5/23/23
Purposeful Walker
Purposeful Walker
Yesterday’s walking thoughts were inspired by my friend who went to London. In between, I had a passing thought of Chris Arnade, a man who set out to see America from the forgotten places, but then turned it into a new career of global pedestrian vagabondage.
Per recollection, Arnade was a stock-market “quant”—one of the math/science whiz-kids with an advanced degree from a prestigious school who was hired by some Wall Street investment firm to figure out mathematical formulae and computer algorithms that generate gobzamoney. He got rich, didn’t like the lifestyle, and was something of a left-leaning capitalism skeptic. So after the housing crash, he cashed out his career and took to pursuing his passion, which was people. Working-class people. Lower-class people struggling to get by. Especially the Americans who were left behind by the waves of wealth and enrichment sweeping much of the country. He called them the back-row kids, as opposed to the front-row kids in school who knew all the answers and excelled at everything.
He went to moribund American rural towns and hung out at the local McDonalds where he would get to know the clientele, speak with them, let them show him their lives and tell him their stories. And he took their pictures—pictures of them, where they lived, how they lived, the people who mattered to them. Eventually he published a book of the pictures and his observations about them. The book was Dignity, and it came out in 2019.
Here, Chris told about his motivations and outlook:
Chris Arnade has always kept a lovely Twitter feed, full of his pictures and short blurbs about people he meets. I looked it up after thinking of walking. He attends to it, as well as a Substack, as it turns out. In his Substack he writes about and shares photos of his pedestrian journeys around the world. Above all, he seems like a nice guy, exploring the world and sharing his explorations.
I was glad to see that Chris was still out there, doing his unique thing.
Today’s special animal friend is the spiny softshell turtle, Apalone spinifera. A member of the Trionychidae family, this charming reptile is found widely in the United States, especially in the east and south. Its range stretches up the Missouri River system into Montana. They can also be found in southern Canada and northern Mexico. They have been introduced to the State of Washington. This very adaptable species is of Least Concern to IUCN and is not at risk in the United States. They are protected in Canada, at the northern extremity of their range, by the federal government and the Province of Ontario.
All the Trionychidae have flexible, leathery shells, without scutes and with less bone than hard-shelled turtles. Their carapace is yellowish-brown, brown, or olive, and the plastron is white or yellow. Juveniles and males have dark spots on the back, while adult females have a darker, solid color or large blotches. Females are 7 to 19 inches long, while males are 5 to 10 inches. The eponymous spines are found on the edge of the carapace near the head. Both sexes have a long, flexible snout. In this video, the turtle arrives at out :30.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctNWDyOfv48
They are generalist carnivores, eating insects, crustaceans, and fish. They can be found in lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams of all sizes. Spiny softshell turtles are diurnal and often climb on trees, rocks, or the shoreline to bask. They also bury themselves in sandy bottoms to wait for prey. They hibernate during cold weather, breathing underwater using exposed skin and “respiratory epithelium in the cloaca and buccopharynx.” Because of their episodic reliance on underwater breathing, they require oxygen-rich water.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ0tIoHXi6I
The species favors habitats with sandy bottoms and sandy banks. They breed in late spring, and the female lays up to 30-ish eggs on a sunny sandbar or shore. The eggs hatch in August or September. The babies are cute:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thbo70OUW74&t=10s
Adult spiny softshell turtles have no significant predators. Nests are vulnerable to raccoons, skunks, and foxes, while juveniles are eaten by herons, large fish, and raccoons. They are collected for the pet trade and are also bred commercially and in zoos. Habitat loss is a threat to some populations, and they are vulnerable to water pollution, including fertilizer runoff.
Life expectancy in the wild is up to 50 years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWFdGLqyZ4w
I read "Dignity" when it came out. It was very interesting.
It seemed, at the time, that Mr. Andrade's family was sacrificed to his "cause." I just spent some time with Google, and I couldn't find any mention of them, so it seems like he has categorically moved on from his wife and children.