The Week in Meep: Diving Boards, Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk, and Beethoven's Ninth

Getting back into the groove

Not that anybody took advantage of the opportunity last time (maybe nothing to talk about), but again, I open the comment section on this post to any Substack users.

(Usually, comments are open only to paid subscribers. I keep all posts free to read… to comment, you gotta pay, generally.)

Diving Boards v. Drowning

The other day, someone decided to make this complaint on X:

Well, diving boards are an additional expense if you install a pool, that’s for sure.

But here is a reminder from my recent post when Malcolm-Jamal Warner died from drowning in the ocean:

The green bars show the swimming pool deaths, which predominate for children, not adults.

But let’s see, here is something about diving injuries:

23 Feb 2022, Pediatrics: No Diving! National Estimates and Characteristics of Diving-related Injuries in Children and Adolescents from 2008-2020

ABSTRACT (I added the bolding)

Background: Recreational swimming/diving is the most common physical activity among US children and a significant cause of preventable morbidity across the United States. There are an estimated 50 million Americans that participate in swimming per year, 16 million of whom are children. Despite the popularity of swimming and diving, there are few up-to-date national diving-related injury analyses, and no comprehensive injury analysis has been performed since the institution of International Swimming Pool & Spa Code (ISPSC) in 2012, which regulate diving equipment and design. This study offers a much-needed update on the national epidemiology of diving-related orthopedic injuries.

Methods: The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database was queried for patients aged 0-18 from 2008-2020 who presented to any of the approximately 100 NEISS-participating emergency departments (EDs) for a diving-related injury. The patient cohort was identified using a search for consumer product code-1278 (diving). Injuries involving diving accessories, running, hitting, or tripping over the diving board, and injuries resulting from contact between two or more divers, were excluded. Infections were excluded. Dive characteristics such as dive height, dive skill, dive direction, and dive sequence were determined from case narratives. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed using Stata 16.

Results: From 2008-2020 there were 1,157 cases of diving-related injury corresponding to a national estimate of 35,648 injuries (CI=28,067 - 43,230; Table 1). Children aged 10-14 accounted for 42% of all injuries, while adolescents aged 15-19 accounted for 38%. Nearly twice as many injuries occurred in boys compared to girls (64.2% vs 35.8% of total injuries, respectively). From 2008-2012, there were an average estimated 3,191 injuries per year. From 2013-2019, the yearly average decreased to 2,633 injuries (Figure 1). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were relatively few (1,261) injuries in 2020. Compared to 2012, there were an estimated 1,081 fewer diving injuries in 2013, the first year the ISPSC codes were widely adopted. Lacerations were the most reported diagnosis for all years (24.9% of injuries). The head and neck were the most-injured body parts (46.4% of injuries), followed by the face (17.4% of injuries), and lower extremities (16.6% of injuries). Concussions and nerve injury accounted for 6.7% and 0.1% of injuries, respectively. When the mechanism of injury was reported, unintentional contact with the diving board or platform was the most common cause (27.2% of injuries).

Conclusion: Diving injuries are common in children and adolescents, especially in boys aged 10-19. Since the 2012 adoption of international safety standards for swimming pool design and operation, the average number of yearly diving-related injuries has fallen by nearly 600 injuries/year. There was a significant reduction in diving-related injury corresponding with the COVID-19 pandemic.

This graph is showing only 4 years of data before 2012 (do we include 2012 in the before or after? Exclude it?), and 2016 and 2019 are a little high… and I’d exclude 2020 for comparison purposes as many public (and private) pools were closed.

Anyway, check out the International Swimming Pool & Spa Code (ISPSC) in 2012, which seems to be the first such international code for pools. Go to Section 402 on diving.

I think the issue is that most of the pools don’t meet the minimum diving envelopes for diving boards (i.e., they’re not deep enough for far enough) — see Table 402.12).

So there ya go.

Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk

I don’t remember how I first heard of Nicholas Black Elk.

But this appeared in my email this morning (I do know how that happened):

21 Aug 2025, Catholic.Store: My Encounter with a Native American Visionary on the Road to Sainthood

For those who don't know, Nicholas Black Elk was a Lakota holy man, medicine man, and visionary who received a vision as a young boy of the apocalypse of his people, the breaking of their sacred hoop and their ultimate renewal.

The vision featured two roads - a black road that led to death and a red road that led to life. He later had another vision of a man that was not Lakota and was not white shinning with beautiful, multi-colored light with holes in his hands standing before the sacred tree (tree of life). He instructed Black Elk that the Father had given all creation to Him and called to Black Elk.

Prior to this vision, Black Elk (who was the cousin of Crazy Horse) was at a number of pivotal moments in history - the battle of the Little Bighorn / Greasy Grass and the massacre at Wounded Knee. He also travelled with Buffalo Bill Cody and the famous Chief Sitting Bull to England, performing for Queen Victoria.

He later converted to Catholicism and became a catechist for the rest of his life, helping thousands of his people walk the red road to God. To the end of his life, he was fully Lakota and fully Catholic.

There is more at the post.

I’ve mentioned Nicholas Black Elk a few times at STUMP, and it’s been in context of very bad mortality trends among Native Americans:

10 Sept 2024: World Suicide Prevention Day 2024: Let's Turn Around a Bad Trend

That said, for Native Americans, death rates due to suicide and drug overdoses have been much higher than national averages, and became much worse during the pandemic.

….

Other hideous causes of death are very high for Native Americans and Native Alaskans.

To inject a bit of Catholicism for a moment, I like to bring up the canonization cause of Nicholas Black Elk: Dec 2023: “The hidden life of Nicholas Black Elk revealed in canonization process”:

Nicholas Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota Sioux warrior, visionary, and Catholic catechist, is known worldwide but has been misunderstood for decades, according to two Jesuit priests who have emphasized Black Elk’s enduring Catholic faith as his canonization process unfolds.

Nicholas Black Elk lived from 1863 to 1950, converting to Catholicism as an adult. He acted as a catechist to other Native Americans. He has been recognized as a Servant of God, which is a first step to canonization as an officially recognized saint.

Documentary on Nicholas Black Elk at vimeo.

I often ask Nicholas Black Elk for prayers whenever I come across these statistics as I work.

Nicholas Black Elk, pray for us.

Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk, catechist, teaching the rosary to a child, ca 1910-1912

31 July 2023: Drug Overdose Mortality Update: Rates, Ages, and Geography, 1999-2022 (provisional)

As an aside, drug overdoses are not the only cause of death for which Native Americans have far worse outcomes than other racial/ethnic groups in the U.S., both male and female.

As a Catholic, I have an intention for the cause of Nicholas Black Elk, who is currently recognized as a Servant of God.

10 Sep 2023: World Suicide Prevention Day 2023: Let's Turn This Around

It’s a Sunday evening now, and being Catholic myself I will bring up a person I mentioned in this post, Nicholas Black Elk.

In that post, I mentioned that drug overdose deaths for Native Americans and Alaskan Natives had increased a huge amount during the pandemic. Well, that’s also true of deaths through suicide.

And that’s not the only kind of tragic deaths for that community. It’s hideous.

So that’s another one of my causes, though I can’t do much directly for this.

The best I can do, other than say rosaries, is to let people know that this is going on. Perhaps somebody with a better ability to do something directly can take action.

Sometimes it merely takes someone pointing the way to someone who is able to do something that can get things done.

For those who are interested, someone put together a website of American saints and those who are on the canonization path (Servant of God, Venerable, and Blessed): American Saints and Causes — I’m not sure they’re keeping up with it much (last post was July 7), but it has a nice list.

Beethoven’s Ninth and Ukraine

I’m a subscriber to MetOpera on Demand, so I got this email today:

Now streaming on Met Opera on Demand: To mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, founded as a cultural counter-reaction, performed Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw. In the orchestra's emotionally charged rendition of Beethoven's triumphant celebration of joy, brotherhood, and humanity, the text of Schiller's great freedom poem “Ode to Joy” is sung in Ukrainian. Schiller's opening word “Freude” (“joy”) is exchanged for the Ukrainian word “Slava” (“glory”), which conveys an electrifying effect in the moving echo of Ukraine's joint call for resistance in the face of aggression, Slava Ukraini! (“Glory to Ukraine!”).

As we celebrate Ukrainian Independence Day today, August 24, this stirring performance takes on new significance, even as the country continues to fight against violence, oppression, and tyranny. The Met is proud to support the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, and we remain steadfast in our support of Ukraine and its people and culture.

Obviously, I can’t share the video with you, but if you’re a subscriber, check it out. The fourth movement in Ukrainian worked just fine.

screenshot on my laptop… but I watch it through my Roku on my TV

I liked it, and they played the Ukrainian anthem after the symphony.

In lieu of the one I can’t share with you, here is a Beethoven’s Ninth I like I can share with you:

Enjoy.

And, if you are in New York City: the Met has a Summer HD Festival that’s free!

The Met’s 16th Summer HD Festival features ten thrilling performances from the company’s Live in HD series of cinema transmissions—plus a special film screening of the Oscar-nominated biopic Maestro, co-presented with Film at Lincoln Center and Netflix. The free showings run from August 22 to September 1, with approximately 2,500 seats set up in front of the opera house each night. Seating is general admission on a first-come, first-served basis. No advance tickets or reservations are required.

In accordance with new entry protocols and security measures for the Metropolitan Opera’s 2025 Summer HD Festival, please be advised that Josie Robertson Plaza will be cleared and secured approximately two hours prior to each HD screening. All guests will be welcomed back at designated access points one hour prior to the start of the presentation.

The Met’s HD Festival presentations will include full open captions.

Sunday, August 24, 8PM
Beethoven’s Fidelio

Monday, August 25, 8PM
Strauss’s Salome

Tuesday, August 26, 7:30PM
Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro

Wednesday, August 27, 8PM
Jeanine Tesori’s Grounded

Thursday, August 28, 7:30PM
Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Friday, August 29, 8PM
Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas

Saturday, August 30, 8PM
Puccini’s Tosca

Sunday, August 31, 7:30PM
Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Monday, September 1, 8PM
Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West

I love that one — The Girl of the Golden West — (yes, that’s not what the Italian means, but that’s the book it was based on). An opera where I was the one who got to yell: “Shoot him! Shoot him now!”

[The joke was Stu was always yelling that at his shows.]

Enjoy!