Tulane

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Rain on St. Charles

And then some days you are at work for 14 hours, the last two of which are spent discussing the dismal job prospects in your field, and then you get to ride home in a dark and heavy rain, slowly, slowly. Meh, can’t win ’em all.

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Tulane VS South Alabama Women’s Basketball Game at Fogelman Arena

I teach a lot of student athletes at Tulane–basketball, volleyball, cheerleading, football, I teach them all. Athletes get a bad rap sometimes for blowing off coursework for the culture of the game. Well, all kinds of students manage to blow off coursework, so it hardly seems fair to lay that on the athletes. And in my experience, athletes balance an incredible number of commitments, often impressively. So when the football team invited me to go behind the scenes at a game, I eagerly said yes, because I wanted to show my support for my students, and because who doesn’t want to watch the game from the field! My body was requesting a rest from the bike, so I thought I’d drive, but alas, when you leave your car idle for weeks because you’d rather ride your bike, the battery dies. So I put on the bike shoes, climbed on the Surly, and headed down to the Superdome with N. in tow. Continue reading →

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Clear Instructions on a Conference Table at Tulane

Some days you just ride your bike to work, teach all day, really hard stuff, hear really hard stories, and try to balance all the feelings that come out on a day like this one. And then you bike across campus to a faculty seminar and stare at the cup in front of you, wishing teaching days like this one came with better instructions, like this tea bag. “Pull tag to release string.” Thank you for just telling me how to do it. These no-answer days are rough. And that’s when you’re grateful that you get to ride your bike home as hard as you can listening to this song and that, because they have beats that feel how it feels when you’re angry and frustrated that things don’t really seem to change all that much. Pedal, pedal, pedal, thank you, bicycle, for being at the beginning and end of every day.

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Crowds at the Take Back the Night Rally at Loyola

Another work day, another morning ride to campus. And it’s the end of October, so of course I arrived three miles later in my tank top and light skirt, drenched in sweat. Fall in New Orleans… I taught a ridiculous number of classes today, so by the end of it all I was happily relieved and decided to work it out with a couple of laps around the park. The lake was positively alive with bird activity–this time, ducks. I think. Why are there all these teenage ducks in the park right now? Aren’t ducklings born in spring? R.? Do you know? I watched them snack and squawk for awhile and then headed to Loyola’s campus to meet up with folks gathered for this year’s Take Back the Night march and rally. Continue reading →

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Halloween Decorations at State Street & St. Charles

Some day soon I will not be able to start a post talking about how perfect the weather is, but today? Today, the weather was perfect. I headed out in the morning for an appointment and then rode up to campus for lunch with a student and an afternoon of grading and reading and grading some more. The day ended with wine and cheese and L.’s paper and a good discussion. Such a nice day. I pedaled home in the dark along St. Charles and the wind had an extra chill. I stopped to take a picture of this house at State Street. These people are very, very excited about Halloween. Continue reading →

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Flowering Tree Near Newcomb Hall at Tulane

It was yet another beautiful early fall day in New Orleans. I hopped on the bike to head to school early, and the air was just a teensy bit cool–perfect. I taught and taught and lunched and taught and by the end of the day I had a really impressive headache lodged behind my left eye. Ugh. I did not feel like doing anything but lying around in the dark, but I got on my bike and headed down to the gym. Then I discovered I’d left work I needed at the office. Sigh. Monday on Wednesday. Continue reading →

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Upward Bound Tulane University Sign at Broadway & Plum

My Wednesdays are crazy busy and this one had a couple of bumps that made it particularly long, so by the time I stumbled out of the office at 6:30 I wasn’t exactly looking forward to getting on the bike. But then I felt the air–cool–and clipped in and was off, tonight to Bayou St. John for dinner with T., T., and N. I stopped quickly, though, to take a picture of this sign at Broadway and Plum. I mean, the thing is seriously proud of itself. Continue reading →

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Halftime at the Superdome, Tulane V. Southeastern Louisiana

Fall is officially in the air. I might just feel like that because the last two nights, riding my bicycle home, the air has been almost chilly. Well, tonight it’s 80 degrees, but that’s chilly after the last few months of sweaty heat. Fall means football season, and tonight I took the bike down to the Superdome for Tulane’s first game of the season, against the Lions of Southeastern Louisiana State. Continue reading →

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Tulane Marching Band Practice on the LBC Quad

I am home again, home again, jiggity jig after a positively lovely trip out west to see old friends. Home means back on the bike, and I couldn’t have been more pleased to velcro-up my shoes, clip in, and head to campus to unpack my new office. It took a few blocks to get up to speed, and I had to play around with the gears to get comfortable again, but man, it is seriously good to be back on my bike. And it is also seriously good to be back on campus with that smell of back-to-school in the air. Continue reading →

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Bike Parking in Front of Dinwiddie Hall at Tulane

I’ve been watching this documentary about New York City, and it is blowing my mind. I am a lot of talk about the importance of bicycle infrastructure, but part of me thinks we’ve already got the roads we’ve got and it might just be too much trouble/money/work to really fundamentally change them. And then I learn about Robert Moses and the development of car culture. Continue reading →