So today I decided to ride my bike somewhere out of traffic where I could just pedal for 15 or 20 miles to see how far I could go without stopping. My big charity ride is months away, but it’s 140 miles–I need to start racking up time in t he saddle now. The sun was shining, temps in the mid-40s, and aside from the pesky wind machine, it was an awfully good day for a bike ride. I hopped on and headed toward Lake Montebello for as many trips around the circle I could stand. Continue reading
neighborhoods
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.
Piles of Rubble at the New Casino Site from the Gwynns Falls Trail Bridge Near Oler Street
So I was in Cleveland for a week, and then a few days after I got back to Baltimore, I caught that cold that’s been taking out my students for the past few months–sore, closed throat, cough, itchy ears, fatigue, and just general blah-ness. I decided to take a couple days off the bike to see if I could just get better rather than driving everything into my lungs and making the whole business worse. Well, today I’m not totally better, but I’m good enough to get out there for a ride, and I really, really needed it. Continue reading
Geese and Oil Drums on the Water in Canton at East & Boston
I woke up to rain and a report of rain to come, but seriously, what am I going to do–drive the five miles down the hill to the gym? I don’t think so. Lucky me, the rain stopped early, and it was a gray but dry ride down the hill and to the left to Canton for my last swimming lesson with Rob. He wore me out in the pool, and my legs were heavy as I left the gym to head home. I walked across the parking lot to check out the water, slowing my step-and-roll to try not to panic the geese. They heard me at once and started their move away, toward the oil drums at the end of the block, against a horizon of shipping cranes and giant military ships and new condos and that Korean War Memorial at Waterfront Park. I wonder if the geese notice any of their background, or if all they need’s the grass. For me, looking up from the bike is when I see the layers and layers of what we’re doing here, and then it’s back on the bike to pedal home, past all the stuff. Rain or shine, take your bike.
Club Orpheus Sign at Pratt & Exeter
Saturday’s ride took me down the hill against the Baltimore wind machines for a dip in the pool. I do this ride so often that it just feels like home, like that old ride from the Garden District up to Tulane when I lived in New Orleans–same streets, same houses, same potholes and traffic patterns every day, but every day it is a little bit different in the ride. This day’s ride was frustrated by surprising traffic–where’s everybody going on a Saturday, man? Get off my downtown streets! Continue reading
Brick Row Houses at Melvin & Emory In Ridgely’s Delight
Ok, just two weather-related things: 38 degrees is a whole lot easier on the toes that 20 degrees, and please, Baltimore, turn down the wind machines. Anyway. It was a sunny day, dry roads, and I happily hopped on the bike and sped down the hill and over to Canton for another swimming lesson. After some practice with the breaststroke (Rob says I have naturally good timing, not that I’m bragging or anything) it was back on the bike for a ride to the west side to meet S. for lunch and a chat about what she does, what I do, and how we might do a thing or two together. Continue reading
Empty Theater at Orleans & N. Johnson
I know, I know, I’m a broken record, but wow, what a beautiful day for a bike ride in New Orleans. Today’s my last day in the city before heading north to the frozen tundra that is Spring classes, and I spent most of it on N.’s bike. I first rode into the Marigny to meet R. and A. for brunch at the third outpost of that restaurant I think of as where I met D. and M. and S. for the first time~I knew from that first morning that they would all be bosom friends that morning, and I was right; today, same sort of friends, same sort of restaurant, and iit was just a perfect start to a day that then took my to Mid-City to see M.~an unannounced bike-by from the olden days. I pedaled back toward the Quarter along Orleans. I remember when they repaved that street, such a dream, and today it was a respite from the truly awful New Orleans infrastructure. My god, iron your streets! I snapped this picture of an empty building that looks like it used to be a theater. I think the sign is smaller now, but I will have to check the ol’ archive. So much has changed around here~new public housing, new asphalt, newness, but not at this spot and the others where there’s so much blight. It reminds me of Baltimore. A walk through the Quarter for a dog parade and more friends and then I was riding Uptown on the old route to see R. and then S. The fork is still embedded in the street at Baronne and Jackson, the cow’s still there, Muses looks lived-in, and we are still being exhorted to be the change we wish to see in the world. it was a lovely ride, lovely stops, and a perfect vacation. I’m not going to lie, though: I’m looking forward to going home in the morning, if only to get a break from my vacation schedule. Thank you, New Orleans, as always.
Habitat for Humanity Site on Cherry Blossom in the Orchard Ridge Development in the Claremont Freedom Neighborhood
I didn’t get to ride my bicycle around much this past week due to a heavy workload. Fortunately, part of that workload was learning how to use software to make movies! It was so much fun, and I spent several days making my first tiny film, which you see here. But what making a movie about riding a bike around East Baltimore really made me want to do was, well, ride a bike around East Baltimore, so that’s what I did today. Continue reading
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.
An Alley at Jackson & E. Barney
It’s grading season in my neck of the woods, so that’s what I did until it was time to lug the Brompton downstairs for a ride to Federal Hill to meet A. for a ride to College Park and a couple more holiday parties. It was crisp and sunny out, a second consecutive day of holiday parties, and I zipped quickly down the hill on quiet streets. I hit the harbor, took my right, and rang the tiny Brompty bell as I pedaled around. I love how nimble this bicycle is, zipping around rocks in the path or zipping through that small space between the lamp post and the grass. Zip, zip, zip, I huffed and puffed my way up the hill, wishing for just a moment that I had a few more gears. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 