Wednesday, July 23, 2008

I like the naked kid


I've always liked the cover art of Nirvana's Nevermind. An underwater shot of a naked baby swimming in a pool, chasing a dollar bill on a hook-and-line--that last bit Photoshoped or retouched I assume.

I have vague recollections of shimmying down a pole and touching the bottom of the pool at the Mont Clare YMCA where my mom was a swim instructor when I was very young. Though I don't remember this particular part, my mom tells me she regularly took me swimming starting when I was less than a month old and that I splashed around and made happy googly noises and spouted water. Except for the tantrums I likely threw when we had to leave, I imagine myself as happy as the little guy--peepee exposed and all--on the cover of Nevermind.


I couldn't find a swimming picture of me, but this is from the YMCA. I'm the unhappy clown in the center with the plastic pumpkin. My brother is the matching clown to the right and my mom is behind me. I'm certain I was wondering when I would get to take off the ridiculous costume and go swimming.

So it brought a smile to my face today when my cubemate Kevin directed my attention to a story on NPR's website about the kid on the album. He's 17 now and pretty much a typical teenager...and he must still like the water 'cause he plays water polo (the best team sport ever) and I like what he has to say. It's worth the three minute read.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought water polo was just a women's sport. Oh, wait. Maybe I'm thinking of synchronized swimming. Hmm, is that the same thing?

TD

Dongoose said...

TD-
What was that sport you did in high school? Animal husbandry? Ritual hamster mating? Oh no...I think it was called wrestling. Yeah, that's a pretty cool sport...if you're into that kind of thing.