Meet Go Go!

she's my baby and favorite companion
(second only to my '81 ladies schwinn back home)

thanks, marc!

xoxo

City From Below!

"The city has emerged in recent years as an indispensable concept for many of the struggles for social justice we are all engaged in - it's a place where theory meets practice, where the neighborhood organizes against global capitalism, where unequal divisions based on race and class can be mapped out block by block and contested, where the micropolitics of gender and sexual orientation are subject to metropolitan rearticulation, where every corner is a potential site of resistance and every vacant lot a commons to be reclaimed, and, most importantly, a place where all our diverse struggles and strategies have a chance of coming together into something greater. In cities everywhere, new social movements are coming into being, hidden histories and herstories are being uncovered, and unanticipated futures are being imagined and built - but so much of this knowledge remains, so to speak, at street-level. We need a space to gather and share our stories, our ideas and analysis, a space to come together and rethink the city from below."

THEMES TO BE CONSIDERED

* Gentrification/uneven development
* Policing and incarceration
* Tenants rights/housing as a right
* Public transit
* Urban worker's rights
* Foreclosures/financial crisis
* Public education
* Slots/casinos/regressive taxation
* Cultural gentrification
* Underground economies
* Reclaiming public space
* The right to the city
* Squatting/Contesting Property Rights
* Urban sustainability

Read more - get excited - submit proposals!

Portland!

I am so poor, but what better thing to do than take a trainride with my bicycle to Portland, Oregon for a springtime vacation!?

I'm actually considering touring from Oakland to Portland, or maybe part of the way - but we'll see...

The first or second week of APRIL I am going to Amtrak my way up to your neck of the woods to kick it before I dip back to Providence for Zombie Jesus festivities. Then it's back to Oaksterdam where I've built my nest.

Do you live in Portland?
Will you be around in the beginning of April?
Can I sleep on your couch or in your bed?
Would you like to have a friend-date and show me all the fun things in your city?

Big giant smooches (they're free!),
Carla

Bike Hippies

I love bike hippies.



I also love the Bay Area.

xoxo
c

thanks, nick!

cars are for idiots!

Nick is in town from Vienna, where he has his art gallery, INOPERAbLE!

He is hosting a show of some Austrian artists in NYC. I'm having trouble finding a flyer for it, but when I do, I'll let you know.

bikelove,
Cyclocross Carla

P.S. That's him bike-skiing in the video.

P.P.S. The revolution will not be motorized.

Rideshare Wanted

I'm going to NYC Saturday to see a bunch of cats, including:

Jesse (he's hosting arts and crafts on Saturday),

Howl (Providence Metal band),


Christiane (college roommate),

Sip Sak (bomb diggity Armenian-Turkish restaurant),

and quite possibly Nick (old friend visiting from Austria).



I was going to take Amtrak (I love trains), but I thought I'd post a rideshare about it.

Is anyone going to NYC this weekend?
Would you like to have company?

I will bake snacks and pay for gas.
I'm also a kick-ass co-pilot.

Holler atcha girl
Lady Rideshare

Make it Work

Please stop driving.
Just make it work for you.
What a waste of money it is to have a car!
What a waste of resources it is to have a car!

I'm 23 years old and I've never had a license and never driven a car.

Why?

• I grew up in Providence where I either took the RIPTA bus or walked 3 miles to and from high school. Uphill both ways.
  
• My family didn't have money, so I knew not to expect a car on my 16th birthday. Instead I received a blender from my parents.
  
• I never signed up for drivers ed because I was too busy being cool and subversive (smoking pot on the regular while maintaining honor roll).
  
• My mother was in a near-fatal car crash when I was 6 years old. She was hit by a drunk driver and underwent experimental surgery having several of her vertebrae fused together, leaving her bedridden for 6 months and in chronic pain for the rest of her life (don't drink and drive). So perhaps there's also a psychological element to my lack of desire to operate a motor vehicle.
  
• I went to college in Boston where it's totally lame to have a car. I am a subway expert and fanatic.
• I had a serious boyfriend who I basically lived with when I wasn't in Boston. We would carpool almost everywhere. He was always Designated Driver, and for that, I owe him a lot (I'll repay you somehow, Harold!).
• Back in Providence since 2006 and walking has never been more pleasant. The architecture of this city is brilliant and I love looking pedestrians in the eyes and saying hello when I pass them on my walks cross-town. Community building.
  
• I have two jobs. Since I don't drive, I have to make strategic decisions about where I love and work. Each job is no more than a 20-minute walk from my apartment, and an even faster trip on the bus or bike.
  

It has become so normal to have a car in the society we have constructed for ourselves, and hopefully we all realize that we cannot maintain this lifestyle without doing harm to our global and personal health. Consider leaving the car at home sometimes. Go for a walk. Bike! Use public transportation. Take time to experience your city or town from the perspective of a pedestrian. Or even from the perspective of the natural world.

If you biked to work instead of drove, you would save money on gas, cut down on your contribution to pollution, and get in shape in no time. Hug that tree, get physically fit, and save money while doing it.

Consider a lifestyle change that feels soooo gooood.

xoxo
carla