Sunday, February 7, 2021

Weekend wanderer


I put up a post yesterday about a lovely 96-year-old man I interviewed last week in connection with a new book project. In the post, I recounted this man's brush with history on a tragic night in 1968, split by the firecracker sound of gunshots. The second bullet fired shattered his skull. I shared how he reinvented his life after he recovered, with high purpose that hasn't ebbed even now. But after I pressed publish, I got to thinking about the fact that my contact with this man came through my book subject, and was part of my research for our work together. Even though the facts I shared in the post are all in the public domain, still I wasn't sure if my writing about them here might infringe on our agreement. And so, erring on the side of caution, I took the post down. When eventually the book is published, perhaps I'll put back up some version of the yesterday's post, because it was a life encounter that moved me, and I'd like to record it somehow beyond the book, which isn't my story, but my subject's.


In the meantime, with the snow coming down outside on this quiet Superbowl Sunday—how different from this day one short year ago—here are some photographs taken in Jamaica by my niece Arrianne, aka @visionarri, our weekend wanderer, who travels around our little island documenting its beauty with a lover's eye. That's Arri above with her trusty camera, and drinking coconut water from a roadside vendor somewhere in the country. Her photographs of Jamaica nourish me, and make me grateful that no matter where I am planted, that spectacularly beautiful island with shores kissed by a turquoise sea will always be my heart's first true home. 






11 comments:

  1. Stunning pictures, and so welcome in this cold northern climate. If I came from there I'd miss it too!

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  2. Beautiful pictures making me homesick for our once upon a time paradise home in the Indian Ocean.

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  3. Oh, how I long for some sort of ruby slippers that I could click three times and be there in an instant! Although I've never been to Jamaica, it somehow calls to me fiercely.

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  4. It is so beautiful there. If I traveled I would want to go there and walk those wave-kissed shores.
    I had wondered what happened to the post. I went to read it a second time yesterday and it was gone. I look forward to the follow-up when the book is published.

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  5. Now I want to go to Jamaica! Ocean, warm breezes, sunshine, what's not to love?

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  6. The beauty of Jamaica is so much a part of you, always with you, sustaining you from what seems like a world away.

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  7. Oh my, I think if I went to Jamaica, I might not be able to leave! How beautiful it is! What a paradise!

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  8. I wondered where Bob went...makes sense to be cautious. Those photos are delicious, stunning, I can almost feel and smell the turquoise sea. how lovely- and how lovely the girl! Jamaica me better.

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  9. I agree with your decision about the former post, and love these pictures.

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  10. There is a BBC TV series, (new series on at the moment) called " Death in Paradise" that I enjoy. It is filmed on the island of Guadeloupe and it looks so beautiful. The English detective has a shack on the beach where he lives, with the sea only a few yards away!

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  11. What a beautiful place. I would like to be there immediately.

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