Many thanks to editor Adam Van Winkle for selecting this story for the special issue of Cowboy Jamboree dedicated to the films of Eagle Pennell. If you’d like to just quit here and read it, here is a link to “Same River Twice.”
I like this story, its repetition of the words “death waiver” and the deep frets of its nameless subject.
Like all stories, this is an evolution of ideas. It’s partly a travel journal from time spent with my sons and hub on a raft that floated from Colorado to Utah. It’s partly an homage to the savant cinematic choices made by Pennell. But mostly it’s about a mom who has no control of her life, and feels at times like she never ever did.
Some inspirational frames of Pennell’s include:
From The Whole Shooting Match (1978)
These are the very images my author’s note over at the story reference. I feel like Pennell was so, so good at understanding people. I love so much that he let his actors riff. I like that he appears as an extra in his films.
So, thank you once more to Mr. Van Winkle at Cowboy Jamboree Magazine, to my workshop friends and beta readers, to all who find a moment to read something small that matters, “Same River Twice.”
This is my third story with Adam and CJ. You’ll also find my stories “Father” and “Status Joe” in the Family Strain, Issue 2.2.
Here’s a cinematic self-portrait of me at a Lee Bul art installation, Hauser + Wirth NYC. Hello.
Bul artwork showing at Hauser and Wirth titled “The Anatomy of Every Setting Sun”
19 September 2026, 542 W 22nd Street. NYC, Photo (c) A.E. Weisgerber
FILM STILLS from Pennell, E. The Whole Shooting Match. Texas Cinema. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUYmzMXjgao&t=4579s. Accessed 22 September 2026.
Header image: Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, “Hijos de la Marea” 2026. Graphite, gouache, and watercolor on paper, waxed, 41-3/4 x 92-1/8″. Shown at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, 521 West 21st Street NYC. September 19, 2026
Photo (c) 2026 A.E. Weisgerber
C O N T A C T
