Chatter is a Monthly collection of Reader Reactions to previous BRO Issues
Adventure is color-blind
The idea that people should be bothered by a lack of diversity in outdoor sports is both absurd and arrogant. To suggest that thousands of black people in towns like Asheville and Charlottesville need help finding the trailhead, buying gear, or figuring out the outdoors is utterly patronizing. A lung-busting climb and a class-V rapid treat everyone with indiscriminate fairness. Isn’t that why we go to the woods: to escape the hucksters and elitists who claim to know what’s best for us?
—Phil Morgan, Hendersonville, N.C.
Dueling banjos—AND EMOTIONS
Thanks to Ky Delaney for her courageous, candid inner journey down the Chattooga River. To confront her own subconscious stereotypes—and then watch them shattered by the kindness of strangers—was incredibly gutsy.
—Jill Youse, Atlanta, Ga.
Won’t Pipe Down
Southern Appalachia is celebrated for its pristine water. Why, then, are we willing to poison it with fracking and pipelines? Not just one but four fracking pipelines have been proposed for the Southeast, bisecting prized trout streams, beloved rivers, and drinking water for millions. And most of this fracked, piped gas will be shipped overseas.
—Karen Blumenthal, Richmond, Va.
