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Last swim?

October 24, 2010 by Steve Mentz 2 Comments

The high tide was too tempting a few minutes after noon today, & I took a brisk plunge.  Hard to swim very much when the water’s that cold.  Will this be the last swim of the season?  Or will the wet suit get me a birthday swim in early Nov?

At some point I’ll make time to post about Italo Svevo’s Confessions of Zeno & the lure of the “last cigarette.”

I think I’ll get at least one more in.

Filed Under: Blue Humanities, Swimming

Comments

  1. Dane Robinson says

    October 25, 2010 at 5:01 am

    I know the feeling. I am a fisherman, and this post reads just like something from Bill Heavey from the back of Field and Stream, when it’s getting close to the end of fishing season. I understand the love for the ocean/water, as it’s almost painful to be sitting there in fall attire with my fishing pole mere feet away in my trunk, with all my trinkets purchased from the summer, realizing that i need gloves on just to enjoy my cigarette on the edge of the dock as the cold approaches. The fish are still there, but they aren’t quite biting, as they know, just as I do, that winter is coming, and it’s gonna be a bitch. Even though the fish and I have this mutual understanding, I still find myself saying “Aw, what the hell..” and throwing the line in, saying “just for ten minutes…” ten minutes later I repeat it, and keep making excuses to stay. Maybe it’s that I think I’ll catch something, or maybe it’s just that sitting there gives me hope, and proves that nothing can take this away.

    Reply
  2. Padmini Sukumaran says

    October 30, 2010 at 2:59 am

    Yeah, I can also relate to the feeling. I am an ocean-lover myself and would catch in a swim at the ocean year-long if I could! In my opinion, you are welcome to go swimming in the ocean at anytime as long as there is decent weather, above 60 degrees, that is. I also would like to get in a swim (as crazy as it sounds) on one of the warm days that are left, and there seemed to be so many this past week!
    You seem to be doing a lot of swimming all the time. Did you say that you lived right by the ocean? I wish that I could live by the ocean and swim as often as possible.
    You are saying that you will get “at least one more in”? In my opinion, you should get in as much as possible!! Never mind the weather.

    Reply

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Steve Mentz
Professor of English
St. John’s University
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Shakespearean. Ecocritic. Swimmer. New book Ocean #objectsobjects Professor at St. John's in NYC. #bluehumanities #pluralizetheanthropocene

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