A Vine in the Blood (2011)
“As a child, Silva had heard stories from the old man about transparent waters where people went to fish and boat and bathe.
On one stretch, so straight it appeared to be a canal dug by the hand of man, a rowing club had sprung up. At the time, no man could consider himself educated unless he was steeped in Greek and Roman lore, and the founders of the club were all so steeped.
They’d chosen to call their organization the Spartan Rowing Club. In those days, to be a Spartan meant simply to be a g...reat warrior. The word hadn’t yet taken on the more recent connotations of frugality and austerity.
The battles those warriors fought were on the lazy current of the river, and they consisted of racing each other in sculls of one, two, or four men.
Time brought radical change. By the last years of the twentieth century, and on into today, no one would think of entering the water, boat or no boat. The Tietê had become little more than an open sewer, devoid of fish and poisonous to man.
As the quality of the water degenerated, the rowing club evolved.MoreLess
On one stretch, so straight it appeared to be a canal dug by the hand of man, a rowing club had sprung up. At the time, no man could consider himself educated unless he was steeped in Greek and Roman lore, and the founders of the club were all so steeped.
They’d chosen to call their organization the Spartan Rowing Club. In those days, to be a Spartan meant simply to be a g...reat warrior. The word hadn’t yet taken on the more recent connotations of frugality and austerity.
The battles those warriors fought were on the lazy current of the river, and they consisted of racing each other in sculls of one, two, or four men.
Time brought radical change. By the last years of the twentieth century, and on into today, no one would think of entering the water, boat or no boat. The Tietê had become little more than an open sewer, devoid of fish and poisonous to man.
As the quality of the water degenerated, the rowing club evolved.MoreLess
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