Surf's Up!
Join me at 5pm for a fun conversation to kick off summer, with two writers and surfers extraordinaire, Claudia Lebenthal and Holly Peterson
This afternoon’s live video chat at 5pm will be different!
I’m taking a break from my usual topics, Trump, Lawfare, the Middle East, to celebrate the arrival of summer - with two friends, Claudia Lebenthal, and Holly Peterson who are both writers and avid surfers.
Claudia has put together a coffee table book called Surfer Stories in which twelve writers (who also love to surf) have written a chapter on one of the surfing greats.
I do not pretend to know or care about surfing. (I tried it in Nicaragua and I wouldn’t describe myself as a natural. All I got for my efforts was a nasty bruise on my right thigh).
However, I am full of admiration for both Claudia and Holly.
I spend my summer weekends in Bellport, Long Island and at the end or beginning of a day, I’ll be sipping a drink, watching the sun rise or set, and suddenly Claudia comes into view, either on a board, or jogging, or swimming. Whatever it is she’s doing, she’s not standing still. She’s the most kinetic person I know.
As for Holly?
Well, as Holly herself writes in Surfer Stories, in her chapter about Robert “Wingnut” Weaver, she’s a hard news TV producer turned novelist and very funny social satirist whose “usual persona” is “seeking out the dirtiest martini in the highest heels or the most luxurious blowout”. I remember one night showing up to her apartment and she opened the door in tight jeans, heels, and a very low cut top. “I’m working it,” she said with a grin.
So, I do recall being shocked when, over fifteen years ago, I first saw videos of Holly not just surfing….but really surfing, standing on a board in a video that seemed to go on…and on….and on, as if she was competing in the surfing Olympics.
“What the heck is she doing?” I wondered. (I wasn’t alone in our friend group. One time I was staying with a mutual friend and Holly phoned up my host to ask if we’d go watch her on the waves. Our friend was infamously sea and sun-averse. “I think you have the wrong number,” was the response).
But the answer to that question is in Holly’s chapter in Surfer Stories. And it’s a surprising one.
So join me, Claudia and Holly this afternoon at 5pm on the substack app while we talk about the purpose of the book, surfing, life, writing, anything and everything, and to celebrate the fact that, even though it’s a miserable, rainy day in New York, summer is nearly here.
See you later!
