Uncover the currents of memory
The water carries stories—of resilience, loss, and survival, of those who live at its edges. Like the river, we are shaped by what we carry.
Recent Quick Dispatches
Short dispatches from the river and beyond
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First Snow, New Glass
First real snow of the season—the heavy, wet kind that sticks to your boots and reminds you this isn’t a drill. Yesterday I finally pulled the cardboard out of a broken window, glazed in new glass, and swapped the fried outlet my little heater murdered. Now it’s 20°F outside and a balmy 60° inside, which…
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Midwinter Repairs
Now why is the circuit breaker tripped? Oh! Now that’s not ideal. Midwinter shantyboat repairs.
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Riding Out a Bug
Cozy night on the river, laying low and riding out this bug. Grateful for a warm little corner to hide in.
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Rain on a Tin Roof
A cozy rainy morning after a cozy stormy night in the shantyboat loft, snug in fresh sheets and two quilts, with the rain pounding against the tin roof.
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Morning on the Little Miami
Anchored out on the Little Miami River and woke up to a misty morning and still water. Made coffee and breakfast just as the sky cleared.
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Free Concert from the Anchor
There’s an outdoor stadium music venue along the river down past the bridge. I heard you could anchor out and get a free concert. I didn’t know the country singer but thought it might be fun. So I’m bobbing out here. There has to be 50 boats out here as the moon rises. Sorry I…
Step Aboard and Drift into the Story
What stories does the river hold? Who calls it home? How do we navigate change, memory, and belonging on the water? Step aboard our floating archive and explore the histories, people, and places that make up this journey.
Recent Field Reports
Longer reports from the field
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Field Notes from Bayou Teche
Somewhere between careful piloting and gentle persuasion, we kept the shantyboat pointed downstream. The Atchafalaya doesn’t take kindly to plans. Humidity climbed, moods sagged, but we held course mostly on charisma and sheer will. After days navigating muddy channels and dense cypress corridors, we pulled out at Butte La Rose with the intention of seeing…
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Lynda Frese is out here making art like the Earth is watching
We sat down with her this week—painter, collage artist, professor emeritus from University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Lynda grew up in Rhode Island, but her work is soaked through with bayou light and Louisiana mysticism. Her collages pull together satellite scans, saucers, sacred forests, and pigment ground from the literal dirt of this place. She…
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The Cats of Krotz (Katz?) Springs
We didn’t see many people in Krotz Springs. But we did see cats. On porches, in tall grass, under trailers. Lounging in the shade or darting behind cars. For every cat we photographed, another vanished the moment we made eye contact—like shadows with whiskers. They weren’t strays. They belonged here. Not to anyone, necessarily, but…
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A Night in Simmesport
Why are we sitting in a police station at nearly midnight after two white young men kitted out in military garb pulled rifles on us for allegedly trespassing? Welcome to our small town in southern Louisiana, where tying up to an unmarked riverbank can get you met by armed young men in tactical vests, backed…
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A Day in Simmesport
Just after breakfast, we passed a spot where geography and history tangle like roots underwater. This is where the Red River becomes the Atchafalaya—where a meander of the Mississippi once captured the Red, and later, human hands sliced it back open, inserting control structures to keep the rivers separated, but not disconnected. A crossroads of…
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First miles, first mishaps
We launched. Not on water yet, but we hit the road—and that’s no small thing. The past week was a blur of last-minute repairs, packing lists, untested gear, late-night epoxy sessions, and frantic repainting. There was preventative maintenance and finishing touches, but also some real “hold-your-breath-and-hope” fixes. You know: the fun stuff. We never got…
Follow the River to Its Deeper Currents
What draws us back to the river, year after year? How does the project challenge dominant history? How do river communities respond to change? Explore the deeper ideas that shape our journey.
Meet Our Interviewees
Conversations with people who live and work on the river
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George Arnaud has been pushing water—and community—for decades.
We interviewed George, a descendant of Arnaudville’s namesake, who spent over fifty years working the rivers, pushing long rafts of barges up and down the Mississippi and beyond. A career built on current, steel, and river-smarts. When he finally came ashore, George started as a volunteer dishwasher at NUNU Arts & Culture Collective. These days,…
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Joe Billiot knows rivers
We sat down today for a wide-ranging conversation that covered his 54 years running tugs all over the country, his childhood on Bayou Lafourche, his Chitimacha and Cajun French heritage, and a lifetime of stories anchored in the water. Joe speaks with the clarity of someone who’s spent decades reading currents, both literal and cultural.…
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Lynda Frese is out here making art like the Earth is watching
We sat down with her this week—painter, collage artist, professor emeritus from University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Lynda grew up in Rhode Island, but her work is soaked through with bayou light and Louisiana mysticism. Her collages pull together satellite scans, saucers, sacred forests, and pigment ground from the literal dirt of this place. She…
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A Sitdown with George Marks in Arnaudville, Louisiana
We sat down with George Marks in Arnaudville—artist, organizer, instigator of the offbeat and unexpected. George helped launch the NUNU Collective, an arts and culture space tucked in rural Louisiana that somehow radiates like a beacon. Every time we meet someone here who knows George, they light up. Then they tell us how he changed…
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Remembering Betty Goins
Remembering Betty Goins who passed away yesterday. We had the immense pleasure to interview Betty in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2016.
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On a beautiful sunny morning, I interviewed Paul Hassfurder
On a beautiful sunny morning this week after a day and night of thundershowers, I felt honored to interviewed Paul Hassfurder who lives at Payne Hollow. Paul worked with artist and writer Harlan Hubbard at the house for nearly a decade before his death in 1988 at age 88. Paul talked to me about Harlan…
Trace the Currents of Our Journey
Where did we go? What did we find along the way? Explore interactive maps from our river expeditions and road trips, with every dispatch mapped along the route.
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