09 - Rivers, Castles & Kayaks [Wild Talk Short]
“We are social animals. We crave belonging - to each other, to family, to tribe, to team, to community. So when we have these moments of connectivity, especially after being in isolation for so long, it rings a bell deep within us. ”
The pandemic has created a tremendous amount of isolation and distance between people. While digital tools and ways of gathering have helped us stay somewhat connected, they lack the capacity to help us relax, have fun, build trust and rapport and get to know each other in our more full selves.
Organizations are struggling to find ways to gather that feel safe and meet this moment which is leading us to a new normal. It can be important to gather, at least occasionally, in person and what better way to do that than safely outdoors in the container of nature and the wild.
Join Wild Talk host Jay Erickson and some of his colleagues at Modus, a digital agency, as they paddle on the Hudson River with Storm King Adventure Tours to Bannerman Island and visit a castle with an explosive history. They are meeting in person for the first time since the pandemic, lock downs and working from home. We can hear the excitement to be together in person and to be setting sail on a new chapter and adventure together.
“We've been missing dimension. Everything's been very flat not just because the screen is flat and people are flat -we all just got there like very one dimensional. A lot of the beauty and the messiness and the connections that all happen that you don't realize they're happening. The ones you can feel but not see.” - Abi Stock
Transcript
Kate:
We're going for a kayak paddle today, over to Bannerman Island, and then we're going on a little tour. I don't know, I guess we'll see the castle.
Toby:
I saw it on the way here, looks spooky. So it's exciting. Yeah, unless I was looking at the wrong thing.
Jay:
The pandemic sent many of us to stay at home while brave healthcare and essential workers faced the risks on our behalf. As a result, people who were used to interacting with colleagues, clients, and customers on a regular basis, found their relationships relegated to a small flat rectangle. That, while being somewhat magical technology, seems able to contain only a fraction of the presence available in real life, or IRL, as the kids say.
For the last 20 years, I've worked as a part of a group called Modus. A digital agency of just under a hundred people based in New York. We closed our office in Manhattan in March of 2020 and went fully remote. It's been hard to be physically separated for so long from the people I work with on a daily basis. Much of what we do is complex and collaborative work that lends itself to the kind of energy, trust and teamwork that seems easier to cultivate in person, or maybe those qualities of relating can exist through Zoom, but rely on coffers of trust and shared culture that are challenging to replenish at a distance.
In fact, during the prior 15 months, a number of new team members had joined the group whom we had only met via Zoom. With the arrival of vaccines, decrease in active infection rates and lowering of restrictions, we wanted to gather again in person. So we planned an event that could be held safely outdoors, and those who could make it gathered about 60 miles north of New York City to spend the afternoon kayaking. With a mixture of rusty social chops and excitement, we met under a willow tree on a bluebird June day by the banks of the Hudson.
Kristina:
What's most important to me is just having everybody come together and with the mass restrictions that have just come down, it feels really good to be with everyone in this really relaxed way. And there are a lot of people we've never met before that are part of the Modus family now, so that's really nice.
Abi:
I'm excited to physically be around the people that I actually spend the most time with and be outside in nature with them and working towards something and sweating and laughing and having fun, just all the very human stuff that we didn't get to do for the last year. We've been missing just dimension. Everything's been very flat, not just because the screen is flat and people are flat, but we all just got very one dimensional, we had to so, a lot of the beauty and the messiness and the connections that all happen, that you don't realize are happening, the ones you can feel, but not see.
Steve:
I don't go to nature very often. In fact, I am reeling from looking at anything that's further than 30 feet away right now. It's a little disoriented. I think it's going to be like tranquil and peaceful and kind of zen, which would be great. I am actually pretty happy just sitting at a picnic table-
Jay:
We could just go home.
Steve:
Is that a Willow tree?
Jay:
It's a Willow tree.
Steve:
Under a Willow tree, this is an event in itself. Right?
Tulsi:
Eating tacos.
Jay:
Tacos. That's the reward, if we make it back.
Dave:
If we make it back. Yeah, I have a swim suit on, but I am not planning on… Taking a dunk. It's more of a-
Sarah:
My name is Sarah. I feel so excited about today. I feel calm, I feel both calm and excited. There's probably a word for that and finish or something. I love to kayak. It's really one of my happy things. I like... there's a grace to it. I like how low to the ground you are. You really do feel like you're on the water, in the water at the same time.
Graham:
We are on the Hudson river. Essentially across the river from Beacon, New York and we're going to go out to Bannerman Island, which I don't see from here, which is making me a little bit uncomfortable because it seems really far away.
I like this kind of outdoor stuff. It's a beautiful day. We'll see how it goes to the water. I saw they got some life jackets and stuff. So how bad could it be? Worst case scenario, you get swept down to New York city and you're fine.
Jay:
And you don't have to take the train.
Graham:
You just go to Chelsea Piers, a little butterfly up to the end, hop up one of the boats, statue of Liberty, where my relatives came through. Have a great American day. My name is Graham.
Jay:
What do you do?
Graham:
I am a chief strategy officer.
Jay:
That sounds important.
Graham:
It's surprisingly is not, it's not at all. And I'm here with Rick, the CEO.
Rick:
Are you just trying to pass the buck?
Graham:
I'm trying to pass the buck. See what I just did there? Strategy. See what I just did? That's what I do.
Jay:
That's a good strategy.
Graham:
We're a digital agency. We do UX engineering and digital marketing.
Rick:
And strategy.
Jay:
And kayaking.
Graham:
We do kayaking. We invented crossbow kayaking where you kayak and hunt at the same time.
Jay:
So clearly you do innovation.
Graham:
We innovate. Yeah, with laser crossbows and kayaks.
Jay:
And rail guns?
Graham:
And no rail guns. They're too big for kayaks. You need a canoe for that.
Jay:
That's smart. That's the engineering part.
Graham:
Yeah, that's the engineering mindset.
James:
My name is James. I'll be one of your lead guides today.
Julia:
I am Julia another lead guide.
Kyle:
Another lead guide here, I am Kyle.
Blake:
I am Blake.
James:
All right, so we're going to start hanging out the PFDs to everyone and they are size according. So I am going to hand them out individually but while you're waiting for that, I want everyone to learn how to loosen up your PFD. Once you have it all loose, you're just going to throw them on you just like this and just hangout and wait for the next catch. All right. So we're going to, want to be taking a nice wide grip on this paddle, but not too wide. And you don't want to go close together. So we're not out here like this. We're not in here like this, T-Rex in it. We're not out here going like just knocking. We're not going to be going very far. And we're not out here like this, doing the tear.
James:
We're not going to fly away. You're not going to get any elevation. So you want a nice, happy medium. Once we get to the island, I'll point out the island is right back over there. You can barely see it's blending in with the background, but it's to the right of that orange reflective triangle. Once we get there, we're going to split the group into two different course. And we decided that we were going to do a mini course. All right. So the first 16 people, it's not a race everyone, we are all going to be keeping together as one group as for the most part so don't be trying to use this as a little trick to get to the island first. But the first 16 people will be taking a longer trip anyway. So once we get to the island, the first 16 people who went direct them around the east side of the island, you're going to need to go around the north side and you're going to go to the docks. The second half of the group is going to be staying on the south side as we approach and we'll be going to Weeway bay.
Julia:
Alright everybody, once you are sitting in your kayak, in order to adjust your foot-rest, there are these gray bars on either side of the kayak on the inside and they're attached to those foot rests. All you do is lift the gray bar up a little bit towards the side, so we are all set, start pulling them in.
Jay:
As we pushed off from the shore, there was a real sense of elation. We who had been sheltering in place for so much of the last year were breaking free of our moorings and finding ourselves gliding through a vast and wild expanse of water. We felt ready to leave the pandemic and its woes behind, and with over 35 of us, it felt like some sort of eco-sporty armada setting out on a grand adventure.
James:
I am going to go over some more tips and rules on how to cross the river safely, then we're all going to cross from there. Okay? So, I'm going to lead the way for now. Some people get used to the kayaks. We're ready to go straight across.
Julia:
As we cross the river, we're going to try to stay together as one big group, as much as possible. This way, boats are able to see us a lot easier. We're also going to try to spread out from side to side rather than front to back as we were just now, when we were coming up the river here, that way boats have room to cross in front of us or behind us. You're going to start following James in just a second. We are going to be aiming for that little bridge. You can see it. It's over just below. With the rocky face on top. And so if everybody is ready. We can start paddling up towards
Jay:
Bannerman island, officially named Pollepel Island, comprises about six acres and was purchased by Francis Bannerman VI in 1900, an immigrant from Northern Ireland, who was in the military surplus business in Brooklyn. He used the island and the castle he built to store his inventory. As we approached the north of the island, James helped us make land where we were met by Paul [Klockman 00:10:54] , the island steward, who was part of the Bannerman island trust that currently looks after the island. A salty river man, he pulled up in a small motorboat that he piloted as if it were an extension of himself. He was there to deliver a bit of history of the island and to unlock the gate that some of my intrepid colleagues had started to scale before he arrived.
James:
So in this part of the half what you're going to do is, you got to nose up to here and then one of us is going to grab your pack and pull you up, hope you do not fall through the hole that's up here. Pretty much sturdy. You got to get out just like he did, basically. Maybe on the other side to your course.
Paul:
Paul, Jay, pleasure Jay.
Jay:
Where they kept all the ammunition. Nice.
Paul:
And bombs and flammable things and-
Jay:
Good place to throw a smoke.
Paul:
Believe it or not, it blew up.
Jay:
Really?
Paul:
Oh, it blew up big time.
Jay:
It looks like it.
Paul:
Supposedly it cracked out of, this is what we tell people, it cracked windows as far as Poughkeepsie. Which is 10 miles, 15 miles up river, and then one of the big pieces came up and landed right on a hammock where Mrs. Bannerman had just been laying out in the sun catching rays, but she went in for a cup of tea and she said, you know what? I'm out of here. I am done. There was lots of canons here. Out on the residents, he used to shoot the cannons down river. And then he got carried away one time and like hit somebody's barn or something over here. And they said, you can't shoot cannons anymore for some reason. Yeah, Just for the hell of it.
Jay:
I'd like to call my neighbor again and tell him to stop shooting cannons at my barn.
Paul:
And then I went to ruins for a long time. I came out here a long time ago. I am not from the area, but I came out here in early '90s, you couldn't get on the island, it was so overgrown. It would just so overgrown. It was so overgrown. And then they hacked it and whacked it and urban renewal and archeological dig and they re-establish... It's pretty cool now.
Jay:
We made our way on a short five minute climb to the top of the island, where we joined the group that had landed on the beach on the south side of the island. After enjoying the views and snapping some Instagram worthy photos we gathered in a circle by a large shagbark hickory tree, it felt powerful and meaningful to come together in that way as a group for the first time in over a year. There were some readings to help frame the moment, but it was mostly just reflections from those who were moved to share some of their experiences during the pandemic and what they were looking forward to.
It was moving to be out in the middle of the Hudson river, on an island we had all journeyed too, and be listening to these stories that resonated with all of us and seemed connected to the larger collective experience of this intense, difficult, and transformative time. It was cathartic and connective, helping us all let go of the tensions of the time and bring us closer as a group. It was a private moment so I turned off the mic, but in listening to the comments afterwards, you can sense the shift in energy, the coming together, the excitement to be reconnected.
Graham:
We got into a circle and we talked a little bit about the last year and people talked about some good things and some not so good things and we became closer as we revealed a little bit about our lives.
Rick:
Good summary.
Graham:
That’s why I get the medium bucks. I can summarize anything. Somebody said that to me the other day, they were like, you can really summarize things. I am like, we found my value. He summarizes, exactly. Chief of Summarization.
Corey:
No sir. I thought that went well. No, that was awesome, man. That was awesome. Company with a soul and then with philosophy. That's good stuff. Right. That's what it should be, right? You got to hive mind again a little bit. Yeah. That's what I'd say. Yeah. I think so. And I think got everybody there, everybody reflect a little bit, think a little bit, this is been moving fast, it's been a lot to process. Everybody's just going to take a minute to think and be right in the moment, a little bit behind a little bit forward. It's a good place to be.
Kristina:
Leimomia said she liked how it showed everyone's personality, made you feel like you're part of something. I thought that was nice, felt good to hear that.
David:
We had a heart to heart and then it's like what you do with your family, but this is your work family. So that's what Modus is, it's a work family and it's not just people you work with or you live with them. You care about them, you carry them, they carry you and it's that sense of family, not just like the people who live or abide together in a house or something like that.
Jay:
And a lot of us grew up together in many ways.
David:
Yeah.No, I mean, you and I have known each other at least 11 years now.
Jay:
We've grown up a little bit.
Tae:
Yeah, It was great. It's a lot of fun, nice workout, but not too hard, perfect weather, just everything is perfect.
Sarah:
Yeah. I thought that was so fun. It's the perfect amount of time to be out on the water. It was nice to have a little excursion, destination, like you have accomplished something.
Jay:
Feeling good, ready for tacos?
Tulsi:
Always ready for tacos.
Jay:
You look like you were crushing it.
Tulsi:
No.
Jay:
That river didn't stand a chance.
Tulsi:
I know. I felt like I was at the back and I kept looking behind and there was still people. So I felt a little better.
Jay:
Thank you so much.
James:
Thank you for coming up.
Jay:
How did we do as a group?
James:
Did great. You guys are awesome. Laid back group had a lot of fun it sounds like.
Jay:
Did everybody make it back?
James:
I think we might've left one there. Yeah, every once in a while we leave one or two, they'll find a way back soon. They are cultural trained so...
Jay:
We are social animals. We have thrived as a species perhaps too much so, because of our ability to collaborate, organize, and transmit knowledge. We crave belonging to each other, to family, to tribe, to team, to community so when we have these moments of connectivity, especially after being in isolation for so long, it rings a bell deep within us. We sometimes resist acknowledging our work-community as tribe, as meaningful community, but they are often the people with whom we spend the majority of our waking hours and this moment we are in seems to be making clear that the opportunity to find meaningful connection at work might need to be more than a bullet point in the HR presentation.
We're not out of the woods when it comes to the pandemic and our returned to regular gatherings, unencumbered by masks and distancing, maybe slower than we had hoped. Let's allow ourselves to go slow and to take the time to reflect on all we have learned from the great pause. Being in the container of nature seem to bring a depth to the experience that might not have been achieved on the patio of a gastro pub in the Meatpacking District. Let's find ways to make our gatherings more meaningful, but not only opportunities to connect deeply with each other, but with the beauty of the wild.
Emily:
Thanks for listening to wild talk. This episode was produced and edited by Matt Dillinger and Jay Erickson. Visit our website wildtalkpodcast.com to see photos from each episode, related links and more information about our guests. If you enjoyed the podcast, don't forget to rate, review and share with friends. Be well and we'll see you out there.
