Jan 17Liked by Sari Botton, Memoir Land, Kerra Bolton
This is such an amazing piece...I wish it could be something everyone has to read!!! I cried. Your descriptions are beautiful and kept me paying attention the whole way through. I especially like the talking to friends and how open they were about other things but not swimming and then the image "like oyster shells, their stories pry open.." I love that the water spirits chose you to tell the stories. Keep telling them!
Wow, epigenetics and the slave trade. I love essays where I learn something, and that was the case with yours. Tough historical material interweaved with the personal makes for such a worthwhile read. Thank you for sharing.
Great piece! I've spent lots of time in Akumal over the decades and I've had some eye opening snorkeling experiences. A whole world down there. I love your ancestral healing exploration as well. We all could benefit from this shadow work. Sharing this with a friend who frequents the Akumal coast and is a diver. Keep talking to the water spirits. I'm in the Mexican desert now, I'm not sure what the cactus are saying but I'm listening? Best to you.
Love this as it moves from your head in a cooking pot to the real terrors of the deep. Your ancestors need the rest of this story!! So do your readers!!
Remember when we were kids and we'd ask each other those crazy questions, like "How would you like to die?" I used to say, drowning, because it seemed romantic, or at least that's how it looked on TV. As I grew older, I'd imagine death by suffocation, and thought of the best but boring way, in your sleep, but after your essay, you're making it sound good again. Recently, I finished The Wager by David Grann, and he mentioned how a group of indigenous people from South America, who were captured by the Spanish, tried to revolt while at sea, and were successful, but then they were captured again. They, too, decided it was better to jump overboard than suffer the fate of being ill-treated and enslaved. Thank you, Kerra, for your thought-provoking, insightful, and beautiful words. xo
Whenever I listen to your stories, I am transported. To the pot where you bravely dunk your face and blow bubbles, to the open seas where enslaved people leap to their freedom even in death, to the swimming pools where squirmy white kids learn to swim and have no idea what lies beneath the surface. I deeply appreciate you.
Thank you for sharing your writings from the edge of humanities fragility and diving deeply into historical trauma. I think there is power in naming the truth that sets' all of us free.
This is such an amazing piece...I wish it could be something everyone has to read!!! I cried. Your descriptions are beautiful and kept me paying attention the whole way through. I especially like the talking to friends and how open they were about other things but not swimming and then the image "like oyster shells, their stories pry open.." I love that the water spirits chose you to tell the stories. Keep telling them!
Wow, epigenetics and the slave trade. I love essays where I learn something, and that was the case with yours. Tough historical material interweaved with the personal makes for such a worthwhile read. Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful. I love the weaving of spirits with history and your reclaiming of your ancestors and your fearlessness in the water.
Powerful writing. I could feel/hear the Spirits talking to you.
The things we don't know, have failed to know, we need to know. A powerful, lyrical, beautifully constructed education. Thank you.
Great piece! I've spent lots of time in Akumal over the decades and I've had some eye opening snorkeling experiences. A whole world down there. I love your ancestral healing exploration as well. We all could benefit from this shadow work. Sharing this with a friend who frequents the Akumal coast and is a diver. Keep talking to the water spirits. I'm in the Mexican desert now, I'm not sure what the cactus are saying but I'm listening? Best to you.
Love this as it moves from your head in a cooking pot to the real terrors of the deep. Your ancestors need the rest of this story!! So do your readers!!
This essay is beautiful and compelling. Thank you Kerra!
Kerra, I am speechless.
Remember when we were kids and we'd ask each other those crazy questions, like "How would you like to die?" I used to say, drowning, because it seemed romantic, or at least that's how it looked on TV. As I grew older, I'd imagine death by suffocation, and thought of the best but boring way, in your sleep, but after your essay, you're making it sound good again. Recently, I finished The Wager by David Grann, and he mentioned how a group of indigenous people from South America, who were captured by the Spanish, tried to revolt while at sea, and were successful, but then they were captured again. They, too, decided it was better to jump overboard than suffer the fate of being ill-treated and enslaved. Thank you, Kerra, for your thought-provoking, insightful, and beautiful words. xo
Beautiful, powerful work.
This is deeply moving and emotionally powerful. Also edifying. I will need to read it again, so that I won’t forget the details. Thank you.
Whenever I listen to your stories, I am transported. To the pot where you bravely dunk your face and blow bubbles, to the open seas where enslaved people leap to their freedom even in death, to the swimming pools where squirmy white kids learn to swim and have no idea what lies beneath the surface. I deeply appreciate you.
Thank you for sharing your writings from the edge of humanities fragility and diving deeply into historical trauma. I think there is power in naming the truth that sets' all of us free.
Your courage and the courage of your ancestors in your DNA, I'm confident, brought you to this story. Thank you for writing it.
Loved this just as much as the Return of the Black Madonna video. Beautiful. Thank you for being an inspiration.