WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.960 align:middle line:90%


00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.600 align:middle line:90%
Let's see.

00:00:07.600 --> 00:00:10.260 align:middle line:84%
When we were able to
return as a family,

00:00:10.260 --> 00:00:15.280 align:middle line:84%
I got to take the kids down
in 2021, later in the year,

00:00:15.280 --> 00:00:19.000 align:middle line:84%
to take a canoe ride on a
portion of the Mississippi,

00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:25.760 align:middle line:84%
which was amazing and vast
and just awe-inspiring.

00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:30.040 align:middle line:84%
So the canoe company that
we took our little trip

00:00:30.040 --> 00:00:32.320 align:middle line:84%
was in Clarksdale,
Mississippi, which

00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:34.580 align:middle line:84%
is where the movie
Sinners was filmed,

00:00:34.580 --> 00:00:37.920 align:middle line:84%
which is a great
little blues town.

00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:40.880 align:middle line:90%
The River Remembers.

00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:44.000 align:middle line:90%
Here the water is silt-brown,

00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:45.960 align:middle line:90%
Stretches mile wide,

00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:48.920 align:middle line:84%
Flat as a washed-out
conveyor belt,

00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:51.600 align:middle line:90%
An unhemmed rumble strip.

00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:55.000 align:middle line:84%
I can't read the river,
can't see my hand

00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:56.920 align:middle line:90%
When it plunges elbow-deep

00:00:56.920 --> 00:01:00.560 align:middle line:84%
To feel the cool against
the Mississippi heat--

00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:03.560 align:middle line:90%
Hot as a dog's mouth.

00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:05.720 align:middle line:90%
Here we canoe for hours

00:01:05.720 --> 00:01:07.560 align:middle line:90%
Through swirling eddies,

00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:09.040 align:middle line:90%
Watch the trash barges

00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:11.960 align:middle line:90%
And towboats travel downstream.

00:01:11.960 --> 00:01:16.000 align:middle line:84%
The river glistens
hard as broken glass.

00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:19.000 align:middle line:90%
Here, everything is fluid.

00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:21.800 align:middle line:84%
In lower Mississippi,
the South's South

00:01:21.800 --> 00:01:24.240 align:middle line:84%
Where the two-lane
blacktop cuts through

00:01:24.240 --> 00:01:28.600 align:middle line:84%
An infinity of
cotton, soybean, corn.

00:01:28.600 --> 00:01:31.920 align:middle line:90%
Farm, farm, tumbledown shack.

00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:36.720 align:middle line:84%
Creeks and rivers bifurcate
the land like blood veins.

00:01:36.720 --> 00:01:39.840 align:middle line:90%
Here, the GPS gives up.

00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:42.880 align:middle line:84%
New islands form at
the current's whim

00:01:42.880 --> 00:01:47.160 align:middle line:84%
And what is untouched
grows lush and verdant.

00:01:47.160 --> 00:01:51.680 align:middle line:84%
Willow and privet border
the collapsing coastline.

00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:57.160 align:middle line:84%
A carp leaps into the boat
when it hears us coming.

00:01:57.160 --> 00:02:03.160 align:middle line:84%
We stop here at an oxbow,
gumbo mud sticks to our feet.

00:02:03.160 --> 00:02:04.320 align:middle line:90%
River rock.

00:02:04.320 --> 00:02:05.520 align:middle line:90%
Plastic.

00:02:05.520 --> 00:02:06.640 align:middle line:90%
Fossils.

00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:08.120 align:middle line:90%
Gar.

00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:12.920 align:middle line:84%
Raccoon and coyote leave tracks
in the rust-colored sand.

00:02:12.920 --> 00:02:17.400 align:middle line:84%
The slaves-- sold down
the river-- hid here,

00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:20.400 align:middle line:84%
Waited for their chance
to escape up North,

00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:24.760 align:middle line:84%
Hid in caves, fled to the
Twin Cities and Canada,

00:02:24.760 --> 00:02:29.000 align:middle line:84%
Their fate at the mercy
of the river's next rise.

00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.000 align:middle line:84%
Here's the nadir
of our suffering,

00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.920 align:middle line:84%
Which started in one
place to end in another.

00:02:35.920 --> 00:02:40.560 align:middle line:84%
Here's where flow and
marvel and history converge.

00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:42.280 align:middle line:90%
This harmjoy.

00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:44.060 align:middle line:90%
This beautiful sadness.

00:02:44.060 --> 00:02:46.720 align:middle line:90%


00:02:46.720 --> 00:02:47.540 align:middle line:90%
Thank you.

00:02:47.540 --> 00:02:49.500 align:middle line:90%
Thank you, thank you.

00:02:49.500 --> 00:02:50.000 align:middle line:90%