It was a long, long week at work, so by the time Friday rolled around, I was a sleepy bee. S. was right, though–we had to get on our bikes and head down to the Bike Party, at least for a little bit, to check out the hundreds of people in costumes ready to take over the streets. I couldn’t get it up to put on more than socks and a sweatshirt, but S. donned her cow costume and we zipped down the new door-zone friendly bike lane on St. Paul, collecting other riders as we went before we all made the smart choice to take Maryland Avenue instead. Continue reading
crowds
Crowds Waving Rally Towels at Camden Yards in Downtown Baltimore
Monday was all read, write, teach, read, grade, get cavities filled, and write, but then it was time to put on my Orioles shirt, stuff a few layers in my purse, tie it all together with my reflective safety belt, and take the bike down to meet C. and friends for food before Game 2 of the ALDS against the Yankees. Continue reading
Fireworks at Camden Yards After the O’s Beat the Red Sox
I woke up early, worked all day, and then it was time to ride the bike down the hill to Camden Yards, because the O’s are in a pennant race, and it just doesn’t get better than that. Our side gave up a run in the first, but responded with 6, so we just sat back and let it spin itself out, wishing somebody would just finally beat the Yankees. There was the hot dog race, the crab shuffle, Cotton-Eyed Joe, and it was all soothingly predictable, but also a late-season game that mattered. The game was a win and we walked down closer to the field for fireworks spitting out near the bleachers. And then it was get back to the bike and zip past all the people walking the miles back to their cars, a left up the hill to home. Bike, baseball, bike–works for me.
Fluid Movement’s Water Ballet at Patterson Park Pool at Linwood & Pratt
Today’s ride took me down the hill and to the left to Patterson Park to meet friends for this year’s water ballet from Fluid Movement. I moved to Baltimore a week after the water ballet last year, and B. & G. were so sorry I was going to miss it, but now it’s this year, and I live in Baltimore now, so this time around I went to the water ballet. Nice. Continue reading
Crowds at Middle Branch Waiting for the Blue Angels
Ok, so technically this is what I saw riding my bike around yesterday, but by the time I got home from my Saturday birthday festivities at the shocking hour of 11:00pm, I fell straight to sleep, no time to blog. It was a beautiful sunny day, and since it was my birthday, I got to do whatever I wanted to do. First up: a bike ride to brunch, where I ate just enough and then ran into a woman I lived with in Berkeley 10 years ago, because that’s just what things are like sometimes. Continue reading
Crowd At Mt. Vernon Square for First Thursdays
Today’s ride took me to Hampden for an errand and some writing, to lunch at BMA with V. and her parents, down the hill to Patterson Park and the Can Company for another errand, and then to Mt. Vernon Square for First Thursdays. I locked up the bike before running into B. and G. in their car. I hopped in as we looked for parking–a much easier task on a bike–and then we walked over to meet the already-huge crowd. We got beers and sat on the curb and caught up. G. quite aptly declared the crowd “a Sutter Home crowd,” B. unhelpfully pointed out that come November, all these folks are going to vote on our civil rights–I mean, can youimagine?– and I thought to myself that we were all finding this event a lovely way to spend the evening, likely oblivious to the part where this whole thing was brought to us by Baltimore City Parks & Rec while we’re closing community centers all over the city, but this is just a lovely summer tradition, and then, after awhile, the sky looked like it was going to open up, so I raced it home. At every intersection, to the left and the right, you could look right under the storm and see the pink sky on the other side. So, so pretty. Why in the world would I take my car on a day like this?
Nik Wallenda Wire Walking Over the Inner Harbor
I’ve got that end-of-the-year cold that I’d been putting off since January, so S. offered to drive me down to the Inner Harbor, but please–you don’t drive to see a guy walk on a tightrope 300 feet over the Inner Harbor. We hopped on our bikes and sped down the hill under gray skies until we found the crowd gathering to watch the wire walk (after finally finding a bike rack–c’mon, Inner Harbor, get with the program!). Continue reading
Schools Not Jails Rally at Monument & Constitution
It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. day today, so I woke up early, got my reading and writing in, and then hopped on the bike to meet S. for a ride down the hill and then back up for the MLK Day parade. I seriously love parades, but boy, I’m going to have to learn that Baltimore is not New Orleans. Continue reading
Apples For Sale at the Waverly Farmer’s Market
I woke up early and at S.’s behest, hopped on my bicycle and pedaled up the hill and back down again to the Waverly farmer’s market. Every part of me thinks farmer’s markets are awesome. I mean, dedicated market, local food, small farms–Our Farms, Our Future, as my license plate says. I have no idea why a brief jaunt that way hasn’t shaped every Saturday, but there you go. I got a cup of coffee, a spinach empanada (using that word very loosely), and then did a tour of the offerings. I picked up some arugula for the spiciness, sweet potatoes for the sweetness, and, after milling about these most lovely apples, some pears. I piled my stuff in my bike bag, made a stop at The Book Thing–all the free books you can carry!–and rode home. What a lovely way to start a Saturday.
Preparing the Bank Dragon at McKeldin Square
Today is Divestment Day with the Occupy Wall Street movement, so I hauled my tired self out of my warm bed and hopped on the bike to head down to McKeldin Square for a march and rally. Big banks in Baltimore have engaged in predatory lending in our communities, devastating individuals, families, and neighborhoods. They accumulate our wealth by their theft. They make money off the money we put in there by lending it at high rates (higher to some than others–part of that predatory business) to others of us, charge us to take our cash back to spend it, and charge both sides every time we use our cards at businesses, whose owners pay a percent back to those banks for a specious service. It has all become so normal, it’s like we’ve forgotten that those are our resources, not theirs, and today was a day to take our money back and to let others know they should take their money back too. I snapped this picture of the dragon bank that marched through the streets, with its money-hungry eyes and open mouth that cannot be satiated. Awesome. We walked along, declaring ourselves the 99%, whose streets, our streets, this is what democracy looks like, we don’t want your pity/we want money for our city, etc. And it just felt good to be out there, and when that one Bank of America branch was closed “due to circumstances outside of our control?” Well, that was just awesome. There weren’t that many of us, but it feels like something’s changing when the bank closes to avoid confrontation. We circled back to the square and started to part ways. An older woman passed me, looked straight into my eyes, and said, “that felt good, didn’t it?” It doesn’t always, but today it did, it really, really did. And I’ve got to say, yelling in the streets gets easier the more you do it. Highly recommended. There were more events and teach-ins and actions, but I sat myself on my bike and rolled back up the hill to rest for a bit. There’s another one on Monday. See you there.
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 