July 19

 

July 19, 2020

Yesterday morning I was able to introduce one of my New Zealand guests to the joy of rowing an Adirondack Guideboat. Ken is 6’2”….I have a 28” inseam….so, obviously, we had to do some reconfiguring of my old boat in order to set him up but, once in, he took to it like the proverbial duck. I tried to keep pace in my sister’s smaller pack-boat, offering pointers and advice even as my newbie student rowed out ahead of me, powering out of Warner Bay, headed for Cleverdale, clearly a quick study. It was a beautiful morning of glassy water and experiential learning, and I enjoyed being able to introduce a good friend to a good friend; with Ken at the oars, my high-mileage boat looked pretty good from a distance.

Watching Ken take to rowing so comfortably and quickly on the sliding seat reminded me of one of the ironies of teaching, the idea that sometimes the less teaching we do, the more learning can place. That is, students need room to learn, to trial and error, to let those first fitful steps in reading or writing - or rowing - enable the next steps and the confidence to grow. Since I’m still coming down from the high of the last two decades of teaching, I asked the LGA folks if there was anything related to education in their mission that my row could support. I was hoping to build some terrific metaphors between learning about one’s limits through rowing and the educational work of the LGA for future generations…but then I was reminded that the best teachers teach through learning…and I still have a lot to learn.

I learned that one of the most pressing issues our lake faces is that of storm water run-off, namely the elements, chemicals, and sediments that materially alter the chemistry of the lake as they are unwittingly directed towards the basin by the hand of man. I learned (not enough, yet!) of the difficulty and complexity of addressing this problem and how, ultimately, it is a problem of learning, problem-solving, gathering consensus, acting, and continually assessing progress and tweaking actions for improved performance. Sounds like education to me!    

There’s an old saw in fundraising that goes something like, “People give for their reasons, not ours.” I think that’s true. I could try to write about the challenges posed by stormwater run-off and the dangers it poses to the lake but other, wiser heads will do that far more educationally and accurately than I.  The truth is that anyone contemplating an incremental gift to the LGA on the basis of this blog or row is going to give for a reason that they carried long before they learned of this haphazard adventure. A gift may come from an abiding love of the lake. It may come because this blog passes as moderately entertaining alternative entertainment. Unlikely, but possible. It may come because the trip incites one’s own appetite for adventure…or one’s gratitude that he or she does not have to share a 16’ rowboat with a 68 year-old guy who is journeying out of his depth. Whatever the reason, I hope that folks will be inclined to pause and give to the LGA for what it is and for what it provides to so many people: a true association of effort toward the common good.

I’ll be pushing off on Wednesday morning, early early. Maybe I should take some more training strokes…or, a nap? Or, some lessons from Ken?

 Later!

 Al