Tag: stamford

I wake up in a blue room and panic for a moment because I’ve forgotten where I am. Curtains with delicate floral patterns and tattered hems bend the shadows of iron bars. The adhan, the Muslim call to prayer, moans though the windows. I brush the curtains aside and the damp air and words of the salāt al-fajr, the dawn prayer, spill in. Islamabad spreads out below me as clumps of dark shapes, interrupted by dots of orange and green. A streetlight. A kitchen window. A barking dog. The soft, sticky sound of tires on wet pavement. Several blocks away, the minaret of a mosque pierces the sky, illuminated against the darkness, and the muezzin calls out from the too-loud, tinny speakers. I can’t understand the words, but I appreciate how they compel a quarter of the world to fall to their knees in prayer five times a day.

— Cory Richards, The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within (Random House, July 9, 2024)

Notes:

• Photo: Morning Group Prayer. 5:40 a.m. 61° F. August 13, 2024. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. (I recognize this was not a Muslim prayer group, but was inspired by the moment and the book passage.) More photos from this morning’s walk here: (1) Daybreak & (2) Brody & Wally Play date.
• Book Reviews:
  • NPR (July 10 2024): “This photographer nearly died mountain climbing. His memoir details the mental toll“
  • Outside (July 7, 2024): “Cory Richards Was Too Depressed to Get Off the Couch. Then, He Summited Everest Without Oxygen.”