Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Eleanor Burke's avatar

I too love this! I grew up swimming in pools as well in SC- namely a public pool in the downtown area, but also plenty apartment pools, an indoor rec center pool (where I later swam competitively in high school), and on occasion a pool in some one's backyard. I learned to swim at the outdoor olympic sized public pool when I was really young and have loved swimming since. My body in water is definitely my favorite place to be (other than good sex). I have the best memories of that pool- Maxcy Gregg (named after, of course, a white Confederate general). And I've thought deeply too about the function of the public pool (this one in particular is in a interesting location that is physically between a historically black neighborhood, the university, student housing, and just beyond, up the hill, a historic white wealthy neighborhood of historic homes).

I've been able to take my son back in the summer, and he too has gotten to take swim lessons in the same pool. There are no public pools in western WA where we live- and so learning to swim has taken a lot longer for him. Here we swim in private ponds of friends, or at the lake, or if we can bear it the salish sea, which is cold all year round. But it's hard to keep those visits consistent, and this climate is just so much colder in general, the swim season is so short, we don't do enough of it.

I started writing about Maxcy Gregg public pool several years ago and bodies, when I noticed they had changed the fitting room from the once open air space with a few lockers on the edges, and benches down the middle, to enclosed stalls for changing. This upset me b/c undressing and suiting up in the 1980s/1990s open space meant I got to see female bodies of different colors and stages , and I think this was really important. Especially the old ladies who just changed w/ no qualms- to see their naked bodies with all the wrinkles. Then they'd don their flowered pastel swim caps. This seems like a crucial part of being human. Bodies, no qualms, all ages. Not hiding them behind closed doors- the unspoken intimacy and camaraderie of it all. In addition, after changing, you'd walk outside, down some concrete steps to a line of outdoor showers, to shower off before you could go into the pool. That's all changed now- the showers are indoors and all separated into stalls, so there is no communal experience of the blast of cold water showering down that indicates you are ready to swim! I would not be who I am w/out this public pool. So many sensory memories- the pool toes, the wrinkles, the chlorine, my eyes burning under water, looking around underwater, floating, learning to tread water; all the super tanned lifeguards with the mirror sunglasses! The different styles of Southern speak. The smells of sunscreen and tanning lotion! the intense summer southern sun, the turquoise of the pool water.

You've probably read the news headlines this summer too about life guard shortages, and I can't help but feel like that's just one more symptom of an eroding public life and common spaces. I wish every town had a public pool for all of the reasons you've listed here as well was what other readers have shared.

Expand full comment
Emma's avatar

I enjoyed this essay so much! I always appreciate how you take experiences - like pool visits - that can seem like just an everyday thing but are so much more, and delve right down into the history and all the thoughts and feelings that come with it.

I normally feel like it’s just me who goes down the rabbit hole of reflecting on motherhood, relationships, racism, body image and pretty much every social issue while at the pool or beach, so it’s nice to know other people do as well.

And I have been doing a great deal of this lately as I’ve just come off an extended summer; we are travelling in our caravan and during winter (currently on the tail end of it here in Australia at the moment) we visited the warmer end of the country. So my kids and I have spent A LOT of time at public pools, caravan park pools, public beaches and waterholes that as tourists we basically treat as pools, giving me a lot of time and opportunity to observe people in these places and consider all the functions they serve - to connect with both the local community and our ‘community’ of fellow travellers, respite for parents, and people of all ages practising and learning new skills.

Pools are a huge thing here in Australia - probably like California. Even lots of little towns that don’t have much more than one small school, one pub and a post office will have a public pool. And again, they are a social leveller, like yours. I often think the same thing of our public skate parks; they seem to function as the cool-weather version of the pool.

As a child our closest public pool was an hour and a half away (we lived a long way from town) but we had a small above ground pool in the backyard, one of those ones with a plastic liner and no pump, so we had to empty it out, scrub it, and refill it every week or so. But it was so worth it - my sister and I lived in it, and were always beyond thrilled when my dad would also hop in and play, and when cousins and friends would visit and jump in.

But going to the town pool, which we could actually jump into, swim to the bottom, use the diving board, get a thickshake from the kiosk and basically party on, was always the ideal.

Expand full comment
19 more comments...

No posts