 | | Eli Simmons in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.Courtesy of Faith Dawson Simmons |
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As a summer that wasn't quite what we expected transitions to autumn, The New York Times series Black History, Continued is exploring the many ways Black folks find joy in the outdoors. We asked readers to tell us when they found their love of nature, or even a recent moment of solace outside. Below are some of our favorites. |
 | | Courtesy of Leesa Ferguson |
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I am in loving motion with CoCoBaby. Yes, I named my bike. Street hustling and sidewalk flowing every morning and every evening, with her. She brings me joy — my CocoBaby! She helps me forget my woes and absorb myself with nature: the sultry heat of the summer sun, the crisp fall air with crunchy leaves under her tires, the rainy downpour of the Pacific Northwest rains. Riding on CocoBaby is a mindful meditation of how to be present and breathe in my joy, my gratitude for life and every adventure in between. |
-Leesa Ferguson, 53, Portland, Ore. |
'I have always loved the water' |
 | | Courtesy of Roslyn Ali |
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My mother tells the story of how at age 3, she put me down to feel the sand on my feet for the first time at the beach and I shockingly took off, fast, racing straight toward the waves, chubby arms extended, as if I knew how to swim. I did not. But I have always loved the water. |
Here, I am walking one of many paths along the Palisades, the water and New York City skyline to my right, with my favorite four-legged girl, Moxie, in tow. Paired with endless sky, I can remember how small my worries are, and I am thankful for this bit of time where it is my Moxie, the water and me. |
-Roslyn Ali, 51, Englewood, N.J. |
'Makes me feel like I have won the parent lottery' |
 | | Faith Dawson Simmons with her 10-year-old, Eli Simmons.Courtesy of Faith Dawson Simmons |
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One day last year I went kayaking in the bayous of City Park in New Orleans. As I shoved off from the bank, the rental attendant looked concerned. |
"Have you used a kayak before?" she asked. |
"Yes, I know what I'm doing," I replied. |
It struck me a few minutes later — I did know what I was doing! Because I did not grow up with any regular tradition of outdoor life, I'm a little proud of myself for learning to handle a kayak. |
Being outdoors, even in the middle of a city, reminds me that we coexist with raptors near the Mississippi River, that wild ferns grow near my house. What else is out there? |
The best part is sharing it with my 10-year-old. I love to watch him learn to paddle. The look on his face makes me feel like I have won the parent lottery. |
-Faith Dawson Simmons, 52, New Orleans |
'I didn't come back the same' |
 | | Carter McBride says he was "pointing to his mom" in this photo of him with his expedition group on the Continental Divide trail in Wyoming.Courtesy of Carter A. McBride |
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My mother had passed away the year before I went on my first extended stay in the backcountry of Wind River, Wyoming. Seeking some healing in this natural space was amazing. I didn't come back the same. |
There is a difference between feeling safe and being safe enough to become vulnerable. That vulnerability is the spice that nature can deliver. |
-Carter A. McBride, 64, Twisp, Wash. |
R.S.V.P. for a virtual event Sunday Sept. 19 at 2 p.m. Eastern as we reject stereotypes about how Black communities experience nature with the historian Blair Imani, the forager Alexis Nikole Nelson, stories from outdoor enthusiasts and special performances. |
11 Books By Latinos to Read for Hispanic Heritage Month |
By Miguel Salazar, Isabelia Herrera and Gregory Cowles |
National Hispanic Heritage Month, a celebration that runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, captures a period covering seven different independence days across Latin America. In recent years, however, the celebration has prompted Latinos in the United States to look inward, grappling with issues of representation, colorism and sexuality. To better understand these perspectives, here are 11 recent books that provide a glimpse into distinct corners of contemporary Latino life in the United States: |
The recent debate over the term "Latinx," which has grabbed the attention of countless op-ed pages and Twitter threads, is just the latest iteration of a long reckoning over this single, shared identity. So argues Morales, a lecturer at Columbia and CUNY, whose book of politics and social history explains how our current understanding of the Latino identity is rooted in the Latin American concept of mestizaje, or "hybridity," and how that troubled history is shaping American politics today. |
This collection falls somewhere between reportage, fiction and memoir in its storytelling, rendering an intimate portrait of the undocumented condition in the United States. Villavicencio chronicles the lives of ground zero cleanup workers, a Haitian priestess in Miami and a former housekeeper battling breast cancer in Flint, Mich., richly describing a population that, as Caitlin Dickerson notes in her review, remains "largely absent from modern journalism and literature." |
'The Poet X,' by Elizabeth Acevedo (Quill Tree, 2018) |
In this National Book Award-winning verse novel, 15-year-old Xiomara Batista's life in Harlem has changed seemingly overnight: Her body, now larger and curvier, is newly subject to catcalls and insults; her Dominican mother has become a stern disciplinarian; and her church no longer feels like the haven it once was. As Xiomara contends with these changes, she turns to slam poetry, where she finds freedom and discovers a distinctive voice. |
Read the rest of the list here. |
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