Inuksuit

Our command of Inuit is not what it should be, but here at GORP headquarters we know a better deal when we see one.  On Sunday afternoon, in a performance that is free and open to the public, the University of Richmond will stage John Luther Adams’s ecological composition Inuksuit at the Jenkins Greek Theatre, just above Westhampton Lake.  GORP will be there – and not at Great Shiplock Park – because, well, this sounds like a whole lot more fun than picking up trash:

Thoreau recorded the momentous social and environmental changes of the industrial revolution through describing the interactions of natural and man-made sound: the “music” of the wind on the telegraph wire, the interaction between birdsong and train whistles, the play of wind and whirring sawmills. For Thoreau, close listening gave these ‘found sounds’ the vividness of musical events. The Alaska-based composer John Luther Adams (b. 1953) composes the momentous social and environmental changes of our era, documenting climate change and cultural loss in sound itself.

In collaboration with the Grammy Award winning Eighth Blackbird ensemble, the University of Richmond will stage Adams’ monumental ecological composition -Inuksuit (an Inuit word meaning ‘in the capacity of the human’).  The 90-minute composition, scored for 99 drummers, will be performed in the wooded area of the campus along Westhampton Lake. Composed to blend (and confuse) the sounds of nature and humanity, Adams invites us to hear our world as Thoreau heard Walden.

The performance starts at 4:00 p.m. and ends at 5:30.  Parking is available at the Modlin Center for the Arts (for directions click here).

Afterward, for those so inclined, we will make our way to Palani Drive for dinner.

Hope you can join us.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” – Henry David Thoreau, Walden

 

Trails to Rails

April 7, en route to Texas Beach.

“The thing that strikes me now when I think about the Wilderness of Childhood is the incredible degree of freedom my parents gave me to adventure there. A very grave, very significant shift in our idea of childhood has occurred since then. The Wilderness of Childhood is gone; the days of adventure are past. The land ruled by children, to which a kid might exile himself for at least some portion of every day from the neighboring kingdom of adulthood, has in large part been taken over, co-opted, colonized, and finally absorbed by the neighbors.” – Michael Chabon

 

Into the great glut of adult-directed spring activities goes GORP.  Earlier in the week we were feeling a bit overwhelmed by all that we’ve got going on, not to mention depressed over another act of senseless violence, this one violating an outdoor activity that hits close to home.  We were prepared to yield to the demands of the swim meets, soccer games, school festivals, social commitments and whatever else we’ve stuffed into our spring weekends and push off our sixth GORP outing until time somehow slowed down.  But maybe it is times like this when we most need to get our children outside in nature, to connect with what is basic and fundamental – to try to make time slow down for them.  For it is times like this when we are reminded that the time ahead is never guaranteed.

Last night, speaking to an audience at the University of Richmond, Richard Louv opened with the following reflection:

“Chased by an unending stampede of 2,000-pound automobiles and 4,000-pound SUVs, we cocoon inside our homes.  The assault continues.  Unsettling, threatening images charge through the television cable and overwhelm us.  Hyper-vigilance trumps mindfulness.  Where do we find respite?  The poet Wendell Berry offers direction:

“When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be . . .
I come into the peace of wild things . . .
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

Of course what I would so often like to be free from is my own children.  A weekend where they are all outside, messing about on their own from morning until night, while I come into the peace of a long nap, that’s the lost terrain I most long to recover.  Possibly this would be inappropriate for our 2-year-old – we might still have to supervise him or at least make sure the gates to the playground across the street are well secured – but that we have failed utterly to provide such a world for our older children, or failed to force them to create it for themselves, is a source of much handwringing in this household.

Monday’s massacre in Boston, on top of the earlier horror in Newtown, will only lead to even more careful monitoring of our children.  Although the bogeyman here at GORP headquarters is a not a terrorist or deranged 20-year-old but a two-ton Toyota with a texting driver, the end result is much the same.  We keep them close, on a short leash.

Should it be otherwise?  Our April 7th outing to Texas Beach included an encounter with railroad tracks that challenged my obviously limited capacity to adequately assess risk.  GORP has not had a truly stupid-daddy moment to date – and this one, my own children’s subsequent visions of a fast-approaching train bearing down on them notwithstanding, passed without incident – but it’s only a matter of time.  Much of what I think should be perfectly permissible would merit a visit from child protective services, and if I’ve learned anything in nearly ten years of parenting it is that much of what I think is flat-out wrong.  It’s not all wrong, but how to distinguish between what is wrong and what is right?

To fault our national obsession with childhood safety and risk minimization for the diminishment of childhood over the past thirty years would be a gross oversimplification of what is a highly complex cultural phenomenon.  Letting our kids loose to play chicken with freight trains is not the answer to this problem – however appealing that prospect seems to this parent most afternoons.  Besides, “Even if I do send them out,” Michael Chabon asks, “will there be anyone to play with?”

“What is the impact of the closing down of the Wilderness on the development of children’s imaginations? This is what I worry about the most. I grew up with a freedom, a liberty that now seems breathtaking and almost impossible. Recently, my younger daughter, after the usual struggle and exhilaration, learned to ride her bicycle. Her joy at her achievement was rapidly followed by a creeping sense of puzzlement and disappointment as it became clear to both of us that there was nowhere for her to ride it—nowhere that I was willing to let her go. Should I send my children out to play? ­ – Michael Chabon

A parent-led outing to Great Shiplock Park, where we will be Sunday afternoon, is a far cry from the wilderness of my imagination.  That wilderness may no longer exist.  Still, as Louv reminded us last night, there is wilderness all around us and perhaps the best thing we can do for our kids is to take them out into it ourselves.  If you can’t be with the nature you love, he said, love the nature you’re with.

   

GORP at the western end of the Texas Beach Trail.

 

G.O.R.P.

 

OUTING #5: Texas Beach Trail

“For eons, human beings spent most of their formative years in nature.  But within the space of a few decades, the way children understand and experience nature has changed radically. Healing the broken bond between our young and nature is in everyone’s self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demand it, but also because our mental, physical and spiritual health depend upon it.” – Richard Louv

As spring continues its slow crawl into the Northern Hemisphere (thanks, apparently, to global warming), GORP is looking forward to its fifth outing, Saturday afternoon on the north bank of the James River.  Start time is 1:30 p.m.  We will continue our exploration of Texas Beach, hiking out and back from the eastern to western end, about three miles round trip.

Details follow.  Hope you can join us.  Anyone is welcome, so please don’t hesitate to invite others along.

  

G.O.R.P. outing #5

Date: Saturday, April 6, 2013

Location: Texas Beach Trail, James River Park System

Meeting time & location: 1:30 p.m. at the North Bank Trail/Texas Beach Parking Lot, just east of Maymont.

Directions:  From anywhere in the Fan, take Meadow St. SOUTH, past the entrance to Maymont, until it ends at Kansas Ave.  Turn left on Kansas Ave. and then, after a couple blocks, right on Texas Ave., which runs into the parking lot.  (Map here.)

Rough itinerary (which no one is obligated to follow):   Meet at the North Bank Trail/Texas Beach Parking Lot at 1:30 p.m.  At 1:45, we’ll hit the trail, crossing the railroad pedestrian walkway and then heading west along the Texas Beach Trail towards the Nickel Bridge.  Just past the bridge, at the trail’s end, we’ll turn around and retrace our steps home, stopping for any rock-hopping, tree crossings and messing about that strike our fancy.  Once back at Texas Beach, we will play a game or two of Manhunt.  The two oldest children present will get the first chance to escape.

Following the outing, those so inclined can join us for post-GORP treats at Crossroads Coffee & Ice Cream near VCU.

What to bring:

• Water
• Hat and Gloves, plus layered clothes appropriate for the weather
• Waterproof jacket/shell
• Backpack, with snacks.
• Kids will probably get dirty and possibly wet, so you might also consider packing a change of clothes in your car.

SAFETY:  We ask that parents be responsible for the safety of their own children. 

Stroller friendly?  No.

Pets:  Pets are permitted but must be on a leash.

Weather forecast: Sunny with a high of 61 degrees.

PLAN “B” for Bowling:  If the weather is too wet or too cold we will instead go bowling at Sunset Lanes on West Broad (6540 West Broad Street), meeting there at 1:30 p.m.  Rates are $17 per person (shoes included) for two hours of bowling (2-3 games).  Sunset Lanes is kid-friendly: anyone old enough to walk is old enough to bowl.

 If Plan “B” is necessary, I will alert everyone by e-mail and post an update on this blog by no later than 11 a.m. on Saturday morning.

G.O.R.P.