My River Chronicles: Rediscovering America on the Hudson
Written by Jessica DuLong
Narrated by Jessica DuLong
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
The more time DuLong spent toiling in the engine room, running the boat's finely crafted machinery, the more she wondered what America is losing in our shift away from hands-on work. These questions crystallized in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks, when the FDNY called the retired fireboat back into service, and DuLong and the rest of the boat's civilian crew pumped water to fight blazes at Ground Zero. As blue-collar workers clambered on the pile, DuLong was struck by the dignity of physical labor and the honor of having joined the world of skilled labor whose talents were useful at the site.
DuLong brings her two worlds vibrantly to life in this beautifully written memoir that evokes the vitality of New York City's bygone working waterfront and the Hudson River, a birthplace of American industry. Blending four centuries of Hudson River history with unforgettable present-day characters and events, DuLong offers a porthole-view narrative of the river and its social tapestry as a microcosm of postindustrial America. As she tracks changes along the shoreline, where industrial sites give way to recreational respites, a celebration of American labor and craftsmanship emerges. While searching along the river's edge for the meaning of work in America, DuLong pays homage to our industrial past and raises important questions about the future at this pivotal moment in our national story.
My River Chronicles is a journey with an extraordinary guide, a woman who bridges blue-collar and white-collar worlds and turns a phrase as deftly as she does a wrench. Soulful and illuminating, My River Chronicles is a deeply personal story of a unique woman's discovery of her own roots-and America's-as she runs the fireboat's diesels on the ever-changing river that flows both ways.
Jessica DuLong
Jessica DuLong, a U.S. Coast Guard-licensed Merchant Marine Officer, is one of the world’s only female fireboat engineers. She’s also a journalist whose work has appeared in Newsweek International, Rolling Stone, Psychology Today, CosmoGIRL!, Parenting, Today’s Machining World, and Maritime Reporter & Engineering News, and other publications. Her passion for the Hudson River took shape at her post in the diesel exhaust-filled engine room of retired New York City Fireboat John J. Harvey, where temperatures climb to 130 degrees. The 1931 vessel, dubbed “Ambassador of the Hudson,” now operates as a living museum, offering free public trips around New York Harbor and an annual whistle-stop tour up the Hudson River, with DuLong at the engine-room controls. On September 11, 2001, Fireboat John J. Harvey was called out of retirement to pump water at the World Trade Center site. The John J. Harvey’s civilian crew, including DuLong, pumped water alongside FDNY crews for four days. Later recognized in the Congressional Record for “ensuring constant smooth running of the engines” during her service in the days following the attacks, she was also immortalized as a character in Maira Kalman’s award-winning children’s book, FIREBOAT: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey, and featured in Ben Gibberd’s New York Waters. DuLong’s boating and writing worlds first collided with the publication of her essay “Below Decks” in the anthology Steady As She Goes: Women’s Adventures At Sea (Seal Press, 2003)–a piece that was singled out in Publishers Weekly as “stylish” and a “high point” of the collection.
Related to My River Chronicles
Related audiobooks
Surfcasters, Snapper and Scandal: Shore Fishing Notes from Wellington Circa 1973 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeld by the Sargasso Sea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Touch of the Sun and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of Land and Sea: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Overlander Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRedneck Riviera Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5That Olympic Peninsula Layby Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shiver Hitch: A Jane Bunker Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Pearl Diver Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Old Man and the Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Tour in France Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFisherman's Bend Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Falling Asleep with Alison Larkin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Trout: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLilac Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings'Til Niagara Falls Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death at Charity's Point Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRaffles: The Amateur Cracksman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBroadsides from the Other Orders: A Book of Bugs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5FIVE TIMES LUCKY Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCattle Kate: The Controversial Life and Legend of the Wyoming Territory’s Most Famous Woman Outlaw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Underground Moon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWaverley, Volume 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTess of the d'Urbervilles (version 2) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Big Drift Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Travels with my suitcase: from Tasmania in search of sound Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlexander's Bridge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Was THIS Big!: Humorous Fishing and Outdoor Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBedtime Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Essays & Travelogues For You
Fucked at Birth: Recalibrating the American Dream for the 2020s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Look for Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Best. State. Ever.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5World Travel: An Irreverent Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Read Nature: An Expert's Guide to Discovering the Outdoors You've Never Noticed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ten Years a Nomad: A Traveler's Journey Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Colossus of New York Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Garlic, Mint, and Sweet Basil: Essays on Marseilles, Mediterranean Cuisine, and Noir Fiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Songlines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life on the Mississippi: An Epic American Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rebel With A Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5NPR Road Trips: Family Vacations: Stories that Take You Away Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Round Here and Over Yonder: A Front Porch Travel Guide by Two Progressive Hillbillies (Yes, that’s a thing.) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Longest Way Home: One Man's Quest for the Courage to Settle Down Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As a Man Thinketh (version 2) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Infused: Adventures in Tea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Own Magic: A Reappearing Act Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At Home in the World: Reflections on Belonging While Wandering the Globe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Alone: Walking the Pacific Crest Trail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for My River Chronicles
3 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My River Chronicle - Rediscovering the America on the Hudson, is a fascinating voyage in the life of a young woman, who finds herself oddly quite at home in a most unlikely new job. It is also a journey through the history of America itself as it moves from an industrial past into an uncertain future. While working for a dot-com startup, Jessica DuLong started volunteering on a retired fire boat, the John J. Harvey. She was the first woman ever to run the engines. When her day job disappeared, she was offered a position on the fireboat where she spent so many hours as a volunteer. Over time, she became a licensed engineer on the historic fire boat, as well as the pilot on another tug. My River Chronicle is a deft mix of DuLong's personal memoir, mixed with the history of the mighty Hudson and the towns that line the shore, with a judicious dose of commentary thrown in for spice. The writing is graceful and engaging and she balances the various elements of her account with remarkable skill. Jessica DuLong is refreshingly straight forward as she describes the challenges of being the first woman engineer on the John J. Harvey. You feel for her as she struggles with the levers at the engine controls. Built for a taller engineer, she needs to stand on her tip toes and use both hands to push the engine order telegraph all the way up to Full Ahead. You also share her amused victory as she carries in the wooden box on which she will stand to solve the problem. We follow the fireboat with DuLong at the engines on trips up river and down. The John J. Harvey is also the first fire boat on scene on 9/11, pumping river water around the clock to the firefighters at Ground Zero. The collapse of the towers cut all the water mains and the old "obsolete" fireboat proves herself invaluable once again. As we travel the river, DuLong does something very interesting. While many mourn the passing of the pastoral, she mourns the passing of the industrial. As the river rolls by, she reminds us of what a dynamic place this great river valley once was, of all the jobs and of all that was created along the river banks. Rather than looking back fondly at a simpler, greener time, DuLong gives us a glimpse of when the foundries, mills, quarries and brick yards quite literally built New York City and indeed, the nation. With her as our guide, it is hard not to feel a certain nostalgia for those smoky, dirtier days. There is much we have lost and much we have gained. If there is a balance yet to be struck, I will leave it to others to strike it. In the mean time, I will enjoy the river and if I am lucky enough, I will see the John J. Harvey pass by and will understand, at least in part, why Jessica DuLong and so many others love the old fireboat, and why it is important to remember and honor our past, as we find our way into the uncertain and yet inevitable future. Jessica Dulong's My River Chronicle - Rediscovering the America on the Hudson is a remarkable book. Highly recommended.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The author was a dot com worker in Manhattan when she got downsized. She ended up attaching herself to a historical fireboat docked in Chelsea, Manhattan. She ended up working off the boat just after the 9/11/01 terrorist attack, pumping water to the site when the only water available was from the Hudson River. Later she also gets involved with a historic tugboat.I mostly enjoyed this book, although I skimmed over a lot of the technical boating information. The author touches on a lot of topics that peaked my interest to learn more detail, such as the history of industry in the Hudson Valley and the historic boats in the river. Too bad I read the book just a few days after this year's annual Tugboat Roundup. I checked out the waterfront along the Roundout yesterday and saw her tug docked there. It made me feel good to see it.