Status Updates From At the Pond: Swimming at th...

It is finally spring.

Nina’s essay is a great start to the spring section. Her essay is a journey across the waters that she has swam in since her youth of relocating to 4 different places—always stuck in the middle and anchored to many places, strange and shifting. It ties life experiences such as her first period, an earthquake occurring ‘back home’, and the death of her grandmother to watery language.

I used to live right by these ponds!! This book made me grateful and nostalgic of my first year in London.

Finally. An essay where we learn more about the writer's relations to the pond rather than the logistics. I greatly enjoyed this essay especially with its connection to the author's field of study. Connecting the aging of trees in the surrounding area to the age of the pool as well as disasters (war, dry/wet years, etc.) that occurred was illuminating. This is easily the best essay in the Winter section.

maybe life is worth living....

Winter Swimming is similar to the first essay except that we are provided with quotes from other women who swim at the Hampstead Ladies' Pond during winter. I greatly enjoyed prose and the quotes but I still feel as if this essay collection so far has only served as an intro to the pond itself. As I stated before, I want to know more about the writer's relations to the pond itself.

First, I wish that there were more essays in each section though I understand why summer is the longest.

Cold Shocks and Mud Beards was a decent starting point for the collection. It introduces us to the pond. This is essential and I understand why this was chosen as the first essay. However, I didn't particularly care about the logistics. I wanted to know more about the writer's relations with the pond itself.