My husband and I have begun crabbing. Or, more precisely, we’ve begun to try to crab. This is perhaps not something you expected to hear. First we drove across the hills to the Pacifica pier, to scope out the action. Waves were high and white-laced and wild.
Christmas morning we returned, prepared now with crab snare and bait. I was excited by the prospect of fierce seas, seafood and the sea green of my watch cap against the purple fleece vest. Little things.
But the pier had been closed. Part of the Santa Cruz wharf had recently washed away, and as these municipalities don’t have the budget to maintain structures as our ocean changes with the climate, a safety inspection is required. Back to the car with our gear we went.
Before we tried for crab another day, inspired by the glee of novelty and an experience that stilled my thoughts, I took myself to see the Amy Sherald exhibit at our SFMOMA. You will know her for this painting, at the very least.
The rest of her work is if anything more spectacular. Here are just a few examples, as the exhibit is large and covers most of her career.
The wall text resonates with anything I’ve ever written about style, but, to understate what I am not qualified to fully voice, from a wholly different life experience.
Then we went crabbing again, this time by the Golden Gate Bridge on a bright blue day.
Here I am pretending to have thrown a snare in the water, which I did not. My husband is the expert. Two sea lions swam below us, both very endearing and very much obstacles to catching a single crab, which we did not. We will try again. Apparently, with squid. The sky, the color of the Bay, and the patterns of the water shapes all conspired in elation.
Sitting here this morning, I was struck–as how could I not be–by my extraordinary good fortune and by the grin on my face that to be blunt we do not see, for example, in Amy Sherald’s paintings. The world I get to live in, both physically and cognitively, although by no means pain-free, is beautiful. And I resolved again in this new year not to feel shame at this good fortune, but to do whatever lies within my capabilities to expand others’ access. This is just me, I am not directing anyone, but I feel it so acutely.
Happy New Year, my friends. Have a good weekend, be glad about art, and look around you before casting.
