A Review of RIDE 2: More Short Fiction About Bicycles

I like reading about people riding bikes. And while many bike books contain personal accounts of tours and adventures across countrysides and continents, RIDE 2: More Short Fiction About Bicycles offers readers just a small glimpse into the hearts and minds of more everyday bike riders.

Each story or poem is written by a different author. Sometimes a bike pushes the plot of the story and other times it's just a way for the main character to get from A to B. The characters come through as real, relatable people that you may already know in some way as a friend, relative, or neighbor.

These short stories cover a variety of bicycle cultures, from bike polo to missionary work, and involve an even wider variety of people. I've read RIDE 2 three times over the last year and with each new reading I'm struck by my own intense interest in these stories. A different story has stuck with me each time: first it was the love story, then it was the one set in Oklahoma, and lately I can't get the bike polo grudge match out of my head.

I have since purchased the Kindle ebook version because I like taking these stories with me when I travel. I hope this short fiction series continues with a RIDE 3, because these snapshots of bicycles in everyday life beg to be read again and again.

RIDE 2: More Short Fiction About Bicycles is available on Amazon.

[Full disclosure: I was provided with a print copy of RIDE 2 for review purposes.]

Tacoma's Pocket Libraries

A while back, Tacoma's RR Anderson built a pocket library in his alley called the Central Tacoma Free-Radical Media Exchange. A pocket library is a repository of books, videos, music and all kinds of other media that can be borrowed on a take-something leave-something basis. In my opinion, RR has built the coolest library in town, but more importantly, my kids think it's awesome, too.

We bike over there about once a month, returning books and cassettes that we borrowed the last time and looking for something new to take. RR has added a second row of shelves and nearly doubled the capacity of the space, which means it's hard not to find something of interest. On our last trip, the oldest picked up a copy of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox, which she immediately began reading on the ride home.

Just a few days ago, like the Lorax rising from the stump of a Truffula tree, a second pocket library sprung up around the corner from my house! It's superbly built and decorated.

Inside there's an assortment of fiction and non-fiction, as well as a note pad where you can leave comments. I left a note about the CTF-RME and plan to see if I can get the two pocket libraries intertwined somehow. Coincidentally, both of these pocket libraries are located between Oakes and Anderson streets, but 24 blocks apart. 

Apparently there are at least four pocket libraries in Tacoma, but here's where to find the two listed here. Take something with you to leave behind! You'll be surprised how empowering this kind of neighborly sharing can be.

View Little Free Library Index > Scroll Down in a larger map

View Little Free Library Index > Scroll Down in a larger map

Roald Dahl Rode Bikes

I'm currently reading 'Boy' by Roald Dahl, a collection of memories and stories from his childhood. I couldn't help but smile at this particular passage, one of only two memories that Dahl had of his few years at Llandaff Cathedral preparatory school. If only we could all be so ambitious at the age of eight.

Crunch by Leslie Connor: A Review

My second grader has moved up to the Juvenile Lit section of the library, which is where I found Crunch by Leslie Connor. At 330 pages, this chapter book looked daunting to my daughter, but I needed to know the story behind the bikey dust jacket.

Within a few quick chapters I was hooked into the plot. Fueled by a nation-wide fuel shortage, or crunch, the five Marriss kids are forced to run the family homestead and bicycle repair business during the summer while their parents are stranded out of town indefinitely. These are troubled times filled with shortages of everything. A plentiful garden, along with goat milk and chicken eggs from their family farm, provide a key food supply for the children and their neighbors. The children also quickly take advantage of the nearby highway as it transforms into a giant multi-use path for cyclists and pedestrians.

The cause of the oil shortage is masked behind the veil of politics, but themes of overconsumption, oil dependence, and self-reliance are clearly presented. There are hints at the fact that bicycles and shoes are not the simple savior to our car culture problem. During a family dinner of homemade clam chowder shared with friends and strangers, the narrator notes, "We were consumed with consuming."  Even the bike industry is plagued by the oil shortage, as deliveries of parts are delayed and costs begin to skyrocket. This car-less future is still a world complicated by the necessity of at least some oil.

The importance of art, neighborliness, sharing, creativity, and hard work all play important roles in the story, providing sound advice on how we all should live together. However, with fourteen year-old Dewey as the narrator, questions about the order of the past and the unknown chaos of the future are literally left open-ended on the page for both him and the reader to answer.

For parents like me who carry their children around town by bicycle, Crunch reads like a childrens text book focused on explaining why we ride.  The plot is driven by children learning to take on the responsibilities of adults while still making childlike mistakes. These kids are learning about cultural change while actively taking part in the shifting paradigm (pun very much intended.) Crunch is a child's view on one possible future for America: a future without oil. It's a future that readers of any age will enjoy exploring and pondering.

You can find Crunch, by Leslie Connor, in both hardcover and eBook versions at the Tacoma Public Library.

What a Weekend: Bicycle Highlights

We had a bustling adventure of a weekend in Tacoma. We biked almost everywhere we needed or wanted to go and never went more than about 3 miles from home. Living in the city has its perks!


Friday: First, another round of the weekly Frost Park Chalk Off. We like to bike there with a picnic lunch. Super T decided we would draw kitty whales, something she created on our kitchen chalkboard earlier in the week.

Much later that night...

MOB RIDE!

If you missed it, watch for posters like this around town (note the MOB logo).

Saturday: Up early so that my little fairy could march in the Junior Daffodil Parade with her pre-school pals.  We biked to this neighborhood like we always do, but driving would have been especially inconvenient since many roads around the parade route were closed to vehicles.

After the parade, we visited the Proctor Farmers Market. (I recommend the spring rolls from the Two Sisters sauce booth.) We also browsed the new Playback Sports shop, which we hadn't been to since they moved. They sell used sporting goods on consignment, including bikes and bike accessories. Tacoma parents should know about this place: spread the word.

Sunday: Wayzgoose! It's a print arts extravaganza hosted by our local independent book store, King's Books.  We biked there with another family. Eight people: four bikes.

The main attraction is the steamroller printing press. RAWR.

Local artists hand carve these sheets of linoleum then print a few very limited edition posters which can only be won through a raffle drawing. There were eight designs, including these two that included bikes.

 TA-DA!

We also brought shirts to take advantage of the free screen-printing booth run by some University of Puget Sound students. And I picked up some cool prints from an artist who also makes records with a vintage record lathe. This one is cut from a plastic pie plate.

A friend from the chalk-off was running the bicycle ice cream trailer for Jeff's Ice Cream. Made in Washington ice cream bars and cookie sandwiches FTW!

 We finished off the day with a Harmon Hub pizza picnic at Wright Park. It was a beautiful day in Tacoma.

Monday: Back to School!

Fin.

DIY Food

I've been reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food LIfe as part of the Tacoma Reads Together program. Kingsolver documents her family's attempt to eat foods grown, raised, and produced from within their own county for one year. Her family of four lives on a small farm in Virginia where they raise chickens and turkeys, keep a 4000 sqft garden, and visit their local farmer's market weekly for other odds and ends. They bake their own bread, make their own sausage, cheese and yogurt (among other "processed" foods), and cultivate relationships with their community, as well. It's a lot of hard work, but they eat like kings and savor each delicious bite.

As someone who sees sustainability, buying locally, and organic agriculture as parts of a healthy lifestyle, the book has caused me to read more labels at the grocery store and put more wholesome foods on my table. We've kept a small raised bed garden the last two years, but have decided to expand it this year. We pulled a dusty bread machine from the attic and started making our own whole wheat bread, without corn syrup and other mystery additives. We are thinking about supplementing our own garden by purchasing a share of the crop from Terry's Berries, a local organic farm.

I'm no saint when it comes to eating healthy, but there's a balance here somewhere, and I need to at least tip the scale in the right direction.

Of course, this all started with biking to work. I often reflected during that hour-long ride about all of the things that people do in the modern age to simplify their lives, like driving everywhere. The "simple" way is not always better, and it's often borne at some cost that creates more complexity in our lives somewhere else. It may take me a little more time and effort to do some of these things, but I'm not looking for ways to make my life "simple", I'm looking for ways to make it more enjoyable, for me, my family and my community. Kingsolver's book is full of ideas and resources for anyone looking to do the same.