Well, darn it. This is the coldest morning we've have so far.
I was going to chicken out and take the express bus to the U. It stops kitty-korner from my apartment, and then I transfer to the Lake St bus...
But then I remembered the U is on Thanksgiving break and the bus won't be running...
I could walk a few blocks to the city bus, but I still have to transfer, and if I'm going to do that, I may as well brave myself and bike!
I WANT to bike as long as I can into winter--it's the ice that's the problem more than the cold--but I balk at the first cold days...
I want to bike because . . .
it helps with stress reduction, to and fro work; it helps with exercise; it helps me stretch out my calves which get tight from standing all day;
AND< I want to avoid the distressing daily scenes of tragedy on the bus: riders on drugs almost tipping out of their seats; moms alone juggling groceries & a double stroller, vying for space with people in electric wheelchairs; teenagers smoking in the back...
Of course there's comedy too--people being friendly and funny, but you just never know.
Also, viruses.
I appreciated Linda Sue's comment yesterday, on my post about a customer who lived in a house for DIY punk/queer community [article in Rolling Stone*] that was the scene of a mass shooting this summer:
"Your world seems extreme, but I think the dysfunction and despair is woven into USA fabric , a tight weave."
Yes. Thank you, LS, for seeing and saying that--it's like the scene in Star Trek: Picard in LA encampments-- reflecting for me that THIS IS HAPPENING, and not just locally here, in the blighted area where I work.
It seems extreme to me too. Because it is extreme! (I'm like, WHAT?)
It IS extreme, and yet, it's also kinda the new normal. For a segment of America, it was always bad there, and now there's fentanyl, and more guns than ever, and a national political scene that gives the thumbs up to tribalism.
And not just nationally, either--there's Argentina tipped now... and many more places.
What on Earth will happen, I wonder? Really, on Earth.
Will we get worse before we get better--much, much better? (That's the Star Trek scenario.)
Or, will we slam on the brakes, reverse, and choose to improve? (I vote for that!)
Or get worse, and never get better?
Who knows?
I'm going to live as if we just might choose to improve. Maybe we won't, but we could!
I don't know any individual of any stripe who thinks the situation is good. As BJ said, "those people on the street hate being there as much as you do." They're trapped in the hell of addiction, a lot of them.
As individuals, except the few who want to watch the world burn, we're almost all wanting freedom from dental pain (!), cheesecake and football, good tv/sex, a safe place to send the kids to get them out of our hair for an afternoon; and that old-fashioned sounding peace, love, and understanding.
But somehow as a group, we create the opposite.
Our lizard brains say, Your sexuality & cheesecake are the WRONG FLAVOR. My group's football is worth dying for. Dentistry for me, but there's not enough not for you.
Etc.
We are ridiculous. I am very fond of us. I wish we would get it together.
Good example of a good try:
The city put in a new, two-way bike path along the street where bink & Maura live. IT'S GREAT!!! The street is safer for everyone, not just bicyclists, and quieter and greener. And of course people complain, people who say it inconveniences THEIR car drive home (oh, the sacred right of car drivers!);
but it's a done deal.
And it's a big, good step for public health, community, everything.
We can do that.
_____________
*The Rolling Stone article is a tribute to August Golden, the musician killed in the shooting. It's a good, loving description of what I call Thrift Life:
'His bandmates spoke to Rolling Stone from his room.
“He had really beautiful stuff,” Brown says.
“He took care to repair old things. He saw the value in stuff. He never threw things away. He would always fix it. And he fixed things for all of us as well: tape players, record players, guitars, cars, and trucks.“It was a choice, since he enjoyed doing it, but it was also an ethos,” they continue.
“It was about taking care of each other and taking care of things. He wasn’t just helpful to be helpful; he really believed in mutual aid and community and taking care of each other.
He was inspired by that, and we were inspired by him doing that.”'
Photo, below, of August Golden from Rolling Stone, August 16, 2023,"Friends Remember ‘Punk as F-ck’ Musician Killed in Minneapolis Shooting".
"A
gunman killed 35-year-old August Golden in an unprovoked shooting
during a show last Friday. Friends say he 'embodied the values that our
world of DIY punk rock hopes to embody and hold'."
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