After a long day at the office writing rec letters and thank you letters and request letters, I drove (!) home and got my bike and headed back to campus for a rally in support of Tulane’s Sodexo employees’ efforts to organize a union. I stood there with my bike and took this picture of a work speaking in front of McAlister Auditorium. She has worked at Tulane for 40 years. Since 1970. For longer than I’ve been alive. She makes less that $10 an hour after all that time. Continue reading
Month: April 2010
Cat’s Claw On a Blighted House at St. Andrew and Simon Bolivar
Oh, spring has more than sprung in New Orleans, and the days are just plain beautiful. Today was a bit windy when I hopped on the Surly and headed down to the gym–I had a little scare when I thought a gust might push me into traffic–but other than that, the day was sweet. As S. said to me a couple days ago, it’s like one day the city just exploded. Continue reading
Standing Ashtray on Tulane’s Academic Quad
You know what a long day of bike riding often gets me the next day? A tired day of lazy bike commuting and not much other riding, which is fine, but kind of hard to balance when the weather is just so perfect and the bike beckons, as always. But alas. I hopped on Rhoda this morning for a leisurely pedal to campus where I met up with campus guest Susan Stryker, who kindly agreed to visit my classes and dazzle us all with her proven wit and intelligence. Continue reading
Tomato Plant at the 7th Ward Neighborhood Center
Like most folks who ride bikes all the time, sometimes I’m riding for transportation–I’m just trying to get somewhere. Like last night, when I was just trying to get home and it was late and I was tired and I needed a snack. I still stopped and snapped a picture of a weird stripe of blue paint on a building, but mostly I was just riding home. Today, though, I spent in my very favorite way, just riding slowly around the city, getting myself lost and found again. Continue reading
Blue Stripe on New Orleans Public Service, Inc. Building on Baronne
I spent Saturday tooling around town on Rhoda. She hasn’t been getting her miles in lately because I’ve been all enamored with her fellow bikes. Plus, her chain’s been popping off, and I haven’t been in the mood to fix that up. But Saturday was a nice lazy day, spent catching up on outstanding grading and reading, cleaning the house, chilling with the cats. I adjusted her back wheel, lubed her chain (that’s what she said), and bent her chain guard so the pedal would stop clicking against it on each right-footed downstroke. She was like new(ish)! Continue reading
Blasting Paint on Salcedo and Conti
You know how you can see things in a zillion different ways just by shifting your focus? That’s one of my favorite things about perspective; it means I can go the same places over and over again, always seeing something new. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is in town doing an intricate map of the transportation conditions surrounding the proposed Lafitte Corridor greenway, so I hopped on the Surly and pedaled down to Warren Easton to meet up with a group of folks intent on putting our focus on stuff we don’t necessarily normally notice. Continue reading
A Guy Ordering a Drink at the Saint
I got up this morning with the day off and no plans, so when J. tweeted to see if anybody wanted to join her at the City Council meeting, I was in. I took the Surly and pedaled downtown for what turned out to be several hours of parliamentary procedure and such highlights as Councilmember Midura reading the menu of a new restaurant in her district into the record (I’m not really feeling the turtle panini, personally) and Councilmember Head‘s insistence that restaurant Il Posto is “the best thing that’s happened in my neighborhood in a long time.” Continue reading
Tattoo and Bike Shops on Magazine at Napoleon
My father can be a real ass, a claim he would most certainly agree with. With which he would most certainly agree. Anyway. But he is also–and I can’t believe I’m writing this down on the interwebz where it will live forever–a wise man, at times. Among the many wisdom moments he has shared with me over the years is this: “If you don’t have a tattoo, don’t get one. If you’ve got one, get another one.” Continue reading
Pink Azaleas on Louisiana Avenue
Yep, another beautiful spring-y day in New Orleans! School is back in session after spring break, and I was feeling remarkably chipper to be back on the commute. Thing is, folks, I love my job. I decided to take Rhoda up to school, slowly pedaling with a little music in my ears, trying to prepare myself for a rough class session. Continue reading
Uptown Porch and Rocking Chairs on Annunciation
I needed a day of rest today, so today consisted of lazy bike rides solely for transportation. I headed down tot he coffee shop to finish up some grading and then back Uptown to do some reading. I got back on Rhoda to head over to N.’s for pizza and The Game. It was a cool night and lots of folks were out on their porches, talking to each other, talking on their phones, or just chilling. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 