physical aspects of pleasure in order
to exclude th overwhelming emotional(-& arguably, spiritual)factors, charge,
burdens, circumstance, linkages?- th human animal nearly unavoidably
experiences as part of th vulnerability & breakdown in sense of self that
accompanies intimacy w/ another person, another body...
...in relation to wandering, i hear opposing notions in th culture:
you can only do yr true work in yr place of birth, vs.-
nadie es profeta en su tierra (nobody is a prophet in his/her own land?)
...further, correjter's beautiful copla-
en la vida todo es ir
a lo que el tiempo deshace
sabe el hombre donde nace
y no donde va a morir
(all in life is th going
towards th undoing of time
a man knows where he is born
& not where he will die- excuse th shaky translation)

-so i want to create a forum for exiles, emigres, expatriates(th more neutral
term) to discuss their succeses in adapting, th emotional discomforts &
thrills in finding a purpose for their talents & skills w/in an alien
cultural context...
i apologize to th collection of friends, family & passing acquaintances that
has become my audience over th last couple of years for th long silence. hit
a serious emotional bottom there. hello again. my current plans call for a
week in nyc & possibly new hiking shoes, a week in barcelona to restart th
ball rolling on getting th screenplay produced, then two weeks to hike th
250km from astorga to santiago de compostela, a week of recovery in galicia,
or an early start on returning to barcelona to allow for a stopover in
pamplona, & ideally, a stopover in amsterdam on th way back to nyc- puerto
rico. i don't think i'm voting this year.
big hugs & love to all,
davidj=(8{>