Devon Raney - Memoir
Island author, Devon Raney, recently released his new memoir
"Still Sideways: Riding the Edge Again After Losing My Sight" in both hardcover and audio versions. After a surfing accident in 2008, Raney began losing his vision and learned that he would eventually be blind. That didn’t stop him from pursuing his passions of biking, snowboarding and surfing. Although he is left with only some peripheral vision, Raney uses that and changes in light and movement to continue to follow his dreams. He made a self-supported tandem bike trip with a friend from Bainbridge to Tijuana towing surfboards in 2013. Raney also has developed a method of tandem snowboarding.
Raney says he didn’t try to write an inspirational book but rather to chronicle his philosophy of "showing up.” "The only thing I probably did right over the last 11 years was just show up no matter what . . . It just became a routine. There was no methodical process. It was just about showing up. Since the moment my eyes began to fail me, I have been trying to prove to myself that I can still show up for my passions.”
Raney went sideways--going against the grain--and instead of retreating and making his life smaller he determined that he would continue to show up for the things and the people he loves!
Photo note: Devon Raney (right) follows his friend Tom Burt down the course at the Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom in 2016.
