Wes Modes
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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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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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An Evening at NUNU in Arnaudville
We had the honor of bringing Dotty to the remarkable NUNU Arts & Culture Collective in Arnaudville earlier this week. The night unfolded in true Louisiana fashion: a community potluck, incredible live music from Maya Kamaty, and an open invitation for folks to climb aboard the shantyboat, share stories, or just hang out. And hang…
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Big Yella County Fixins in Grand Coteau
Oh man. The food is Louisiana is great, but the flavors that Shantelle whips up are special. I don’t have enough data points to know if this is the difference between Creole and Cajun cooking or just Shantelle’s special style.
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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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“Patriarchs in Stately Rows”
“The trees along the stream’s course are seen first and remembered longest. The live oak makes here its greatest stand in Louisiana: patriarchs in stately rows, long files for several miles; double avenues, with branches arching high above the heads of passers-by, leaves mingling with leaves; clumps at the banks, hanging over the water. At…
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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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Paddlers Welcome!
All along Bayou Teche there are a series of kayak and canoe launch sites (more than 16!) from way up at Point Barre all the way down to Morgan City, providing paddlers with an easy and convenient way to hop off the water and access services. This is a continuation of the network of waterways…
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A Fourth of July Salvage Operation
I took a walk this morning and scouted out the bridges across Bayou Teche. Okay, so maybe some of the bridges on the bayou are less passable for the shantyboat. Later we connected with some folks in Arnaudville—the weirdos and freaks, as George affectionately described them—and soon found ourselves invited to a neighborly gathering at…
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The Reality of Piloting
Somewhere between careful piloting and gentle persuasion, we keep this shantyboat pointed downstream. Sure, there’s an engine back there doing about 30% of the work—but mostly it’s sheer charisma holding us on course. That gets tougher on long afternoons when the humidity is high and the moods get grumbly. But we do our best.
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Trip Angels Just As We Needed It
Sometimes, right when you think the river’s turned against you—people indifferent, hospitality scarce—you land somewhere that feels immediately like home. That’s exactly what happened when we drifted ashore at Riverview RV Park, just outside Krotz Springs. Blake and Alexa welcomed us without hesitation. Within minutes, we had rusted tin charm, reclaimed wood aesthetics, and genuine…
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A Freight Train Running Through the Middle of my Head
Shantyboat Dotty posted up under the Krotz Springs RR bridge with raucous freight trains rolling over our heads by just a few feet all night. Both jarring and surprisingly comforting.
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It’s really fucking raining
We’re beached on a remote sandbar just as it begins to rain real good, complete with thunder and lightning. People ask us all the time what do we do when it rains. We make tea!
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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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Gray Man Feels
Gray Man has been a little down lately. We’re trying to talk it out. Late afternoon, feeling more relaxed at nap-thirty.
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Trespassing by boat
Surreal moments in shantyboating: with the high water, we had to boat far inland into someone’s back forty dodging submerged trees to beach Dotty to access a road for a resupply at a Dollar General. Shantyboat Dotty pulled up in someone’s flooded field on our mission to get ice (success!), gas (success!), and sandwiches (unsuccessful).…
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A Storm Gathers
From the Colfax Boat Launch, where the light fades and the clouds build like a slow exhale. Storms feel different on the water—closer, heavier, like the sky’s trying to tell you something. Dotty doesn’t flinch. She’s been through worse.
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Busy busy natures
The nature is very busy here. This is a non-venomous Diamondback Water Snake (Nerodia rhombifer) about 4 foot long, harmless to us, but less so to the fish it has caught. We watched it evade a juvenile American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) which continued to hunt for it long after the snake had cleverly gone underwater…
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First night afloat
After days of chaos—repairs, road miles, dust—we finally got quiet. A river bath, a hot meal, a cigar at sunset. The boat, at last, feels like home again.
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Dotty touches water at last
This is it. After a thousand miles of road mishaps, truck breakdowns, gas station meditations, and desert detours, Dotty finally tastes Louisiana water just above Alexandria. Colfax welcomed us quietly, a gentle entry into the slow-moving story of the river. From here, the miles will unwind differently—no pavement beneath, just current, cypress, and whatever waits…
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A Jury-Rigged Solution
Probably not the best fix, a plug bypassing the sensor altogether, but no diesel spraying all over the engine is better than before. Kudos to Kevin and K & P 24 Hour Towing and Auto Repair for hours of attempting to find us the right sensor and his willingness to do a jury-rigged repair at…
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The timelessness of being on hold
You don’t really choose timelessness. It chooses you. Breakdowns and delays are like that: enforced pauses, unavoidable stillness. Out here, waiting is its own quiet adventure, a slow-motion moment suspended amid the everyday chaos. Like trainhopping—more wait than action, more dreaming than doing. But maybe that’s the secret: life happens in these pauses, in the…
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A Cool Swim in a Dry River
Jeremiah and I hiked the 3 miles in the noonday sun through the wastelands for a refreshing swim in the cool desert waters of the Little Colorado River. Worth every minute. Quoth Jeremiah: “It seemed a little bluer on the map.”
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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…
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Roadside Bivouac
A little roadside bivouac in Holbrook, AZ. Engine threw a tantrum outside Winslow, so we limped into town and settled in for the night. The shantyboat may not be fast, but damn if she isn’t homey under the glow of a gas station sign. Tomorrow: diagnostics, prayers, and probably gas station burritos.
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Truck Breakdown
2011 Ford F-250 Super Duty6.7L Power Stroke V8 Turbo DieselFailure: Fuel rail pressure sensor (approx. 1”x1”x2”)Symptom: External diesel leak through vertical housing crackPressure loss: Low-side return circuitECM response: Fuel pressure fault triggered, dash warning activeConditions: 96°F ambient, sustained 60 MPH, towing 7000 lb loadLeak vector: Direct ejection from sensor body, not injector or return fittingMitigation:…
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Bumpy Roads and Inproper Tongue Weight
Bumpy roads, a bit of wind, a shantyboat trailer with incorrect tongue weight all mean our terror index hovers around 7.
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Hitched, patched, tightened, checked, finishing touches
Hitched, patched, tightened, checked (twice). This morning, finishing touches—preventative maintenance, last coats of paint, wiring tweaks, and the eternal mystery of the trailer lights. Dotty’s hooked up and ready to roll. Next stop: 1500 miles of asphalt, diners, potholes, and prayer.
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Epoxy and Sawdust
Just a sneak peek at today’s work. Elbows deep in epoxy and sawdust, in our hair, on our clothes, smelling like acetone, but finally we have something you could call a motor well. LOTS of work still to do and only 7 more days to do it.
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New Orleans Advocate: A traveling oral history project will float down Louisiana’s waterways. See how to get involved
New Orleans/Baton Rouge Advocate by Christian Snyder Starting mid-June, the traveling oral history project, “A Secret History of American River People,” will journey by handmade shantyboat through Louisiana’s waterways. Artist Wes Modes and crew will navigate Bayou Teche and the Atchafalaya Basin, interviewing Cajun and Creole residents and collecting personal stories of life on the…
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Sitting with the Questions
In a few weeks, we set off for the Delta. Right now, we’re sitting with the questions. Not just the questions we’ll be asking our interviewees — but the ones we’re asking ourselves. Are we offering enough space for people to tell the harder truths? Do our questions reflect the radical heart of the project…
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A Race Against Time
While Dotty gets a full-body exfoliation (goodbye, rotten wood), the rest of us are practicing the fine art of pretending everything is fine. Twelve days left. No big deal. Plenty of time to rebuild, rewire, reimagine, and lose the last remaining shreds of sanity. Everything is definitely under control. It’s fine. It’s fine.
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Press Banner: Felton artist sets out to document river communities in Cajun Country
Modes brings visibility to cultural heritage through art and storytelling Scotts Valley/SLV Press Bannerby Staff Ten years ago, in a quiet Felton barnyard, Wes Modes, 58, a UC Santa Cruz lecturer, and a few friends began piecing together a modest, 20-foot shantyboat from piles of salvaged redwood. Originally conceived as a weekend escape from Modes’…
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7 Days
Cue the long shot, the slow pan with the droning riser – the part where everything hangs in the balance.
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The Sound of Splintering Hope
The crunch you’re hearing? That’s the sound of optimism splintering. Turns out the motor was attached mostly by friendship and damp wishes. We’ve got 29 days to fix this before the expedition launches. Tools are flying. Spirits are… wobbly.
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Wires, switches, and the magic in between
Electrical pleasures. There’s something satisfying about making sparks flow the right direction. Cockpit panels cut and painted, switches installed, plugs soldered, lights tested. We even got our running lights lit so we can legally (and safely) be dumb enough to float after dark. Every switch was a chance to dream—Mood Stabilizer, Rat Deter, Eel Mode.…
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Every River Has a Story. Tell Us Yours.
Peoples River Stories is a participatory new media project, a web-based map where anyone can drop a pin and share a memory, confession, observation, dream, or historical fragment about a river they know. It expands the world of Secret History beyond our shantyboat and beyond U.S. borders—inviting people everywhere to claim space for their own…
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I built a DIY shantyboat, floated 2,400 river-miles collecting river stories—heading to Louisiana bayous next. AMA!
This Monday May 5, 2025 after noon, we’re gonna be hanging out on Reddit. Hey Reddit—I’m Wes Modes (he/they). I spend my summers on a 20-foot shantyboat I built from scrapyard lumber and questionable decisions. With me today are my longtime shipmates Jeremiah (ship’s bo’sun and master of camp coffee), James (English-born pixel-wrangler who can…
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We just lit the fuse.
It’s getting real. We just launched our spring Kickstarter. We need you on board. The arts are under attack, and projects like ours—focused on memory, justice, and stories from the margins—are in the crosshairs. Grants we’ve counted on for years have vanished. So now we’re turning to our community. To you. Over time, I’ve gotten…
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Sometimes you open a hatch and find a whole civilization.
This week’s adventure started with one of those innocent “hey, let’s check that” moments. We opened the forward locker where we store life vests—and accidentally disturbed a long-standing treaty with several insect nations. We didn’t set out to launch an eviction, but when the sawdust starts falling and the structural integrity looks questionable, it’s time…
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From Chaos, Shelves
The loft has been a shameful mess for, oh, about a decade. We finally did something about it. What started with a cardboard prototype turned into a full-on build—panel glue-ups from pallet wood, rusty vinegar stain, some sketchy lofting techniques, and boom: a custom shelf unit with a secret drawer and a little bit of…
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Stay A Little Longer
On warm nights drifting down the river, we’d often sit on the deck with the lanterns lit low, a transistor radio tucked in the corner, and a scratchy country tune bouncing off the water. Bob Wills. Spade Cooley. Hank Penny. We’ve gathered some of those sounds for you—audio recordings from the shantyboat, including “Songs Drifting…
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The Tribunal Convenes
There comes a day in every shantyboat’s life when the accumulated cruft must be held accountable. Today was that day. Every object not nailed down faced trial. Some were redeemed. Others were detained indefinitely. A few were possibly innocent but didn’t make a strong enough case. Justice is complicated. What matters is that Dotty now…
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Dotty Work Day – Engines, Bilges, and (Almost) Explosions
Keeping Dotty afloat takes a village and good tea. Today was one of those deeply satisfying shantyboat work days. The whole crew pitched in—Chris got Freddy (our trusty outboard) humming beautifully; James battled bilge wiring; Miah took one for the team handling propane lines and sink leaks. And me? I kept obscure boat parts streaming…
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We’re Not Going to Lie—This One’s a Bit Urgent
There’s no poetic way to say it: the federal government has effectively gutted the arts and humanities. Cultural projects everywhere, including ours, are reeling from this sudden defunding. Grants vanished, promised support evaporated. It’s tough out here for storytelling and truth. But we’re scrappy, and we’ve survived storms, pandemics, and river pirates—so we’re betting on…
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A Totally Reasonable and Not At All Overdramatic Fix
There are plenty of important things to do to get the shantyboat ready for the river. But today? Today is about comfort. Specifically, preventing the captain from thrashing their hand on jagged metal one more time. So instead of working on, say, navigation or rigging, we’ve formed a shantyboat sewing circle, painstakingly whip-stitching 320 feet…
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Rebooting the River
Unveiling our completely rebuilt website—a fresh digital home for river stories, oral histories, and shantyboat adventures. It’s faster, cleaner, and born from countless hours of deep work. Witness the transformation as you explore interactive interviews, videos, and maps that bring decades of river life to light. Dive in at peoplesriverhistory.org. Join us on this incredible…
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We Violated the One Cardinal Rule of Boats
We moved everything not nailed down out of the shantyboat, derattified, scrubbed, laundered, and hosed down every inch we could reach—including the bilges. Yes, we put water inside the boat on purpose. Dotty is now cleaner than she’s been in more than ten years… well, except for the places we can’t reach.
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Songs Drifting From a Shantyboat – a Playlist
Music drifts across the water on warm summer evenings, mingling with the lapping of waves and the hum of distant voices. These songs echo the slow rhythms of river life—familiar tunes carried along the current, playing from a shantyboat radio or a dockside porch.
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Cleaning Tasks
What wonders to behold in our cabinet of curiosities?. . . Answer: Mostly rusty cans, cheap beer, and rat poop. Now empty shelves and a daunting cleaning task.
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Delta Films, Second Line, and Squirrel Gumbo
Once a week we gather at Secret History HQ for the Delta Film Series—a deep dive into the culture, history, and tangled realities of the Louisiana Delta. These films aren’t just movies; they’re waypoints on the journey ahead. This week, we enjoyed a doc about young musicians finding resilience and rhythm in the streets of…
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Props to Me
What did global capitalism bring me today? Something that gets us one step closer to the river. Over the years, we’ve left a few propellers behind—Sacramento River shallows, low driveways, maybe some questionable navigation choices. This time, we’re thinking ahead. No more scrambling for replacements in tiny marina shops. Now we’ve got a backup Mercury…
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Tubby Time Research
Reading Macon Fry’s excellent book They Called Us River Rats while bathing over the unnamed ephemeral creek on my property in the Santa Cruz mountains.
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Getting Straight With the State
It’s a special day to honor the sacred pact between punk hobo shantyboat river rats and the State of California. After five years of nautical delinquency… the moment has arrived. 🎟️🚣♂️ Stick around to witness history.
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Tires are Expensive
While the attention is on Shantyboat Dotty, it wouldn’t get too far without my big pick-em-up truck to get it where it needs to go. And you know what matters when the rubber hits the road? Tires. Just one of many unexpected expenses of the Secret history project.
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Big News: Summer Fieldwork
Big news: Shantyboat Dotty is heading to the bayous of Southern Louisiana this summer! The Atchafalaya River, Cajun and Creole culture, cypress swamps, delta blues, and jambalaya are calling. There’s so much to prep—fundraising, reconnecting with folks in the Delta, and getting Dotty river-ready—but we’re excited to bring these stories to life. Stay tuned for…
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You Forgot? Felton Remembers.
Mr. and Mrs. Goodman prepping to float down highway 9 in the Felton Remembers Parade.
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Whusky Rhymes With Shantyboat
Came home to a big surprise! A case of River Shanty Rye from @of_the_earth_farm_distillery
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It’s Christmas in Shantyboat Town
Midwest thunderstorm and hail weather catches up to us in the Pacific Coast mountains on Christmas Day.
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Thinking About Our Next River
From The Cabin-Boat Primer published in 1913. “The cabin boater will not find a better region in the world for his first experience than down Atchafalaya.”
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Summer Work Day
Shantyboat maintenance/repairs before a late summer outing. Replacing rub rail and some sizable dings in the hull.
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Shantyboat Dotty Fleeing Fires
During the California fires we had to flee our home with the Shantyboat Dotty in tow. We made safe camp in a field with neighbors where we created a temporary compound for four adults, one toddler, two dogs, and two kittens.
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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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A presentation about Secret History
Want to support a newly launched series of virtual experiences and lectures and at the same time learn some of the details of my research on the rivers? I gave a presentation on June 5th, 2020 introducing the project and discussing my research. We concluded with a tour of the shantyboat and Q&A. Watch the…
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Shantyboat Dotty looking good in the early spring sunshine.
Shantyboat Dotty looking good in the early spring sunshine. #Shantyboat #HomemadeBoat #DIYBoats #CabinPorn #Cabins #BoatsOfInstagram
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The first step in working on a longer Secret History documentary
The first step in working on a longer Secret History documentary. What are the stories we want to tell? What are the themes that emerge? #MindMap #ConspiracyMap #TooFunToBeRealWork #Documentary #DocumentaryPlanning #Preproduction
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Cabin Porn: Shantyboat
The Rivers of North America By Zach Klein, Freda MoonContributed by Wes Modes Photographs by Wes Modes, Bredette Dyer, Jeremiah Daniels At first glance, Wes Modes is an unlikely candidate for the role of modern-day hobo. For three-quarters of the year, the fifty-three-year-old is a university professor in Santa Cruz, an affluent California beach town,…
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People join us aboard the Dotty at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire
People join us aboard the Dotty at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire. Hundreds of parents and adults came through the shanty bar to check out the project. #makerfaire #shantyboat #exhibition
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Please join us at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire
Please join us at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire in Oakland at Day Park School on Sunday (10/27)! We’ll be there with the shantyboat Dotty and give a presentation on the project. #exhibition #mymodernmet #shantyboat #riverhistory
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Visiting one of our local waterways, Elkhorn Slough
Visiting one of our local waterways. Elkhorn Slough is a 7-mile-long tidal slough and estuary on Monterey Bay. It’s not a shantyboat but, were it not so late, I would’ve dropped the canoe in. #canoe #paddling #elkhornslough
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That Was Weird: Rediscovering The River
Join Archives & Collections Catalyst, Marla Novo, and Abbott Square Music Coordinator, Gabriel Kittle-Cervine, for ‘That Was Weird: Stories from Santa Cruz’, a fresh take on Santa Cruz History with the MAH’s first ever podcast. This month, we sat down with Wes Modes, a local artist, activist, and community member with a great care and…
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Atlas Obscura: An Artist, a Shantyboat, and the Lost History of American River Communities
Wes Modes is documenting life along America’s waterways. Atlas ObscuraBy Jonathan CareyMarch 7, 2019 THE RIVERS OF THE UNITED States have a certain lore and mystique within American culture. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these roaring waterways were home to thousands. Entire communities existed on or near the water in self-made houseboats. The…
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Boating: Wes Modes, Artist/Documentarian/ Shanty Boater
Armed with a homemade shanty boat and a video camera, Wes Modes has spent the last few years floating down rivers big and small, all for his unique project: “A Secret History of American River People.”
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In Reno, the shantyboat was blocked in so we had to grab a handy forklift to extricate it
In Reno, the shantyboat was blocked in so we had to grab a handy forklift to extricate it. #ForkliftVirginx2
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Louisville’s Schnitzelburg neighborhood at Check’s Cafe
Louisville’s Schnitzelburg neighborhood sitting at Check’s Cafe during Karaoke Night. #louisville #kentucky #roadtrip #singlelinecontour #blindcontour
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First Friday Santa Cruz: Secret History Project Tells Untold Stories of the San Lorenzo River
For local artist Wes Modes, this process of finding and sharing the stories of people’s relationships to rivers is a deeply powerful form of social practice—an art form that creates change through human interaction and conversation.
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HeraldWeekly: The Lost History of American River Communities, Revisited by an Artist in a Shantyboat
HeraldWeeklyby Mark Villanueva Wes Modes is documenting life along America’s waterways. American rivers used to be home to thousands of people, particularly during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Families lived close to these silvery channels, traded, thrived, as chronicled initially by Harlan Hubbard’s Shantyboat Journal. These communities are mostly gone now, but the mystery of…
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Portsmouth Daily-Times: American River People
Portsmouth Daily-Timesby Ivy Potter Several artists have made their way to Portsmouth, courtesy of their rustic recreated shantyboat, to gather information and personal histories of those living along the Ohio River. The Secret History of American River People, the name of the project, operates to build a collection of personal stories of people who live…
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Home finally! After a month and a half on the Ohio River and days on the road it feels amazing to be back home
Home finally! After a month and a half on the Ohio River and five days on the road it feels amazing to be back home. 2,375 miles #Home #RoadTrip #CrossCountry #ShowerFinally
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Now our boat hangs out in Reno with the burning man kids until the burn
Now our boat hangs out in Reno with the burning man kids until the burn. #Shantyboat #Storage #burningman #RoadTrip
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Crossing the Great Salt Flats in a storm
Crossing the salt flats this morning. #SaltFlats #RoadTrip #Utah
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An undiscovered wildflower wilderness on Hwy 80
Stopped to make dinner at a turnout less than a stone’s throw away from a major highway we discover a miniature wetland edged with nettles and wildflowers. #hwy80 #utah #easternutah #shantyboat #roadtrip
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Feeling cute, might drive later
Rockin PetShop Boys, Ah Ha! And The Bangles as we cross the high prairies. #feelingcutechallenge #roadtrip #magicrockouttravelmusic #wyoming #80sflashback
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I love being back in the American West. Something about the way the cool morning air touches your skin
I love being back in the American West. Something about the way the cool morning air touches your skin. Walking the wide, charming streets of downtown Laramie, Wyoming. #Laramie #Wyoming #AmericanWest #RoadTrip