Today’s bike ride took me to Waverly to meet R. for brunch and bike comparison–she’s got the blue Long Haul Trucker with big ol’ upright handlebars, and I have a feeling our bikes have some mutual exploring of bike trails to do together. Afterward we rode our bicycles our separate ways, and I headed down to the Inner Harbor to check out the sunny Sunday crowds. Continue reading
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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.
The Star-Spangled Banner On Screen at Ft. McHenry National Monument and Shrine
I had nothing to do on this lovely day in Baltimore, so I spent my morning checking out the Walters Art Museum–beautiful–and doing a quick tour of the Pratt Libraray main branch–I had to ask at the desk if it was really the public library, it was so nice (it is, and according to E., everybody loves that library). K. then picked me up, showed me the Peabody Library, which totally looks like Hogwarts, and then to lunch. And then it was time to take a bike ride. I tossed my National Parks passport in my bag and rode downhill to Fort McHenry, home of the star-spangled banner. That was a lot of downhill riding, and what goes down must go up. Pedal, pedal, pedal, would I be able to make it back up? But first, a tour of my first Mid-Atlantic NPS site for my first Mid-Atlantic NPS passport cancellation stamp. This site was crazy, which I should have guessed, what with it being called a national shrine. I have been to a lot of parks and museums that represent America to itself, but nothing quite as full-on patriotic. I swear, the flag threw up all over that place. I pushed through the crowds–so many people!–and read all about the War of 1812 with barely a mention of the Battle of Orleans; Chalmette National Battlefield is making a very different argument about the meaning of the war, but I digress. Then the movie started. You really just have to see it, watch the flashes from above signifying bombs bursting in air, the flags-in-light disco-balling at our feet, and closing with this giant flag and the swelling tones of our National Anthem. And then the screen slowly rose, revealing a bank of windows, and were gazing upon the Fort itself and Our Flag proudly waving, as it has done since that fated night. And then I remembered to stand up and headed out, did a tour of the Fort itself, and then it started raining. And it was time to ride home, in the rain, uphill. It was a slow slog, but it felt so, so good. God, I can’t wait to have my bike here.
Statue Commemorating World War I at Galvez & Tulane
I woke up early this morning and did a little reading for pleasure before taking the bike out to the Marigny for blueberry pancakes with V. and a quick tour of her place for my upcoming housesitting/squatting gig. It was bright and hot out, and the streets had that empty feeling they have on Sunday mornings when everybody who’d be up and out on a Sunday is in church and everybody else is still in bed. Continue reading
Ken Burns at Loyola’s Nunemaker Auditorium
I love Ken Burns. Or, rather, I love his documentary films. I started watching them last summer, and they are just so good. I know the critiques: he is all nostalgia and no politics; he pretends to tell full histories, but he leaves out vital voices; he romanticizes the Confederacy, letting that reunionist Shelby Foote be the expert. The list goes on, but I am not really interested in that particular brand of cynicism when it comes to his films. Continue reading
Domino Sugar’s Chalmette Plant at N. Peters & West Moreau Street (in Arabi)
It was a ridiculously sunny day today, and I got to spend it on my bicycle. I rode down to meet K. for brunch and then headed toward the Quarter. As a Friend of the Cabildo, I get free admission to–you guessed it–the Cabildo, so I stopped in for a quick visit (and to use the bathroom) before heading the St. Claude bike lane into the Lower 9. Continue reading
Scooter Rentals and Tours on Decatur & Canal
Today I got to go the bike store with S. and pick out a brand new shiny bicycle. I rode down to meet her at the cafe and then we hopped in her car and went and test rode and purchased a most beautiful red bicycle. I drove and she rode and we made it back to her place at almost the exact some time. It doesn’t make that much longer to ride a bike, she said. No, no it doesn’t, my friend. I hope she loves that bike and rides the heck out of it in whatever ways will make her happy. Continue reading
S.W. Green House at 219 South Miro Street
S. has a job again, starting Monday, so when she asked if I might like to ride our bikes around on her last free Friday afternoon, I happily agreed. After getting some work done at the office I hopped on the Surly and headed to Bayou St. John to meet up. S. wanted to ride around the Mid-City Historic District to check out some of the homes that are in the way of the footprint for the new VA hospital. Some are being moved, but others face demolition. Continue reading
Plantation Keys For Sale at James H. Cohen & Sons on Royal Street
I got on my bike after 9:30pm on a school night–whoa–and headed down to the venue to meet S. for a show. It was a little bit cool when I left, but a block and a half on the bike and I was plenty warm as I flew down St. Charles. Turns out when you aren’t packing any gear, the bike feels lighter. It felt so good to be on the bike, and I got where I was going much too quickly. Continue reading
Boxing Statue in Rivertown Section of Kenner
I read today that they are closing the levee bike path for three months (read: six months) while making repairs to the Huey P. Long bridge. Oh no! I’m sure (sort of) that there will be some kind of detour, and I don’t actually ride the levee that often, but still. So I decided to spend my free afternoon after my lunch date with E. riding as far as I could on the thing. Oh, it was a beautiful day, ridiculously so. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 