The Power of the Pool: Issues of class, culture and political priorities swirl

The Seattle Times ^ | 6/15/08 | Paula Bock

[goodnesswins]

Pacific NW Cover Story

Growing up in Normandy Park in the mid-'70s, Jeff Wiltse spent summers at the pool. All day. Every day. And it wasn't just about swimming. There was Wiffle ball, showing off for pretty girls, trading baseball cards on the pool deck. The pool was where he had his first meaningful conversations with adults (during intergenerational games of pickleball), and Wiltse vaguely understood, even then, that the pool was more than chlorine and concrete; it was a uniquely intimate community space, "effective for overcoming the social distance that keeps people separate in most spheres of life."

Decades after his suburban summers and years after becoming a history professor at the University of Montana, Wiltse dreamed about the pool of his childhood. He dreamed he was writing about it. When he woke up, the historian realized he'd waded into a provocative topic for research. The resulting book, "Contested Waters," examines the social history of swimming pools in America, starting with one of the nation's first, in a working-class Philadelphia neighborhood, in 1884. Designed to be a "swimming bath" for immigrant workers who had no washing facilities at home, the pool was so popular that 50 young men waiting in line were turned away. They rioted.

[goodnesswins]

Keeping RACE at the forefront.....

[boop]

I worked with a guy in his 60’s who told me of a class outing to a swimming pool in Indiana the 50’s. The one black student had to stay on the bus while the other kids played in the pool. He told me how the poor child was just crying because he wasn’t allowed to join in.

[AdaGray]

This is pathetic. Community pools are about as useful today as a horse and buggy.

[goodnesswins]

That was horrible....I’m so glad it isn’t that way now....