excursions

We just got back from Manhattan where we attended AWP, a big writers convention. There were 7,000 academic writers-mostly students, graduate students, and writers who teach-all packed into a two conference hotels in mid-town not far from Time Square.

November's a good month to head east to the lowcountry to paddle. This time of year the leaves have dropped, the bugs have mostly died off, and the snakes have found shelter from the chilly nights and cool days. There's usually good water.

Last week I drove along the Pacolet River at Clifton and noticed that the big, swinging flood gates were open at what is known locally as the dam at Clifton Number One, or Hurricane Shoals, as I prefer to call it.

Earlier this month I was asked to be on a panel in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with poet and novelist James Dickey's oldest son, Christopher, and Payson Kennedy, the founder of the Nantahala Outdoor Center and one of the stunt doubles for the filming of "Deliverance." Next year "Deliverance" will be 35 years old, and it continues to resonate with those who remember seeing it the first time or have come to view it since its release. Over a hundred people came out, and when the moderator asked for a show of hands everyone present had seen the film.