Nightshade On The Passaic

The story of one man’s journey along New Jersey’s most revered and polluted river.

We first approached author Matt Kent about doing a feature in our magazine about his excursions on the Passaic River in his boat “Nightshade.”  When we received his manuscript, we knew right away that a full-blown Wheeler Antabanez (Matt’s pen name) version of his adventures would make a great special issue.  When we told Matt what we envisioned, we could see a glazed look start to form in his eyes, then that sly Wheeler smile come over his face.  We think he had it all figured out from that very moment. 

Matt has an irrepressibly intense style of narrative that will put you right there, plying the roiled waters of the Passaic in the Nightshade with him.  And while navigating the canoe through polluted tributaries, industrial waste and abandoned ruins of industry, Wheeler will relate a personal story about what northern New Jersey’s legendary waterway has revealed to him, about itself and himself.