{"id":293,"date":"2005-12-22T01:04:30","date_gmt":"2005-12-22T09:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/?p=293"},"modified":"2005-12-22T01:04:30","modified_gmt":"2005-12-22T09:04:30","slug":"if_at_first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2005\/12\/if_at_first\/","title":{"rendered":"If At First&#8212;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The person poised awkwardly<a href=\"http:\/\/www.skiwhitepass.com\/nordiccenter\/index.shtml\"target=\"_blank\"> in this picture<\/a> is not me, but might as well be, except for one thing\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhe or, possibly, she is upright. The other day I spent hours on a mountain in the Cascades, falling over.  It was my first lesson in cross-country skiing.  That may be my instructor, Carla, watching, trying to keep a straight face.<br \/>\nI was in condition. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been working out on a Nordic Track for years. How hard could it be? Hah. But by the end of the day, I was falling less often, no more than every hundred yards, and once I learned to make a V to slow or stop, the mild downhill grades were thrilling. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going back up there today, freezing rain or no freezing rain. If you learn with a coat of ice on the snow, it must be easier when there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s powder, right? It may become an addiction. At any rate, this will be the last posting of the day. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m heading for the hills armed with the deathless words of Dorothy Fields.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Nothing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impossible I have found,<br \/>\nFor when my chin is on the ground,<br \/>\nI pick myself up, dust myself off,<br \/>\nStart all over again. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><em>Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lose your confidence if you slip,<br \/>\nBe grateful for a pleasant trip, and<br \/>\nPick yourself, dust yourself off,<br \/>\nStart all over again.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><em>Work like a soul inspired,<br \/>\nTill the battle of the day is won.<br \/>\nYou may be sick and tired,<br \/>\nBut you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be a man, my son<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><em>Will you remember the famous men,<br \/>\nWho had to fall to rise again, so<br \/>\nTake a deep breath, dust yourself off,<br \/>\nStart all over again. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pick Yourself Up\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The person poised awkwardly in this picture is not me, but might as well be, except for one thing\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhe or, possibly, she is upright. The other day I spent hours on a mountain in the Cascades, falling over. It was my first lesson in cross-country skiing. That may be my instructor, Carla, watching, trying to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}