I have lived in the west my entire life but love your writing about your home around Chicago and the Great Lakes. I enjoy and learn so much reading your posts! I remember fondly Gordon Lightfoot’s about this sinking ship!
Thanks for this reminder. His songbook is one of the best. I have driven along Lake Superior in winter, on the way to the International Wolf Center in Ely, from the Twin Cities. And I've visited Madeleine Island in the summer. Even having lived along the Atlantic, this lake impressed me with its size and rolling waves.
What a tremendous artist Gordon Lightfoot was! I came of age to his voice and it had a mellowness, insight and intelligence that I’ve always admired. A song about that terrible wreck proved to everyone that he was a great humanitarian who believed that art had a place and a purpose.
In spite of nature’s terrible fury when that ship was lost, Lightfoot took time to pay heed to the beauty of the Lakes. They inspire and by turns, destroy.
One of the stats that’s always blown my mind: how many wrecks happened on the Great Lakes before the Edmund Fitzgerald — and how few have happened since. Love your mix of content!
I remember this very vividly. As a Chicago resident, I’d love to see the same kind of tribute to the Eastland disaster, even though it happened on the Chicago River. 844 souls.
I have lived in the west my entire life but love your writing about your home around Chicago and the Great Lakes. I enjoy and learn so much reading your posts! I remember fondly Gordon Lightfoot’s about this sinking ship!
Wonderful tribute, Bob! For anyone that gets up to Whitefish Point there is a great museum up there with an EF exhibit.
Ahhh Canadian Railroad Trilogy, another favorite! Saw Lightfoot at Ravinia once, he was an amazing performer.
Thanks for this reminder. His songbook is one of the best. I have driven along Lake Superior in winter, on the way to the International Wolf Center in Ely, from the Twin Cities. And I've visited Madeleine Island in the summer. Even having lived along the Atlantic, this lake impressed me with its size and rolling waves.
What a tremendous artist Gordon Lightfoot was! I came of age to his voice and it had a mellowness, insight and intelligence that I’ve always admired. A song about that terrible wreck proved to everyone that he was a great humanitarian who believed that art had a place and a purpose.
In spite of nature’s terrible fury when that ship was lost, Lightfoot took time to pay heed to the beauty of the Lakes. They inspire and by turns, destroy.
Fate is written in the wind and in the waves.
Beautifully done. Thank you.
One of the stats that’s always blown my mind: how many wrecks happened on the Great Lakes before the Edmund Fitzgerald — and how few have happened since. Love your mix of content!
https://substack.com/@evanhall1/note/c-175661912?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=5vnmvo
I remember this very vividly. As a Chicago resident, I’d love to see the same kind of tribute to the Eastland disaster, even though it happened on the Chicago River. 844 souls.