There is a lake two miles from my house in Florida, where I regularly waterskied before the county-wide lockdown of public parks. Initially, as a transplanted New Yorker, the idea of jumping into a beautiful but dark freshwater lake wasn’t automatic. After-all, Lake Ida is connected to a chain of alligator-infested waterways. But I set out to educate myself, then decide if the other people in the lake were taking more risk than I cared to. My education included boating with a number of experienced friends whom I believed to be both sane and knowledgeable. I also researched the fears of the primitive reptiles; I Googled information on their eating preferences and even their mating habits. My skiing partners thought I was ridiculously cautious. I didn’t care. If I can’t see below the surface of something, I’ll need to gauge the risk in another way.Read More >>