row2k Features
Blackout: In NYC, Life Imitates Rowing
August 20, 2003
Jon Brown

Sunset row (not NYC), by Bret Hekking

I am a New Yorker, by birth and by choice, so when the blackout hit the Big Apple last week, there was little to do but take it in stride. Upon learning that a large chunk of the northeast would be facing dusk without power, fond memories were triggered of the last major blackout, in ’77. I was nine at the time, and it’s one of the few vivid scenes I can play back from that age. Grabbing hold of my Father’s shirt, we climbed the darkened stairs of our building. Young innocence wouldn’t be bothered by inconvenience and couldn’t help but enjoy the novelty.

On Thursday, the novelty returned. Previous plans to leave the City were spoiled quicker than leftover milk in the refrigerator. Making a beeline for my gym bag, I dug out the walkman and left the apartment for a stroll to take it in. Arriving on Broadway, I listened to updates on the walkman radio and watched as throngs of people methodically made their way in every imaginable direction.

A sea of pedestrians moved up and down the street, oddly reminiscent of the 9/11 attacks. Murmurs of terrorism underscored countless conversations, but radio DJs were fast to discount that. My knee-jerk reaction was to blame hackers for knocking out control of the power grids, and then I grinned, thinking of the possibility that some techie could be teaching us a lesson in our own backyard. But now, just as then, New Yorkers rose to the occasion. Spirits were undaunted. People simply wanted to get back home and close to loved ones.

Realizing it wouldn’t be long before the sun disappeared, I started back home to prepare for the inevitable darkness. I did a quick mental inventory and knew that I had plenty of candles, but no flashlights. I thought, “well, if I don’t have a flashlight now, I’m certainly not gonna have one tonight.” In the few stores that remained open, lines were out the door, and all but the least desirable of necessities were stripped from the shelves. Arriving home, I climbed the stairs just as I had 26 years earlier. With one hand extended in front of me, I fumbled through keys in a pitch black doorway. Inside, I gathered candles from every room of the apartment then reviewed a small army of wicks on the living room table. I speculated there was enough wax to last a week without electricity.

Later that night, I couldn’t pass up the chance to get back out on the street. Broadway was still teeming with life, and I weaved my way through blackened silhouettes. It was then that another memory came to mind. Rowing home.

Have you ever gone for a paddle around sunset? Perhaps you stayed on the water a little longer than planned, maybe troublesome equipment delayed your return to the dock, or maybe a coach repeated a few too many drills out on the lake. Whatever the case, I’m sure a number of us in this sport have had the experience of rowing under cloak of darkness.

At first, one tries to fight the loss of sight. Widened bug eyes start teasing your mind with optical illusions. Questions flip repetitiously through your mind: How far until we get back to the dock? Are we going straight? Is this boat even moving? Personally, it was when I learned to relax and ignore those thoughts that rowing under the stars opened a whole new world to me. Non-visual senses took the lead; boat feel became amplified and my ears could pick up every snap and every bubble from the blades. Buzzing crickets let me know how far I was from the shore, and the breeze at my back gave indication that the boat was indeed moving. About that same time, I’d switch my body to automatic pilot and tune the craft of rowing with a slightly different understanding. Last week, these lessons gained from rowing were skills transferable to City living. Much like rowing in the dark, use what you have, place aside what you don’t, and take what you can from the experience.

In New York, foot traffic remained a force well into the night. Cars were less prominent, but a few continued to roll slowly down the street. Sporadic blurs from headlights and police flashers made vision worse. Feeling blinded, I never lost sight of being thankful. At least I wasn’t stuck on one of 600 subway trains, I wasn’t party to one of 800 elevator rescues. Instead, I was safe, had a working shower, and a place to lay my head.

As with any major event in this City, from something as horrible as September 11th to one of the incapacitating blizzards this past winter, the folks stranded about didn’t let the situation get the best of them. Crime was lower than the average for a summer Thursday evening, people were cordial (for the most part), and everybody reverted back to basics. That night, life in New York was being tuned with a slightly different understanding. Minus phones, television, or computers, there was a curious appreciation for how the populace lived in the 19th century and earlier. The circumstance of “the largest blackout in US history” left us with simple choices. Sit outside with the neighbors or read a book by candlelight - choices which seemed almost foreign until then. A far cry from just days earlier when I overheard someone remark, “I don’t know what I’d do without my cell.”

I probably could have gone to bed early that night, but how often does something like this come along? Sleep would wait. The choice I made was to pop open a semi-cool beer, head up to the roof and check out the stars over New York City for almost the first time since the age of nine. People chatted and laughed on the streets below. I thought about rowing in the dark, and knew, like on the water, that it was simply a matter of relaxing until I reached the dock.

Jonathan Brown is a former National team rower. He sat in the 6 seat of the Men’s Eight for the Atlanta Olympics, 1996. Recently, he earned a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice while residing in New York City, and has previously submitted to row2k. Jon can be reached at RowJB@aol.com

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