Bikes!

Bike4

Last week was bike week! 

 

While I was a less-than-avid road cyclist before leaving for Copenhagen this past semester, the reality of making cycling a mode of transport in all of life's situations, seemed like a distant fantasy. My route to school included an intersection with a major highway, and even shorter trips held as much percieved danger--with my own accident which totalled both involved cars 5 minutes from home as proof.  But life in Copenhagen, where I biked to school and around the city nearly everyday, showed me that it is beyond a possibility, and absolutely within my power to make it a reality in Dallas, Texas--reigning 'Worst Cycling City'. 

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the first/last time....

A brief reflection on cultural re-entry:

 

the last time I'll miss the last bus home and have to walk 
beautiful night though its freezing/can't feel my toes. where is everyone else? (3am) 

the first time I rode a bike 
terror: skinny tires, clip shoes, handlebar brakes only--eep!  

the first time I took a shower
shower/bathtub: what do I do with all this space? 

the first time I did my laundry
hung my wet clothes on every chair and door handle. 

the first time I drove a car
terror: I could definitely die this way.

the first time I went to the store
proud*: brought my own bag for goods 

Back to Dallas!: A Plan for Action

lahsldkjhfkhsdk

 

watch the first fifteen minutes to get the gist of Jan's wisdom. He says a couple profound things here: we never study man in the urban environment, though we have eons in hours spent investigating the love life of lions, or gorillas, etc. Why is that? We have a ministry of transportation/cars in every city, but nothing for man in the city. ...Why is that? 

big question: why have we so downgraded man to a secondary focus of development? and placed the car as king? 

 

 

Understand.

"Consumption is vital to us in simple material ways.  It is as much about ordinary everyday survival as it is about the social and psychological processes o identity, affiliation, aspiration, and self-expression. But it is this social dynamic, rather than psychological flourishing, which serves to explain why our desire for material goods appears so insatiable."

-Tim Jackson, Prosperity Without Growth (p.100)