Beauty Mountain

I’m reading Rianne Eisler’s Tomorrow’s Children, and really love her ideas on partner vs. dominator roles in education. She has outlined this concept with her books on economics, relationships, history. The first of her books I read (and that changed my life) was The Chalice and the Blade, that shows how some ancient societies functioned well in an egalitarian, partnership system. Further, that much of what we consider our history, is really an interpretation put forth to serve the agenda of dominator societies. Then the brilliant Real Wealth of Nations that really delivers a blueprint for a better, more equitable world by developing a “caring economics” that transcends traditional categories like capitalist and socialist, offering enormous economic and social benefits. And now, with Tomorrow’s Children, Eisler shows that a flourishing society can really begin with our children, by teaching them partnership, respect and global understanding.
It’s a scholarly, humanistic approach to addressing the issues of our times.

Do the best characters have the best “flaws”? My favorite characters have deep emotional and/or physical flaws balanced with extraordinary skills or traits. Katniss Everdeen of the Hunger Games, whose father was killed in the mines and mother basically checked out, has to take care of far more than any sixteen year old should. She has a wall around her heart, but the soul of a warrior, almost reminding me of the goddesses and gods from ancient Greece. Lisbeth Salander of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is truly damaged by her past as a victim of violent crime, but she’s gifted in her amazing ability to research, think differently and her f-you attitude. Or Little Bee, also so damaged by a past of being chased by evil men (the baddies), yet, by teaching herself “Queen’s English” she communicates in this fantastic, completely enchanting way. Lyra, of The Golden Compass, is wily, clever and bold, with a distant father and unknown mother. And what of the physical flaws? Speaking of Little Bee, the other protagonist in the story, Sarah, is missing her middle digit, yet tries to rise above her ordinariness to bravely save a life. And twelve-year-old Ren, of The Good Thief, is missing his left hand. Ren somehow keeps his goodness in the face of doing the bad things he needs to survive. Edgar Sawtelle, deaf, has a unique gift for communicating with the dogs they breed and train. And then there’s Harry Potter. Lightning bolt scar, extraordinary wizard.

How about parents? Do any great characters even have two parents? Of the ones mentioned above, Katniss and Lisbeth have only a mentally disconnected mother; Little Bee was orphaned; Lyra, distant father; (Little Bee’s Sarah, ordinary upbringing, but her normalcy is part of the issue); Edgar’s father died and mother went mad; Ren and Harry, orphaned. Can a great character have a happy childhood? Most of these characters have some truly transportive, joyful moments, despite hardship, like life. It can be hard to make your characters hurt, though. You want them to make the journey whole and happy, even if it will make for a boring read :). But sometimes your book has other ideas.

ibhubesi
I loved the close connection I felt to the big cats in South Africa. This year I am going to be guided by the absoluteness of cats. Power, awareness, decisiveness, curiosity, connection to the tribe, the power of yes…… Yebo!
And this African proverb, more than anything, even inspires my book:

Until the lion has her own storyteller, the hunter will always have the best part of the story.

ingulule

The words of Robert Frost surely stir something in my Yankee soul.

Oh, never this whelming east wind swells
But it seems like the sea’s return
To the ancient lands where it left the shells
Before the age of the fern;
And it seems like the time when after doubt
Our love came back amain.
Oh, come forth into the storm and rout
And be my love in the rain.
Robert Frost, from A Line-Storm Song

To receive everything, one must open one’s hands and give. -Taisen Deshimaru

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Here is another one of the river goddesses featured in the September issue of WNC Magazine, Juliet Jacobsen Kastorff.
Originally from Dallas, TX, Juliet fell into the hub of Washington, DC boaters who paddled the Potomac. At the time she was being a proper Washington workaholic: studying for a Masters at Johns Hopkins University and concurrently working as a waitress at the famous blues and jazz venue, Blues Alley and as a Program Coordinator for the nonprofit American Society for Microbiology. “The CIA had lots of paddlers. No chatting, though,” she said. “When I started paddling, it was the first time I did anything I wanted to be great at.” Eventually she wandered down to the Western North Carolina network of rivers, and the boating mecca of NOC. “I realized pretty quickly it was time for a career change. I was working on my Master’s to teach English. I decided it was time for me to see what it was like to live here. Instead of going to school and working two jobs, I would continue my Master’s at Western Carolina University and wait tables here at NOC.” Along the way, she met Ken Kastorff, who was developing a great reputation as one of the area’s best kayak instructors. “Ken was one of the most amazing instructors I’d ever seen. I said to him we should start a company. It was a time when IBM was stumbling. And Dell was coming up..” And, while she did start a career teaching English, she quickly discovered that the politics of the academic world didn’t fit with her new life. So, after kayaking on the Gauley River in WV, then Costa Rica, Chile on the biggest rapids she’d ever seen, and shadowing the best boaters she could find, she and Ken bought Endless River Adventures in 1993, a company that is now considered one of the country’s best places to learn to kayak. “I learned how to read rivers. I learned how to roll. I learned that rivers weren’t there waiting to beat you up. Ken flat out told me I wasn’t good enough to teach, and I went out and for two years learned how to teach from the best teachers. Now, I get to teach all the time. To this day, I am passionate about teaching. I never want to be the type of person who is afraid to look bad, to get out of my comfort zone. The whole goal is to make somebody better than you.” Juliet and Ken’s company Endless River Adventures also runs whitewater rafting trips and fly fishing adventures. And from Novemebr through the end of February they run kayaking expeditions in Costa Rica and Ecuador.
“Living in the (Nantahala) Gorge, I am part of a community of people who, kayaking is not a hobby, it is who they are,” she said. “It is great to watch families grow up in this environment. On the river you will bond unlike anything else.”

What is your favorite river?
I don’t have a favorite river. It can be the Little Tennessee, the Quijos River In Ecuador, the Ocoee. I just love any river I happen to be on.

Favorite Moment?
With a group of people below a rapid. The challenge, the sense of comraderie, and the satisfaction of having run that rapid.

Favorite music?
I’ve been a Deadhead for a long time. I also love jazz.

Favorite food?
Diet coke

Favorite restaurant?
Any place that serves peanut butter

Any hobbies?
Gardening. I love to play in the dirt.

Insiders Tip to WNC?
Stop and look around.

Who is/are your heroes?
There is not one specific, but teachers are my heroes. I so respect the idea of giving to others what you know.

What principle or motto do you live by?
Except that which you cannot change

Big dreams?
My goal is to celebrate my 85th birthday running Nantahala Falls. And it would be really great if some 28 year-old boy could carry my boat for me.

When we first arrived in South Africa, we spent a few days in the wine region of Franschhoek, hosted by the superb Annette and Barry Philips at The Garden House. Annette is seriously involved in helping feed and sterilize the many dogs and cats in the nearby township of Groendal, where I fell in love many times over. Annette is hosting a gathering to fund animal sterlization this week. Here are some of the pictures from our time in Groendal.

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South Africa has 11 official languages (not to mention the unofficial ones), which becomes evident as you travel around the country. It seemed like you could always hear three languages mixed together. I especially loved the subtle clicking language of the Xhosa, and the poetic Zulu greetings, like Sawabona (I see you), yebo (oh, yeah!), and hamba kahle (go gently).
Where do I begin about this trip? Perhaps simply with some photos, and, yebo, there will be many more, and oh so many stories, to come.

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ps, Happy Birthday, sis…. or should I say monkey whisperer

UPDATE! Check out the article that this post came from in the new issue of the excellent WNC Magazine,
The River Maidens, Ride the waves with WNC’s leading female kayakers featuring just five of the many river goddesses of the region.

Dixie-Marree Prickett is a self-described southern belle that likes to get her hands dirty and play outside. Dixie-Marree is from Clinton, SC, and, like Bunny Johns, was led to the mountains of WNC as a camper and a camp counselor, at Camp Greystone in Tuxedo, NC, and at Camp Green Cove in Zirconia, NC. After graduating in environmental policies at the College of Charleston, she moved to Jackson Hole, WY. The huge snows didn’t fit her. “I’m out,” she said, and headed back to her paddling community of Asheville. She became a kayak instructor with NOC’s satellite store in Asheville, competing and winning in rodeos and field meter races. Pyranha Kayaks picked her up as an athlete and she spent five years traveling in an RV, living on the river. “Every boating company had a team – a traveling gypsy band. I got the best of it.” Since then she’s boated in Ecuador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada, Turkey, France, Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, Austria, Italy and the USA. Now a manufacturer’s rep for Patagonia, she spends six months on the road during the selling season. “I still get to travel but I’m not gone as long. It feels much more balanced.” Paddling 15 to 30 days a month when she’s home in Asheville. “You couldn’t ask for a nicer Class IV-V in your own backyard.”

Favorite river and why?
I just was in Tibet-we paddled several different stretches of the Tsang Po and we also ran many other smaller rivers and creeks. My favorite area was the Sum Sum River and Valley which flows into the Tsang Po. Po means river in Tibetan. It was so beautiful I couldn’t stop crying.
And the Green just feels like home. It is so special because of the community.

Favorite moment on the river
On the Gauley in 2004. On Gauley weekend they ramped it up after 2 pm, and Pillow was at 10,000 cfs. My friends Katie, Little Dave and I were in playboats. It was so exciting, my ribs hurt from laughing so hard.

Favorite music
Reggae. It calms me down.

Favorite food
Mexican/Latin American and peanut butter and jelly

Any hobbies?
I like to make jewelry. I blow my own glass beads. I also love to cook and garden.

Favorite restaurant?
Sunny Point. It is the one place I always want to get back to when I am away.

Insiders tip to WNC?
Get in a boat and get out there. There is something for everyone.
I am seeing more and more people getting out in the rivers and creeks, and not just in kayaks, but in inner tubes, duckies. And there are more and more paddling clubs, many in North Carolina. There are so many ways to try getting on the river, it’s very user-friendly.

Heroes
Buffy Bailey Burge. She is an amazing kayaker and friend…. And mother She has a three year old and twin babies who are almost a year old. She is so humble and top class. I feel the most comfortable on the water with her.
Daniel DeLavergne. He was a leader in whitewater videography. He passed away in 2006. I was lucky to travel around the country with him in an RV. Daniel was always ready to fire it up and he was a huge motivator for me in kayaking.

Philosophy
On a wooden plaque that Daniel’s family had made. “Live well. Love much. Laugh often.”

Big Dreams, Goals
I want to do a girl’s trip to Europe. Do an all girls Take Europe By Storm paddling trip. Then get all the ladies over to Tibet, where I recently spent three weeks.

by Balakov
Found this via the brilliant A Photo Editor. I love these, there are so many all-time favs.