The unthinkable has happened: I’ve misplaced my bike helmet. Now, I know there’s controversy about whether or not bike helmets really help, and I also know that in some of the most common accidents, a bike helmet will do little to keep me safe, but I also know that I feel naked without one. I am somewhat skeptical of the helmet’s ability to keep my egg uncracked in the case of a serious crash, but I also know that I always wear one, I don’t think they make things worse, and if, god forbid, I should ever be seriously hurt or killed when riding a bike, the last think I want E. to have to do is shake her head when asked the inevitable question, “Was she wearing a helmet?” Continue reading
buildings
Roger Taney Statue in Front of the Statehouse in Annapolis
Ok, first thing’s first: I rode fifty miles today on my bicycle. That just seems so far, like, “nah, let’s not go there–it’s too far to drive” far, and I rode it on my bicycle. I started with a coast down the hill to the light rail station to meet A., R., and A. for a ride out to Linthicum–you can take your full-sized bikes on the train as long as you stay to the back of the car, an easy rule to follow. And then we just rode our bikes forever, and I saw all green hints of spring, unheralded as the pink flowers get all the press. Continue reading
Old and New Buildings at Central and Eastern
Today’s ride took me through the mist down to Harbor East for a dip in the pool before heading back up the hill to the library for an oral history presentation about the Civil Rights movement (yes, it has earned all caps) in Baltimore. It wasn’t raining, exactly, but the air was all water, and so were my glasses after just a couple blocks of riding. Through it, I saw this scene at Central and Eastern, old brick building dwarfed by the Legg Mason monument to its own capitalist success and the condos behind it, where Legg Masoners can afford to live, layers of urban development stretching to the horizon, and I wanted heritage programs that taught me not what used to be here, but why it isn’t here anymore and instead we’ve got this. A quick swim and lunch and back up the hill for stories. I love stories, and these were new ones, to me, including one by a woman who gave birth to a perfect baby boy she wanted as much as you wanted your child, but hers was taken away because a white woman giving birth to a black baby was a crime. It took two years to get that baby back. And she’s still here, telling her story on stage-it just wasn’t that long ago. So many people have put their lives right at the knife edge for me to have had a day like this one. Thank you, and fight on.
Gate Behind a Gate at MICA on Collington & Madison
Today’s ride took me over to East Baltimore for a tour of R.’s studio and master’s art project~inflatables, quilted ones that you can sit in and hold workshops and conversations, inside outside~I can’t wait! Her studio’s in MICA’s new-ish building for community art in East Baltimore near Johns Hopkins’ new developments, a neighborhood that as far as I can tell has been the target of a whole lot of ideas. The ride over took me on some zigs and zags, the kind I take if I’m trying to get lost, or if I’m trying to follow directions from the computaltor. Today it was the second, and as soon as I got there I knew where I was. The building’s that kind where unless you have been expressly invited, you can’t figure out how to get inside. Once inside it feels so, so different from where you were a second ago. It’s a community center ostensibly, but it does a very, very good job keeping the community outside until expressly invited in. As I was leaving I snapped the picture of a gate inside a gate with floodlights and a camera, I think, at the other end. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but the gated gate fit right in with the rest of the building. It’s complicated. And then I rode toward Fells Point for sushi, beer, a table to grade on, and the game. Once you cross to Butcher’s Hill, wow, whole different planet. Oh, Baltimore. I graded, ate, drank, hit the highs and lows of the sports fan, and then it was time to race back up the hill to catch the second half with friends. Empty street, empty streets~it’s game time.
View of the Locust Point Harris Teeter From the Second Floor
Thursday’s ride took me down the hill early to meet my swim teacher for another lesson. These lessons have had me riding from Charles Village to the edge of Canton, not a trip I was used to taking, so I keep trying new routes. Today, though, I just took the straight shot down the hill, a left on Aliceanna, slight right onto Boston, and I got there in just 35 minutes, which is fast for a red-light-obeying cyclist like me. Continue reading
Fancy Christmas Trees at the Fancy Hotel in Harbor East
Today’s ride took me down the hill to meet A. for a trip to the gym and then to the coffee shop for snacks and conversation. It was another gray and foggy day, so the ride down the hill was chilly, wet, and kinda slippery, but I’d still much rather be on my bicycle. The streets were positively empty, not because of the weather but because the Ravens game was on, and nobody knew yet how terribly that was going to end up. I locked up to a nearly-empty bike rack–the first time that’s happened at Harbor East in awhile–and then it was a quick turn at the gym before heading back to the fancy coffee shop inside the even fancier hotel. Continue reading
New Buildings, Blight, and an Empty Lot at Washington & Eager
Oh, it was a beautiful day in Baltimore. I lazed about in bed for too long before pushing through the crowds at the craft fair across the street and then grading, grading, grading at the coffee shop. When I met my grading goals the sun was out and it felt oddly warm for the last day of November. By the time I made it onto my bicycle the sun was on its way down–days are getting so ridiculously short. I headed down the hill and took the first left I could after getting south enough to not get trapped by the cemetery. Continue reading
Tree Growing From a Balcony on Hamburg Between W. Ostend & Bayard
After a long morning in bed nursing an insomnia hangover, it was time to get on the bike and head out into the sunshine of another perfect fall day. I headed over to Hampden for lunch and then back downtown along the Jones Falls Trail. I stopped to check out the scene at Falls Road and ran into my downstairs neighbor, a fellow bike enthusiast. He was heading out on his bike with no destination in particular just like I was, and it was the perfect day for that. Continue reading
Ivy Growing on Buildings at Aliceanna & S. Bethel
It was chilly in my house this afternoon so I expected to be cold when I headed down the hill on my bike, but now–it was all blue skies and sunshine and the heat on my back. It was also one of those days where cars seemed out to get me, so I hunkered down into my defensive driving mode, which includes a lot of following the rules of the road–yeah, it was a slow trip. I locked up, did a whirl around the gym, and then took my grading to a restaurant for a snack and a much slower whirl through the pile of papers. Continue reading
Tree Growing Out of a Building on Williams & Clement
Today’s ride took me down the hill, around the Inner Harbor, and up into Federal Hill to my favorite overdeveloped mini mall, McHenry Row, for a massage, because I am a decadent little thing. I thought today would be the obligatory “it’s fall, look at the colors!” post, but it’s still in the 80s here, warm and muggy, so instead of looking at leaves I thought about how the air felt warm and heavy around me as I flew down the hill, taking extra special care not to put on the brakes–it’s like flying; nobody told me about the downhills when they were complaining about the uphills. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 