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Whitewater rafters with differing politics aim to bridge the partisan divide on Nantahala River trip
On the western edge of the battleground state of North Carolina cuts the Nantahala River and an unlikely spot for an experiment in reconciliation.
About 30 Americans went there to navigate the Nantahala on rafts while probing the limits of political estrangement. They are liberals and conservatives, independents and libertarians — sure to oppose one another on all manner of ideas and issues.
But they’re also willing to talk and paddle together toward something deeper.
Ken Powley, an experienced rafter who worries deeply about American alienation, organized the trip as part of R.A.F.T. for America, a movement that brings people who have different perspectives together on rafting trips. Its parent organization, Team Democracy, was co-founded by Powley with the aim of countering political polarization and encouraging civility.
“As Americans we really are in the same boat together,” Powley said. “I’m the guy that always thought of democracy like the air you breathe. It’s always gonna be there.”
Powley set about this work the day after the Capitol insurrection, when he decided to devote his retirement years to binding our political wounds — or at least trying to.
The essence of the experiment?
“Bringing people together with different points of view has become difficult. What we’re finding is what unites us is a lot more powerful than what separates us,” Powley said.
The Rev. Rodney Sadler, a self-described liberal from Charlotte who’s “not fond of Trump at all,” came along for the ride. He landed in the same boat as conservative Lance Moseley, a traveling public relations professional who lives out of an RV.
“I don’t understand why everybody’s so afraid of Trump. He’s better for the country. That’s my view,” Moseley said.
Lance and Sadler found things chilly at first, and so did everyone on their boat.
The rafts made their way down the rapids of the Nantahala with teamwork and enthusiasm. Along the way, attitudes found new ways around the rocks and turbulence, both real and metaphorical.
“Everybody’s closer to each other than we think,” Moseley said.
Sadler responded, “No matter who we might vote for or anything else, I think this is a great first step.”
Near the end, choppy waters tossed one rafter harmlessly overboard. A day on the river ended up bringing Sadler and Moseley closer together.
“I think we are so divided that we don’t get to spend the time to get to know people as human beings,” Sadler said.
“By the end of the trip we were finally talking deeper politics,” Moseley said.
Perhaps cynics will find this all a bit too tidy, but Powley says, “This is not about unity.”
“This is not about changing people’s positions, trying to get them to agree. It’s about managing those differences in a reasonably responsible way,” Powley said. “This isn’t really about rafting. The point of it is when we play together, it allows us to form relationships we would otherwise never even consider.”
For Powley, a river runs through that noble pursuit.
“It does touch me, because it’s so crystal clear that we are so much better than what we’re showing,” he said.
At least 11 employees were taken to hospitals and residents were urged to shelter in place on Tuesday after an explosion at a Louisville, Kentucky, business.
The Louisville Metro Emergency Services reported on social media a “hazardous materials incident” at 1901 Payne St., in Louisville. The address belongs to a facility operated by Givaudan Sense Colour, a manufacturer of food colorings for soft drinks and other products, according to officials and online records.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said emergency teams responded to the blast around 3 p.m. News outlets reported that neighbors heard what sounded like an explosion coming from the business. Overhead news video footage showed an industrial building with a large hole in its roof.
WLKY-TV
“The cause at this point of the explosion is unknown,” Greenberg said in a news conference. No one died in the explosion, he added.
Greenberg said officials spoke to employees inside the plant. “They have initially conveyed that everything was normal activity when the explosion occurred,” he said.
The Louisville Fire Department said in a post on the social platform X that multiple agencies were responding to a “large-scale incident.”
The Louisville Metro Emergency Services first urged people within a mile of the business to shelter in place, but that order was lifted in the afternoon. An evacuation order for the two surrounding blocks around the site of the explosion was still in place Tuesday afternoon.
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A rare square 37-carat emerald owned by the Aga Khan fetched nearly $9 million at auction in Geneva on Tuesday, making it the world’s most expensive green stone.
Sold by Christie’s, the Cartier diamond and emerald brooch, which can also be worn as a pendant, dethrones a piece of jewelry made by the fashion house Bulgari, which Richard Burton gave as a wedding gift to fellow actor Elizabeth Taylor, as the most precious emerald.
In 1960, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan commissioned Cartier to set the emerald in a brooch with 20 marquise-cut diamonds for British socialite Nina Dyer, to whom he was briefly married.
Dyer then auctioned off the emerald to raise money for animals in 1969.
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
By chance that was Christie’s very first such sale in Switzerland on the shores of Lake Geneva, with the emerald finding its way back to the 110th edition this year.
It was bought by jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels before passing a few years later into the hands of Harry Winston, nicknamed the “King of Diamonds.”
“Emeralds are hot right now, and this one ticks all the boxes,” said Christie’s EMEA Head of Jewellery Max Fawcett. “…We might see an emerald of this quality come up for sale once every five or six years.”
Also set with diamonds, the previous record-holder fetched $6.5 million at an auction of part of Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor’s renowned jewelry collection in New York.
