I was out with S. last night, and she suggested we get up early for a few laps around the reservoir at Druid Hill Park, her running, me on my bike. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but when I woke up all warm in my bed surrounded by cats, well, it seemed like a better idea might be to enjoy a vacation day in bed with coffee and books. But I said I’d be up for it, so I sent a text, sucked down some coffee, put on my wool layers, and headed out on the bike, and, as always, I was glad I did. Continue reading
museums
Students, Parents, Teachers, and Administrators Speaking Out About School Infrastructure at War Memorial Plaza
Today’s ride took me first to the bike shoppe for new front brakes from a couple of surly gentlemen (and don’t think I don’t know I need rear brakes–you just didn’t have anymore brakes to offer–I was not born yesterday even though I am wearing a skirt) that helpfully returned to me an ability to stop on command. After doing a little reading and thinking I headed downtown on my bike to visit the B&O Railroad Museum to learn a little bit about the Birthplace of American Railroading, which is apparently right here in Baltimore. Continue reading
Edgar Allan Poe House at Amity & Lexington
It was another beautiful sunny fall day in Baltimore, and it felt so, so good to head out on the bike to enjoy the weather and brunch and then a ride with no destination. I decided to check out the Edgar Allan Poe house, because word on the street is it may not be around long. Some historical sites don’t seem to be affected at all by pesky details like the economic crash. I mean, check out the majesty of Fort McHenry–that place is ridonkulous. I know, I know, maybe it has more national meaning than Poe’s house, but if we had any sense of equity, the Poe House would be open more than a few days a week from 12:00-3:00. Continue reading
Miniature Portraits at the Maryland Historical Society at Monument & N. Howard
Today’s ride took me down the McKeldin Square to drop off a staple gun to the folks at the media table at Occupy Baltimore before a couple of hours waving signs on the corner with B. and B. The square was fairly empty this afternoon, which surprised me, given the sunshine and Saturday-ness of it all, but maybe folks were still out on the walking tour of Inner Harbor bad guys. Continue reading
John W. Brown Liberty Ship at Fells Point
I spent this chilly Saturday at home and reading my book, which is so, so good, and intense. It makes me angry that I was never taught about Jim Crow in a real way, and Isabel Wilkerson is teaching it in such a real way. This book should be required reading, by everybody. But anyway. It was finally time to peel myself out of bed and get on the bike, so I headed down to the museum to check out some Maryland-specific Jim Crow history–this here kid knows how to spend a Saturday! Continue reading
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
Royal Theater Monument at West Lafayette and Pennsylvania Avenue
I left my car on campus yesterday so I could sit in J.’s car as he drove us all the way to Gaithersburg for a most excellent, if overwrought and heavy handed, movie at the weird mall with the restaurant that served me fries with my falafal. I can leave my car wherever, because the next day, I can always ride my bike wherever, stick my bike on the car, and drive us all home. Continue reading
Capital Bike Share at 10th & Constitution
I took myself to Our Nation’s Capital today to see J. and meet up with M., who low and behold, wants to get stamps in her National Parks Passport just as much as I do. Which is a lot. I thought about bringing my bike, figuring that the city’d be easiest to navigate by bike, like every other city I’ve visited. I left the Surly at home, though, and I’m glad I did, because D.C. has a bike share program! Continue reading
Memorial to Segregated Pool 2 in Druid Hill Park
Oh, the sun is out today, so I hopped on the bike with my computer and headed to Hampden to get some work done. I am still new in town, so I couldn’t manage to find a coffee shop with wifi and ended up back in my neighborhood after a loop around Roland Park’s mansions. Afterward I headed to the start of the Jones Falls Trail to practice going between my first and second chain rings on the switchbacks up to Druid Hill Park. I did a lap around the reservoir before following the signs to Baltimore’s Model Safety City. It’s a miniature downtown with lots of complicated intersections and blind driveways to help kids learn safe pedestrian and bicycling techniques. Be still my heart! I continued up the hill to some tennis courts and this pool filled with dirt and grass. The park has built a memorial to the history of segregation at Druid Hill. Back in 1918 the Young Progressive of Maryland and the Baltimore Tennis Club put on an integrated match. When city officials stopped it, the players sat down on the court in protest. They took the city to court, but the courts threw the case out. In 1918. How do I not know that history? it matters. I snapped this picture of Pool 2, which B. told me about. I am used to cities covering over their segregationist pasts, but here we remember. But let’s not pretend segregation’s over, because it’s not. Take a bike ride around your town. The ride home was downhill, and I flew–what goes up, must come down.
Diorama of the Pratt Street Riot at the Baltimore Civil War History Museum on President Street
I had one of those frustrating days where you are on hold for 45 minutes to no avail after being tranferred multiple times, getting more teary with every subsequent operator. Hint: Verizon’s on strike, cancel, but give yourself a couple hours to do it. Anyway, it was finally time for me to flee the house, so I tossed my National Parks Passport in my bike bag and flew down the hill to the Baltimore Civil War History Museum, because there’s nothing like a little popular history to take my mind off the Kafka-esque world of telephonery. Half of the museum is devoted to remembering the Pratt Street riots, which happened as the Union sent troops south through Baltimore at the very start of the war. The city was full of Confederate sympathizers, and they attacked the soldiers as they transferred trains, shedding the first blood of the war. I snapped this picture of their diorama of the events while standing under the sound umbrella-thingy with its gunshots and crowd noises. Then there was the display about the Underground Railroad (not really a railroad) and Henry “Box” Brown who shipped himself to freedom (get in this box and see how it might feel!–that part was creepy). It’s an odd nostalgia. Later, when I was reading about the 1968 uprisings in Baltimore at the bookstore, I wondered if we’ll ever have a museum to that, reenactments, nostalgia that at least reminds us of the ways the social, political, and economic choices made that led to the riots continue to shape our everyday. And then I rode over to the stadium to watch Ravens fans pour in for the preseason, the beat goes on, the beat goes on.
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 