Within the Blue Above
Gavin Lee
A meditation while swimming backstroke and watching the blue above. Sometimes, on a lucky day, we see hawks and other birds flying overhead. In years past during the spring and early summer, we would often see Cooper’s hawks nesting near the pool, raising their chicks and teaching them the ways of the world.
Our friend Emery would share this love of birds with us as he sat in the lifeguard chair. We enjoyed seeing the various hawks and pointing them out to each other. Emery had an affection for crows. When he was in his youth, he befriended a crow and it would follow him to school and back home, often flying by his classroom window.
When we see the hawks and crows at the pool, we watch in amazement and think of our dear friend Emery.
36 Views of Alcatraz
the first hour of sunrise as seen from the hills of El Cerrito
We’ve posted this on the morning when Emery would have been apart of the “Indigenous People Sunrise Ceremony” on Alcatraz Island. In the past it was the “Unthanksgiving Day” to commemorate the protest event of 1969 where the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement (ARPM) occupied the Island for 19 months. Emery was part Cherokee, taking part in this ceremony every year. He had many stories of his times spent there and with the elders. To many of us in our local swim community, he was our elder. ✌️
