How I fell in love with Jacques Cousteau

{ Print by Matte Stephens }

When I was young, I liked learning. I liked going to the library with my mom and checking out books on whales, Mount St. Helens, and the Titanic. I liked learning about new things, different things, things that wasn’t around me in Iowa or Tennessee—the ocean, volcanoes, aliens, etc. While books were great, they were never quite as exciting as our trips to Blockbuster or the local video chain.

Upon arrival, I would gleefully walk past row upon row of tapes and Sega Genesis video games and find myself at the final row abutting the windows at the back of the store. This is where I wanted to be. Before me were just a few small shelves of sun-faded VHS covers. But here were the documentaries—surely over a hundred adventures waiting to be had.

For some reason or another, I was consistently drawn to ocean documentaries (perhaps it was all the Flipper reruns that always seemed to be on television), and that meant that I ended up watching a lot of old Jaques Cousteau documentaries. I’d watch this peculiar, red-capped old man with a funny accent at the helm of ships, underwater, exploring, explaining. Always letting me know what was going on, what he wanted to do. This was how I fell in love with Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

This Friday would have been the 100th birthday of the intrepid filmmaker and underwater explorer.  Join us in celebrating Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s Birthweek here at Westervin!