infrastructure

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Lighting Strung From a Piller at 2640 St. Paul

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It’s time for the American Studies Association annual conference, and this year, it’s in Baltimore. That means I get to loll around my house and then just hop on the bike and roll down the hill to the Hilton instead of paying a zillion bucks a night to sleep there. That’s what I did this afternoon, and I hung out in those boring rooms with their uncomfortable chairs and their air walls that seem to transfer sound rather than actually make another room. Those rooms have hosted so many different conferences and meetings and endless chatter, and today’s was about the many layers of racial difference and ethnicity, nation states and colonialism, hybridity and difference. It was good, there was listening, and I saw familiar faces that reminded me that I am known. It was nice. Then I rode back up the hill to home, picked up S. from the train station, fed us some dinner, and walked to the old churchat 2640 St. Paul for a panel of really, really smart people who talked in this old church about racism in the 21st century. It was so good, and Andy Smith said something I really needed to hear: there’s a difference between a politics of recognition and a politics of self-determination. I snapped this picture and thought about how many different ways the same spaces can be used. So many means, so many ends.

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Resurfacing the Street and Calvert & Preston

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I have had an incredibly long and busy week that has left me exhausted, so all I could muster on my Friday was a ride down to the library to picke up a couple of movies and a book before settling in at the coffee shoppe for some browsing and reading. I rode home up Calvert Street and stopped at Preston to snap a picture of the street signs for a friend whose brother’s name is Preston Calvert–awesome. I took this photo of the street there, because it reminded me of home, those New Orleans streets that are pocked up and showing their brick undergarments, loose gravel everywhere, this time from repaving. I can’t wait for this street to be all shiny new asphalt, like Guilford. I have been here for two months, and I’m already thinking a lot about street surfaces. Oh, and keep your eyes open for that surprisingly deep sinkhole on Maryland just, across North Avenue. Get to know your street surfaces! I pedaled slowly home, hoping to get some rest for an actual ride tomorrow.

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Repairing a Water Main at Centre & Cathedral

I spent the morning reading and writing and finishing this and that before I had to head to the mechanic’s to pick up my *gasp* car with its new windshield and scrubbed headlights; the State of Maryland has some stringent standards before they let you drive a car on their roads. Another hour and a half waiting at the MVA and I can officially drive here! But oh my goodness, I don’t want to. I headed straight home to get the bike to run some errands. Seriously, why drive for errands when you can ride a bike, especially when The Earth finally turned the lights on? Continue reading →

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Streetscape Sculpture at the Public Works Museum at the Inner Harbor

Today’s bike ride took me over to Hampden for my favorite brunch and some work in my workbook and then down to the Inner Harbor to check out the art show. I did a quick zip around the booths and then decided to hit up the Public Works Museum, because I love me some public works–sewer systems, water treatment, streetlights and stoplights, all of it. Continue reading →

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Patched Asphalt at 26th and N. Charles

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Many New Orleans streets are paved in only the most technical sense, but I knew my potholes, and I knew to keep my eyes partially on the ground at all times. So far, Baltimore streets seem to be better, but they are also seriously wrecked. Riding as far to the right as practicable puts you in serious pothole territory, and in sinkholes and grooves and weird ripples. I stopped on my ride home from drinks with V. to snap this picture of some patched asphalt with a divot and the spray-painted lines that suggest work will be done here soon, Building a Better Baltimore. We have to pay for our infrastructure, people.

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Blue Skies Over Lake Pontchartrain

I woke up kind of anxious, so after much hemming and hawing and reading the paper and about Malcolm X and eating a bagel, I remembered that what I really needed was a bicycle ride. I rode up Baronne, wondered if next time I ride it that pool will be in at the Y on Dryades, took St. Charles the rest of the way to Tulane, wondered if next time I ride it that gravel pit will be asphalt, and back and around to Carrollton, wondered if they will ever actually finish whatever they’re doing on Earhart. Continue reading →

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Generators at Chartres & Elysian Fields

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It was so, so hot today, so I spent most of it inside in air conditioned comfort. I rode to the coffee shop to meet M. for a work date, likely our last for awhile. Afterward I made the quick ride to the bar to meet M. for a Pimm’s cup and a little scuttlebutt. She is going to do just fine here. By the time we finished dinner it had cooled off just enough for a ride around the Bywater. I stopped to take a picture of this power station on Chartres and Elysian Fields. It looks eerie at night, with its coils and heft and height. It is imposing, but it has become so much a part of my landscape I don’t even see it anymore. But it’s there, and that part where we all use energy like there’s no tomorrow? That will catch up to us sooner or later, so we best not forget what we started. When the machines rise up, they atent going to look like people, but they are going to have effects we didn’t plan for. And then there’s the part where it’s kind of beautiful. I contined my ride home and thought about what it might be like to ride a bike in autumn.

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Egrets and Herons at the Carrollton Water Treatment Plant

Is there any season better than springtime? Seriously, no matter what your climate, spring rocks. We don’t have crocuses here, but we’ve got marching bands and sunshine and the way it smelled today. I rode up to campus and did a quick loop around the park before a couple of quick meetings with students. Continue reading →

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Pothole Filled With Gravel on St. Charles & Nashville

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I ride my bike up and down St. Charles at least four times a week on my commute. I know that ride like I know how to make spicy black beans or how to catch beads at a Mardi Gras parade. I’m always happy to pass that one school on the right because that’s when the asphalt turns smooth. Until you cross Nashville (or is it Jefferson? I know the road surfaces, not their names.), where that pothole turns up. You’ve got to decide: are you going to roll over it? Pedal through? Jog out into the traffic lane a bit to stay on asphalt? But that has gotten harder since the left edge has been falling away. Some weeks ago somebody dumped some loose rocks in the deeper part of the hole to bring it up more even to the rest of the surface, but that just makes it more hazardous to cyclists. I stopped today on my zillionth ride over it to take a picture, and I noticed they’ve painted a square around it. Could that mean it will be fixed soon? I won’t hold my breath. When you ride a bike every day, this is the sort of stuff that lodges in your brain. Good thing I’ve got a thing for details.

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Pumps at Orpheum Avenue & Hammond Highway

I woke up early to see if I was feeling any better, and I was, which meant a long bike ride was in order. As I lay there wondering when I’d take it, R. called to see if I might want to ride my bike to brunch this morning. Perfect plan! I hopped on my bike and headed out into perfect early autumn weather; feeling more and more human by the pedal. After a positively lovely breakfast, R. and I parted ways, and I meant to go do some work. But then I was riding again, and I just didn’t want to stop. Continue reading →