i rode all over sf today trying out my new (to me) purple bike.
i had it fixed by awesome mechanics for free at crucible's bike workshop on sunday while i volunteered with the kids who were there to get their bikes fixed or to learn bike maintenance.
and since i was helping at the art table, i decided to teach the kids how to pimp out their bikes using beads and metal wire. we created bike necklaces of many colors. that was fun! i picked pink, purple, & blue, the BISEXUAL flag colors. it's shiny!
and i wore my ass out all day figuring out how to weave in and out of traffic while not getting killed during rush hour in one of the world's busiest downtowns!
i'm the queen of free shit. i got my bike free on BASAPPHO, an awesome listserv hosted at queernet for lesBIan women in the bay area. a friendly dyke in el cerrito gave it to me just for the price of picking it up. (you would not believe the crap i've been able to cram into my little corolla! i've lugged futons, dressers & tall floor lamps, i found on freecycle, often at the same time!
yay! me so proud!
after eating a meal in a cup at jamba juice (my kids introduced me to this and i am addicted!) i sat mesmerized at the GLBT Historical Society's Passing on the Pen program. Queer African American storytellers Jewel Gomez and Frederick Smith read from their published works. Gomez also read from her new poetry and her latest novel - both works in progress.
they were funny and poignant and so down to earth. i loved it!
i had biked to fisherman's wharf today to get practice biking in a busy urban setting mixed with rude auto drivers, intimidating buses, oblivious tourists, madmen cabbies, and other bikers.
it was terrifying.
i'm so goddamn proud of my little selfie! i can't believe i really did it!
the ONLY biking experience i have is:
- childhood lessons from my dad which consisted of him rolling me down a hill and cheering me on (surprisingly enough, this worked great!)
- desperate mother biking with my 2 arguing daughters (strapped into a toddler trailer on the back but within hair pulling, knee kicking view of each other) and my adventurous son in front escaping my watchful eye (with his own training wheels)
- leisurely biking at Edisto Island south of Charleston years ago with my dear friends while i was recovering from surgery when my parents gifted me a week by the sea
it was hair raising. but i did it.
and i felt this soaring freeing feeling of moving under the power of my own two feet using no war profiteers oil company products. i felt this wonderful comraderie with every fellow biker i saw. i asked one young man about his tattoo (of a 19th century biker). he was so friendly when i told him it was my first day biking in the city. he cheered me on and gave me info on critical mass which i wanna join. (my former lover/still dear friend does the music for them on their rides.
and my ass is proud and happy!
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