30 September 2008

22 September 2008

Ghost Bike


In memory of Matthew G. Powell, fellow cyclist.
Boulder, CO - 19 September 2008

20 September 2008

I'm not the only feminist who has a problem with Palin

Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and activist best known for "The Vagina Monologues", wrote the following about Sarah Palin:
_________
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears. I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin.

This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke.

In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity. Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

Eve Ensler
September 5, 2008

09 September 2008

School district criticized for plans to add U-shaped racks

School district criticized for plans to add U-shaped racks

Officials: The racks are simple, sturdy, affordable

Inverted-U racks 101 -Shape: They look like upside-down U's or lower-case N's.

Inverted-U racks

Support: There is one simple element to the rack, which can support two bicycles.

How to: A rider can lock the rear wheel and seat tube of the bicycle to the rack.

Pros: They can support bicycles with baskets, and they work with bikes of all makes and sizes.

Cons: They take up space and can be confusing to use.

Cora racks 101 - Shape: They look like a series of coat hangers on a single bar.

Cora racks.
Support: One rack typically can support 10 bicycles.

How to: A rider can lock a bicycle's wheel and frame to a triangular portion of the rack.

Pros: They're simple to use and keep bicycles parked in an orderly fashion.

Cons: They don't work with bikes that have baskets, and they're too tall for some smaller children's bicycles.

A plan to add hundreds of bicycle-parking spaces at 20 Boulder Valley schools has come under fire by some people who disapprove of the style of rack that officials plan to use.

Based on a city of Boulder recommendation, the Boulder Valley School District is leaning toward using a $60,000 federal grant to install 250 inverted-U bicycle racks on school properties that lack parking space. But critics argue that the U-shaped parking racks take up too much space and are confusing to use.

“One problem with the U rack is that people park 90 degrees to the way they’re supposed to,” said Boulder resident Peter Richards, who complained to the district over the weekend about its decision to use U-shaped racks. “Those are the dumbest racks in the world.”

Instead of the U racks, some local cycling proponents have suggested the district install Cora racks, which look like a row of coat hangers on a bar and are prevalent across the University of Colorado campus.

Kent Young, 57, of Boulder, said the district should consider copying CU in its use of Cora racks because they promote simple and more orderly bicycle parking.

“It looks to me that you can get more bikes in the same amount of space,” Young said. “They’re less awkward and cumbersome.”

Landon Hilliard, student transportation coordinator for the school district, said the district is open to suggestions, and officials plan to spend the next three months studying the individual needs of schools scheduled to get more bicycle parking.

Right now, he said, the district is leaning toward the U racks because they encourage riders to lock their bikes in the most secure way, they’re stable and they’re cost-efficient.

School district officials said Cora racks don’t work well with bicycles that have baskets attached, and that’s a problem because children who ride to school are being urged to carry their bags in a side, front or rear compartment — not on their backs.

“If you have a bike with a lot of baggage and baskets on the side, it’s tough to park your bike with those Cora racks,” said Sue Prant, project manager for the district’s bicycle-parking project. “And we want our kids to carry their stuff on the bike rather than on their backs.”

Prant said district and transportation officials will meet with parents and community members this fall to explain their logic in picking the U-shaped racks. And the district might consider using a combination of U and Cora racks, Prant said.

Wanda Pelegrina Caldas, family outreach coordinator at Boulder’s Columbine Elementary School, said she thinks U racks are best suited for elementary children.

“Smaller bikes, especially the size pre-schoolers and younger elementary school-aged kids use, are just not tall enough for Cora racks,” she said.

Regardless of the style, Caldas said, with the fast-growing ridership — it’s three times higher than it’s ever been at Columbine — the district’s top priority should be adding more racks as soon as possible.

“We bring bikes into the school because we have no space for them to be safe outside,” she said. “We need to focus on rewarding kids, staff and families who ride to school with safe, sound and functional bike racks.”

And when you don't know, you obviously don't

Are you fucking kidding me?!

I completely disgusted that Sarah Palin touts herself a feminist! To open your mouth and "take a stand on issues" does not mean you are a feminist unless your issues speak to and protect the needs and rights of women. Someone, please give this woman a dictionary...better yet, a course in feminism b/c i think she's confused!

How does pushing to ban sex ed, birth control and to obligate a woman to carry to full term and keep a child that has been conceived out of rape and/ or incest make the US a better place for women. SP says it will teach young women to be responsible and loving parents?!

I've worked with troubled children and young adults whom have been victims of sexual abuse, rape, incest and as a consequence pregnancy and tell me how does obligating a preteen to keep a kid that is not only her child, but her sibling show her anything about being a responsible adult and loving parent.

How about all the trauma this kid (and more than likely her future children) will have for the rest of her life. Many children of abuse end up being abusive parents or worse yet, parents that allow their children to be abused...it's the way of life that they grew up with and it's her dad who really loves her...so it's gotta be ok, right?!

Palin's stance on women's reproductive rights sends a message that this kid (and her baby) should be the ones to suffer the consequences that her fucking father is a pig! (Please, when you give SP that course on feminism, school her on child/ developmental psychology and the effects of sexual abuse on children and their future too!) Furthermore, it says women have no control or say over our own bodies!

Hmmm, feminist: one who supports the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men. Sarah Palin, yep...definitely a feminist.

Would you let Sarah Palin tell you what to do with your bank account or what color to paint your house or what to make for dinner?! Of course not, you are an adult and you can make your own decisions. So, when you're faced with some personal dilemma, are you going to call Sarah Palin and ask her for guidance and advise?! Did Sarah Palin call you to ask you what she should do about her unwed teen daughter's pregnancy?! Probably not.

Even if you are not planning to vote for (and/ or support) the Republican ticket, you may know others who blindly vote/support party line without giving candidate platforms (and what they really truly mean) another thought. Paint them a vivid picture of what exactly some of these "conservative values and morals" mean.

Voting is not just something you do (or don't do) just because. Having a vote means having a voice so use it and use it wisely...the women in our pasts fought hard (can you believe that they had to actually prove that a woman's voice is important?!) for us to be able to cast our vote.