Author Archives | Patricia D'Andrea
Patricia D’Andrea is a teacher, writer and poet living in Santa Fe. From 1988-2002 she documented the condition and prospects of the Rio Grande from the headwaters in southern Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. 2,000 images and ninety interviews later the documentary project “Rio Grande/Rio Bravo” illustrates the issues and challenges faced along the river’s course. The experience of river work led D’Andrea to become an advocate for immigrant rights in the U.S. The documentary is now part of the Center for Southwest Studies archive at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. D’Andrea’s writings have appeared in numerous publications across New Mexico and she has acted as a consultant to a number of New Mexico oral history projects.
A day on the river. Mixed.
Early on, it was a sunstruck/river spirit day, paddling in a rhythm that doesn't exist for me anywhere else, ever. Dip, pull, feather, switch. Action in the wrist, shoulder, elbow, moving along propelled by my body, my legs braced forward, nursed by the river's current. Incredible green along the banks, healthy huge cottonwoods, silver-green olive trees hanging dead limbs over the water to catch unwary boatmen and sweep them out of their cockpits while immobilizing the boat.
At first I laughed at the sweepers/strainers every time I hit one, which was often and almost always river right. Now that I think of it, a puzzle; there were almost none on river left, and why was that? I thought of this later...
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01. September 2014
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