Natural Resources, Waste and Abuse
posted by Sybil Vane
We spent a day at the Gulf this weekend, mostly in St. Pete. I hadn't been to this side of the Gulf coast in years and years, and LVee had never been. My god it is so beautiful. And so very quiet in St Pete (but maybe it always is? I don't know what it's usually like as a summer town). It felt like elegy, being in that clear water.
*******
Yesterday we had this plan. It was Mr Vs plan, not mine, so the logistics were poorly considered and lazily implemented. After breakfast we drove north for awhile to go to a state park that has natural springs that flow down into a lovely cool pool of cold freshwater. We stopped and rented some tubes on the way and pulled into the park to find a line of cars and a sign saying the park was filled to capacity; no one else in for 4 hours. I nodded knowingly. LVee whined. Mr. V grumbled. We fiddled with Blackberries and navigation tools and drove to another park 10 minutes away, where tubes would be irrelevant but where there is a natural spring fed pool for swimming. There, we were greeted by another line and a 'overfull' sign. Vee became despondent. Mr. V and I adopted the "goddamnit this is a vacation and we WILL have fun," attitude that has driven so many movies to box-office success.
We returned the tubes (nice guy gave me a refund) and drove around aimlessly for a bit until we came to a canoe rental "operation." Guy tells us how much to rent a canoe, that it will take 4 hours to "canoe" (which he assures us can really just be floating) down the river where a bus will pick us up and bring us back to the car.
Fine. Ok. Canoeing. We have minimal water and sunscreen and no bug spray but THIS WILL BE FUN.
I've never been in a canoe before y'all. I shouldn't have been in front really.
So, there we go. This was not a river one "floats" down. 85% of it was incredibly narrow and full of "s" turns. We had to paddle pretty much the whole time. It took us 5 hours, more or less constantly paddling (someone, in fact, someone who can't use internet resources well enough to plan a trip to a tubing park by finding out that you really have to get there by 9am, seems to think that part of our problem was due to my over-paddling; it's my way). And I don't know how much fun it was for Vee, who went from mentally prepared to tube and swim all morning to sitting in the middle of a canoe and getting snapped at when she jumped around too much lest she capsize us.
However, hooboy the nature. We were 5 feet from 6 foot-long alligators in the side of the river at several points (which made for some *real* nervous getting out to pee in the river moments), right next to grazing deer, gliding by families of turtles, and following blue heron. The water was crystal clear and cold. It was beautiful, even if I can't move my arms today.
********
When we got to the marina, we had to wait for about 30 minutes for the bus with other river-tired canoers. I immediately got out and made my way over to the bathroom area (there hadn't been any certifiably gator-free zones for awhile). A woman was in front of me, sort of trotting, and the guy she had been canoeing with, who was behind me, whistled and said, "Woowhee, look at that! Is that ass mine? Holy shit!" She turned and giggled, and I nearly stepped in my own sick.
5 minutes later, this same guy, a really big guy, started fighting with his kid, maybe 16. He was screaming at this kid, right up in his face, really aggressive and threatening. Everyone stared. The kid tried to talk once in awhile but got shouted down. He had tears, his face was all blotchy. I watched, glad that Vee was off by the water's edge throwing pebbles with her dad and wasn't seeing this. As he got closer and closer to the kid's face I got more enraged. I walked off to an area where I had seen park security standing and explained that a man was being incredibly aggressive and verbally abusive to his kid, it was a real spectacle, I was worried for the kid's safety, etc. The "cop" came over and quietly talked to the douche, who quietly talked back. My sincere hope that he would hit the officer did not pan out. After 5 minutes, the security guy left and the asshole went back to getting in his kid's face, this time more quietly. The boy looked so desperate and so filled with hate and humiliation. I felt stupid and helpless and useless. We all sat on the bus staring at each other and I knew I would spend the rest of the day thinking about what happened when they got home.
**********
I have been circulating an email to some people asking for help thinking of people who might be in a position to take a one-year position at my school to fill my classes for next year (is this you? Email me). One of the emails went to a person who had been on my committee and contained, naturally, an update about why the classes needed filling, where I had taken a new job, when we were moving, etc. This former mentor wrote back, beginning the email with the observation that I would be "wasted" at this new school, but that wanting to have my family together is "understandable." This was, I've no doubt, intended as a compliment.
*******
Yesterday we had this plan. It was Mr Vs plan, not mine, so the logistics were poorly considered and lazily implemented. After breakfast we drove north for awhile to go to a state park that has natural springs that flow down into a lovely cool pool of cold freshwater. We stopped and rented some tubes on the way and pulled into the park to find a line of cars and a sign saying the park was filled to capacity; no one else in for 4 hours. I nodded knowingly. LVee whined. Mr. V grumbled. We fiddled with Blackberries and navigation tools and drove to another park 10 minutes away, where tubes would be irrelevant but where there is a natural spring fed pool for swimming. There, we were greeted by another line and a 'overfull' sign. Vee became despondent. Mr. V and I adopted the "goddamnit this is a vacation and we WILL have fun," attitude that has driven so many movies to box-office success.
We returned the tubes (nice guy gave me a refund) and drove around aimlessly for a bit until we came to a canoe rental "operation." Guy tells us how much to rent a canoe, that it will take 4 hours to "canoe" (which he assures us can really just be floating) down the river where a bus will pick us up and bring us back to the car.
Fine. Ok. Canoeing. We have minimal water and sunscreen and no bug spray but THIS WILL BE FUN.
I've never been in a canoe before y'all. I shouldn't have been in front really.
So, there we go. This was not a river one "floats" down. 85% of it was incredibly narrow and full of "s" turns. We had to paddle pretty much the whole time. It took us 5 hours, more or less constantly paddling (someone, in fact, someone who can't use internet resources well enough to plan a trip to a tubing park by finding out that you really have to get there by 9am, seems to think that part of our problem was due to my over-paddling; it's my way). And I don't know how much fun it was for Vee, who went from mentally prepared to tube and swim all morning to sitting in the middle of a canoe and getting snapped at when she jumped around too much lest she capsize us.
However, hooboy the nature. We were 5 feet from 6 foot-long alligators in the side of the river at several points (which made for some *real* nervous getting out to pee in the river moments), right next to grazing deer, gliding by families of turtles, and following blue heron. The water was crystal clear and cold. It was beautiful, even if I can't move my arms today.
********
When we got to the marina, we had to wait for about 30 minutes for the bus with other river-tired canoers. I immediately got out and made my way over to the bathroom area (there hadn't been any certifiably gator-free zones for awhile). A woman was in front of me, sort of trotting, and the guy she had been canoeing with, who was behind me, whistled and said, "Woowhee, look at that! Is that ass mine? Holy shit!" She turned and giggled, and I nearly stepped in my own sick.
5 minutes later, this same guy, a really big guy, started fighting with his kid, maybe 16. He was screaming at this kid, right up in his face, really aggressive and threatening. Everyone stared. The kid tried to talk once in awhile but got shouted down. He had tears, his face was all blotchy. I watched, glad that Vee was off by the water's edge throwing pebbles with her dad and wasn't seeing this. As he got closer and closer to the kid's face I got more enraged. I walked off to an area where I had seen park security standing and explained that a man was being incredibly aggressive and verbally abusive to his kid, it was a real spectacle, I was worried for the kid's safety, etc. The "cop" came over and quietly talked to the douche, who quietly talked back. My sincere hope that he would hit the officer did not pan out. After 5 minutes, the security guy left and the asshole went back to getting in his kid's face, this time more quietly. The boy looked so desperate and so filled with hate and humiliation. I felt stupid and helpless and useless. We all sat on the bus staring at each other and I knew I would spend the rest of the day thinking about what happened when they got home.
**********
I have been circulating an email to some people asking for help thinking of people who might be in a position to take a one-year position at my school to fill my classes for next year (is this you? Email me). One of the emails went to a person who had been on my committee and contained, naturally, an update about why the classes needed filling, where I had taken a new job, when we were moving, etc. This former mentor wrote back, beginning the email with the observation that I would be "wasted" at this new school, but that wanting to have my family together is "understandable." This was, I've no doubt, intended as a compliment.
Labels: abuse, academia, family values, Gulf, nature
Posted at 5:42 AM
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