Today was the last day of my spring break, and oh, it was a delightful one. I hardly did a lick of work, except insofar as visits to museums sort of count as “research.” I got in a visit with my sister, lunch with friends, eyefuls of flowery trees, a whole bunch of visits to museums and historic sites, and even more bike rides. Today featured a long morning in bed, a little reading, coffee with a friend, and then a bike ride over to Howard and Lexington for Fluid Movement‘s Howard & Lex, the perfect end to a positively lovely vacation. Continue reading
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Rating the Pleasantness of Touch at the Walters Art Gallery at Centre & Cathedral
Oh, it was another beautiful day in Baltimore, and I spent much of it in bed reading until finally the sun insisted I get my little self out and on my bike for a ride. I headed over to Hampden for brunch and then took the Jones Falls Trail toward downtown for a quick turn through the Walters Art Museum. Continue reading
Painted Train at Hollins & Lipps
It has suddenly turned cold in Baltimore, so I bundled up a little extra as I took my bike out to ride to campus for an afternoon “party” with the Dean and some new colleagues. The fancy fleece jacket kept me warm, but the headwind was strong enough to keep me pedaling, even on the big downhills. Sigh. Fortunately, I was in a chipper mood, so pedal, pedal, pedal I did, and it felt good. I wonder if I’ll ever get over the pleasure of the rhythmic round-and-round of the bicycle–let’s hope not. The commute now feels like it comes in four parts: down the hill, taking a right/going west, the uphilly part, and Arbutus. I snapped this picture as I took the soft left onto Lipps from Hollins. I’m guessing that used to be a brick wall, and now it’s just the remnants of one, but the leftover bits do look like a train, which is what I think is painted on here. There are so many scenes like this all over town, helped along by the seemingly endless remainders that make up Baltimore City and its canvases. But this is a pretty face to paint on the block after block after block of crumbled, abandoned, blighted, burned, and decaying homes and businesses that make up that 9.2 miles ride. But really, sometimes, what are you going to do? Gotta put some beauty in here.
Under the Sea For the Halloween Parade at Patterson Park
My oldest friend L. has been in town this weekend, and it was so, so good to see her. She’s the kind of friend who is totally happy to just sit and watch a zillion episodes of some crappy television show she’s already seen, eat at the same restaurant two nights in a row because it was just so good the first time, and watch me clean and lube and shine my bicycle for the ride I was going to take after she was gone, and that’s what I did after dropping her at the train station. Continue reading
Don’t Forget Your FLASHLIGHTS! at the Hippodrome at Eutaw & Fayette
I’m a joiner, so when I started planning to move to Baltimore way back in February, I signed up for all kinds of things. And they keep coming up, like tonight, when, after the longest and busiest day in recent memory, I had to inhale a sandwich, hop on the bike, and pedal as hard as I could to be on time for tonight’s usher assignment at the Hippodrome: South Pacific! I picked up my nametag, clipped on my bowtie, and headed to the big usher meeting, where I was subtly reminded to tuck my shirt in–it’s part of the uniform. Continue reading
Military Ships Docked Across From Fort McHenry
Oh, it was a beautiful day–warm enough for a tank top and skirt, not a single cloud in the sky, blue everywhere. I worked from home for too long, but it was finally time to take the bike out for a ride. I headed down to the library to return one video and pick up another (yay socialism!) and then just pedaled along until I found myself headed to Fort McHenry. Why not cram in a little history while I’m at it, right? Continue reading
Dita Von Teese As An Orientalist Fantasy at the House of Blues on Decatur
I had a lovely day, up early, got some work done at the coffee shoppe, and then got a good bike ride in, first to R.’s place for a little bike lesson and a lot of catching up. It has been moons since our last session, and R. claimed to have forgotten everything she knew. I moved the seat down for her so she could sit and shuffle, pumped up the tires, and away we went. After mere minutes she did three revolutions on her own–she can ride a bike! I left her with my two cardinal bike rules: the faster you go, the easier it is to balance, so just keep pedaling, and second, look where you want to go, not where you don’t want to go, which is really a basic life philosophy. She promised to practice and I continued my ride Uptown to meet C. and H. for burritos and cat visitation before speeding back downtown to swap shoes and bag before pedaling back out to meet J. for Dita Von Teese’s burlesque show at the House of Blues. I could go on and on about the show, especially the part where Dirty Martini was there with her twirling tassles…she’s amazing, but you know what? That closing number? The one where Dita is some kind of Orientalist fantasy, from the “opium pipe” down to the hair and the awkward bowing? Yeah, that just kills my buzz. I’m sure I could make a case for it being an interesting mimesis that subverts yadda yadda yadda, but really, come on, can we please get a break from those tired tropes, especially when we’re a bunch of white people? Thanks in advance. After that bout of humorless feminist I was ready to head home, grateful for J.’s offer to drive me and my bike, because it is way past my bedtime.
Margaret Haughery Statue at the Intersection of Prytania & Camp
It was another gray and rainy day and it was still sprinkling when I headed out on my bike for an errand or two. I pedaled Uptown to visit a video store–look it up–and then back downtown for a trip through the Ogden. I stopped at the intersection of Prytania and Camp to snap a picture of this statue of Margaret Haughery. It’s the first statue of a woman erected in the U.S., and it’s right there, and it took reading a book about Civil War memory for me to learn about her. Anyway. She was born in 1813, her parents died, she was adopted, those parents died,and she was all alone in the world. She worked hard, moved her way up some kind of ladder, and became a rich baker. She distributed free bread to the needy, gave away most of what she had to provide for the (white?) widows and children of New Orleans, and seems to have been generally incredibly generous and supportive of the community’s poor. Maybe we should trim some of those trees and remind people of some alternatives to the way the vast majority of those of us with economic privilege act now. I rode to the museum, watched that Benny Andrews video again. Art can do something special, for sure. It was a good ride.
Open Mic at the Gold Mine Saloon at Dauphine & St. Peter
Oh, that was a long time away from my bicycle! I spend every single day on that thing, and then I had to spend an entire week away–I didn’t properly prepare for that, not at all. I got on my bike this morning and just went ahead and pedaled myself back to myself. The rides from here to there today were just exactly what I needed. Using the bike to move through space, that’s what I do now, and it was good to come home. Continue reading
Empty Stage at Southern Repertory Theater at Canal Place
I have a long history of insomnia, which means I’m quite adept at dealing with it, but that doesn’t mean after a few days of it I’m not tired. So yeah, today I was tired. My commute to campus felt twice as long and my legs were heavy and slow. The students were game, though, so classes went well as they picked up my slack. After writing this rec letter and reviewing that honor’s thesis, I was finally ready to bike home and take a quick nap before getting back on my bike and heading down to the theater for Intríngulis at Southern Rep where I would bartend for my ticket. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 