The Smithian

…forceful coming-of-age story set circa 1989, against the backdrop of the violent beginning of apartheid’s end, Otelo Burning examines different paths to freedom—finding it in moments of escape, fighting others for it—and the significant costs inherent in each approach.

more. and more.

You park your car. If the waves are good you sit and watch and ponder it for a while. You grab your car keys in the towel. And you jump in the ocean. And you have to wait until there is a break in the waves…And you put on a fin—and you only have one fin—and if you catch the right wave you cut left because left is west…Then you cut down into the tube there. You might see the crest rolling and you might see the sun glittering. You might see a sea turtle in profile, sideways, like a hieroglyph in the water… . And you spend an hour out there. And if you’ve had a good day you’ve caught six or seven good waves and six or seven not so good waves. And you go back to your car. With a soda or a can of juice. And you sit. And you can watch the sun go down …”

—President Obama, on what he would do with one day off.

more, and the responses from some surfers about his dream.

…is “urban surfing” truly focused on the sport itself or does it have more to do with an aesthetic sensibility?

more.

For Yodit Eklund, the 26-year-old designer behind Bantu swimwear, the beaches along Africa’s West Coast are a source of inspiration — so she photographed her recent collection there…She wonders why ‘‘some of the best beaches in the world’’ are surfed only by locals. Eklund’s favorite spots…

here. plus more about the line, here.

…part history lesson, part sports film, part polemical essay — has a complicated story to tell, about black surfers and, more broadly, about African-American history and the history of surfing.

more.

…the third film about surfing within the African diaspora to be released in recent months…

more.

“Rio Breaks” is a documentary exploring two unlikely worlds: surfing, and slum-life in Rio de Janeiro…

more.

sad.

Rawand is one of four girls learning to ride the waves of the Gaza Strip. They are the newest members of the Gaza Surf Club, a community of two dozen surfers in the Palestinian coastal enclave of 1.5 million…Rawand took one look at the crowded beach and decided against it. “Too many people,” she declared…Sitting in her family’s living room later, Rawand tries to explain: “It’s a great feeling when I surf, but I won’t surf when there are a lot of people around. It’s so weird for them to see a girl surfing. It gets crowded, and I just can’t handle everybody looking at me”…A lifeguard’s daughter, Rawand grew up watching her male relatives ride Gaza’s waves; recently, she remembers, “I thought, Okay, everybody’s surfing, why shouldn’t I?”

bold, mine. more, here.

+++++

art: photo by Sarah A. Topol