Tuesday Thoughts & Things: August 30
A lake gives up its dead, cozy mysteries and weird goodbyes
Lake Mead is drying up.
Images from NASA’s Earth Observatory show water levels at the lake at their lowest since 1937. The lake is only at 27% of capacity and has been falling for years. The ever dropping water levels not only threaten the water supply for millions across several states, but it also threatens the functioning of Hoover Dam. Built during the Great Depression, the dam needs a water level greater than 1,000 feet to function properly. In July, the water level was at 1,041.
As the water levels drop, the lake is giving up its dead.
Back in May in a discovery straight out of a murder mystery, a body was found in a barrel after lake waters receded far enough to expose a murder dating to the late 1970s or early 1980s. More remains have been found over the summer.
For one family, the discovery simultaneously opened old wounds and provided closure. Twenty years ago, Thomas Erndt dove into the waters in front of his children and was never seen again. Authorities identified him, told his family and last week announced to the world that he had been found.
For his children, the discovery is confirmation of what they’ve always known. For a murderer who spent the last four decades evading responsibility for their crime, the lake’s revelations have brought to light what they’ve always feared.
And then there’s Lake Lanier.
I’m not even from Georgia and I know to stay away from that particular body of water.
If you see Lake Lanier trending on Twitter, chances are that someone has drowned or a boat has sunk or some other strange occurrence has prompted locals to warn the world about the dangers of the man-made lake with a controversial past.
Lake Lanier was built in the 1950s to provide water, power and flood protection to communities surrounding Atlanta. To do so, local families sold more than 50,000 acres of land to the government. While many of the landmarks in the towns were removed by the Army Corps of Engineers, others remain. Residents left behind building foundations, racetracks and other familiar sites behind, returning later to watch them disappear under the lake’s waters.
That includes their dead. Marked graves were removed where permission was obtained, but it’s likely that unmarked graves were left behind.
Legends about the lake abound. Anjali Enjeti writes beautifully about them in an essay from last summer in the Oxford American that weaves those tales with the expulsion of the Cherokee at one point in the area’s history and the later expulsion of the Black population.
A light breeze tickled my shoulders. Was it merely a breeze or the Lady of the Lake? And what of the celestial beings lingering near their graves buried deep under the water? Though I have never been one to believe in ghosts, I have always believed in stories.
I leaned my head back and shut my eyes. Just to be on the safe side, I attempted to bargain with the spirit world. We will hug the beach, and the gentle waters that lap it. But we will never cross the rope boundary of the swimming area. The belly of the reservoir, with its deep, dark waters, and all of its mysteries and secrets, we will leave to the dead.
They are the rightful occupants, after all.
Water drying up reveals our secrets. Water in its depths hides mysteries.
Too little water leaves us dry and thirsty. Too much water overwhelms us in its flood.
Its an ever-present reminder of the secrets we’ve hidden that are waiting to be revealed, of the areas of our lives that need attention and of the constant barrage of emotions, tasks, news and … well, life … that can overwhelm us.
And we learn to navigate it. We learn to live with its mysteries.
We learn to find a certain peace.
A thing to read …
A writing friend of mine has been on a streak in the past few years, writing more books in a month or two than I could dream of doing in a year. In doing so, ACF Bookens doesn’t sacrifice quality in her cozy mysteries. From the bookstore owner who finds herself at the center of the mystery to the restaurateur angling for her affections, the people of St. Marin’s come alive in the pages as they deal with death in their midst. There are 10 books in the series. Though you could read them in any order, I highly recommend starting at the beginning with Publishable by Death (shown below) so you can see the characters grow as they encounter one challenge after another in their small community.
A thing to listen to …
The National and Bon Iver released a single last week that I just can’t stop listening to. Weird Goodbyes, according to The National’s frontman Matt Berninger, is “about letting go of the past and moving on, then later being overwhelmed by second thoughts.”
Who hasn’t been there?
Here’s a look at the lyric video …
A thing to remember …
I believe future generations may look back with regret on our current unbridled embrace of all things technological. - Ed Stetzer in Christians in the Age of Outrage: How to Bring Our Best When the World Is at Its Worst