jock librarian

In a profile of Wynton Marsalis, Touré describes the distinguished musician pondering his next move:

I really don't know what I'm gonna do, he sa[ys]. I'm gonna do something, though. I gotta do something to express all this gratitude. Man, you start sittin around, then the ideas stop comin to you. When you're workin the spirit understands that you are serious and you are preparing yourself to receive that information. Stay in the state of preparedness. Coltrane said that. You got to stay in the state of preparedness all the time.

Our coaches have been preparing us for the upcoming swim meet in Nassau County Aquatic Center. On Tuesday, the coach had us practice dive starts and emphasized the importance of being comfortable standing right on the edge. Initially, we jumped off the blocks feet first like penguins advancing into Antarctic waters. Later, we bent down, shifted our weight and tried driving forward. Although hardly fearless, one by one like Adelie, Chinstrap, Gentoo and Emperor, we persisted and experimented, diving, paddling and slowly waddling our way back to the start.