Academic meets Artist: Waves of Growth

"When you surf you have that connection, you connect spiritually and physically to all the elements around you" (Walker, 4). "The tide of rising expectations is stilled; unfulfilled needs no longer trouble the mind" (Csikszentmihalyi, 7).

From North Carolina, the trip to Nosara, Costa Rica was more than 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles). The energy carried by the waves, which propels me on my surfboard each morning, could have also traveled several hundred kilometers to meet me in the green waves (Butt, 37). But, the glassy waves are only a fraction of the global waves affecting the town of Nosara. Surfing, as Comer explained, “had emerged as one possible expression of the problematic of globalization. . . Surfing had set people, money, goods, and ideas into motion in ways that created new forms of identity sociality, commerce, and politics” (Comer, 13). Surfing, is a vehicle of globalization. It acts as a wave, transferring energy worldwide in the form of economic structures, money, values, cultural practices, and environmental protections. Nosara is not immune to this global transfer of energy: transnational surf culture and the economic structures that come with it. The chest-high, clean, consistent waves and ...

"Strength can be discovered by the little girl inside who just loves to play in the waves" (Comer, 3).

Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left — “Paddle Faster,” my surf instructor yelled. Right, Left, Right, Left — the green Wave picks me up. the nose of my board   Touching the front of the Wave, tail to the Sky, hands to my waist, flat push my arms straight, right foot up near the back, left foot to the middle. knees bent, arms out,   standing. In control, with no control. weight on my back foot — white water to my left — lean my body to the right. The Board climbs the glassy Wave — it isn’t mine anymore, was it ever? — the Wave is carrying me, the Board I am not in control. Inhale, Exhale. weight on my front foot, lean slightly to my left, the Board glides down the Wave, moving with it but never moving. In control with no control, the powerful, yet gentle Wave carries me with ferocious love.   Working with Nature, not against, for the first time in a long time. “strength…discovered by the littl...

        Yesterday, I paddled past the breaking waves on my surfboard for the first time. I was proud of myself for finally being beyond the white water and dreaded the possibility of being dragged back toward the beach. As a result, I continued to paddle, further and further from my fear. Once I felt that I was a safe distance past the powerful breaking waves, I pushed my body up and sat on my board. I used my feet to turn toward the sandy beach.            As I lifted my head from the endless green waves, I realized I was in the presence of an incredible landscape. Previously, I was too preoccupied by the crashing waves to notice what laid beyond the beach: luscious, green mountains spotted with red roofed white houses surrounded the semi-circle beach.            Out of the corner of my eye I saw my surf instructor, Frank, on the outskirts of the white water frantically waving his arms. I looked to my ...