Just like I said it would be.  Life goes easy on me, most of the time.

Ooooo, if you can get that quote, you’ll be in great standing.  But!  What is happening like I said it would is this!!  I just biked 6.7 miles (yes, I google mapped it) to work this morning.  I left super early to make sure I had enough time to cool down and prep and be all set up for work etc.  But I did it!!  I got on my bike at 5:38am this morning and got off it and locked it up and took the front wheel off by 6:14am.  Wow!!  

Its surprising the hills you Don’t notice when driving.  And I definitely felt the weight of my backpack about halfway through.  The real kicker is going to be biking home today when everyone is awake and out of school.  yippee?  Hopefully my legs won’t die and fall off of me.  We’ll also see how I do on wednesday biking to work.  Tomorrow i’ll have a much needed break and have appointments to go to so I’ll need to drive.  But!  my quest has begun.  I didn’t die.

Also, because it has been almost a year’s hiatus from this blog thingy…
read :Animal Vegetable Miracle by Kingsolver and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollen.  Two really well done books.  Makes you think twice on what you’re eating, where it’s coming from and what changes you can make.

My CSA share that I’m splitting should be starting soon.  With the increase in gas prices, I think this will help me out a bunch. 

I’m exhausted, must go on working.  Enjoy!

It’s called slow down my schedule and plan for some exercise

Hi, it’s now spring 2008.  I fell off the planet for a long time.  I don’t work in the city anymore, I’m up in a northern suburb.  But I live in the city now!  which is cool.  it’s a nice house, nice apartment.

And gas prices are rising.  Rising like crazy.  I “overheard” someone on facebook last month writing on their brother’s wall about wanting an SUV and everything but sadly reconsidering due to gas prices.  I wanted to yell.  I think SUV’s are dumb for about 90% of the owners.  You live in suburbia, you go to blan job about 10 miles away… seriously, you don’t need an SUV.  I have a friend that yells at people in their SUVs when he’s driving.  I agree!!!!

So now that I have seen my first gas price sign that says 4.099 for super duper gas, and because my boyfriend has braved the biking to and from our apartments (probably 7ish miles) and figured out it takes about 40-50 minutes, I’m making this statement (and hope that I have the spine to stick to it)

$4.00 a gallon for unleaded and I swear on my life (and death because I’m really out of shape and anything I do is like 5-7 miles away from me) that I will bike to most places: i.e. work and church and stuff.  because I don’t want to “afford” $4 for 87 gas.  and I don’t want to budget for it because it’s out of control and I’m going to stop supporting Gasoline.

I won’t necessarily agree that the prices are out of control and need to be lowered. there could be a strong argument for that because its the fuel we use for everything in our Global market.  But I say it’s out of control because it’s a substance, a fuel that we’re dependent on.  and in this global supply and demand chain that’s what we get when things go crazy, higher prices.  So in leu of the commanlity of alternative energies (yes plural on purpose) I’m going to make my own alternative energy when my spending on gas is toooo much.

So, $4 for the low grade stuff and I’m off to saddle sore land!!!

Thank God for sisters, no?

My sister put me onto this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/dining/25loca.html?ex=1335153600&en=a7fce62f62a607bd&ei=5124&partner=facebook&exprod=facebook

Barbra Kingsolver has a new book coming out.  it’s all about eating locally and things of that nature.  In my humble opinion if you can combine eating locally with eating organic a) you have lots of money and b) you’re really helping out a lot.  you’re helping your diet, you’re helping the earth, you’re helping the local economy and much more.

Check out the book.  Joan Dye Gussow’s -This Organic Life is also really similar to this topic.  a great read indeed.

So I don’t write here much.  Life’s pretty sumin’ at this point.  I just finished gobbling up Barbra Kingsolver’s book Prodigal Summer.  Best book every.

I want to be those two women.  It’s a great book.  One thing it totally made me think about was the fact that as humans we don’t think about personal responsibility.  This goes WAY beyond nature.  there’s the whole cause and effect thing and life cycles are DEPENDENT on each other.

It’s crazy how as humans we’ve separated ourselves from this.  I argue that technology is really something that has a big hand in this.  I was thinking about technology really gives us as humans the opportunity to be individual and do tasks individually.  We have to rely less and less on other people, other people’s skills and subsequently (however indirectly) less on the earth.  I mean if you go to a grocery store - you’re not really connected to the food as in where it came from, what was used on it as far as pesticides, how long it had; as a crop; grown in that field, what the condition of the soil was let alone the condition of the farmer, the farmer’s life, the farmer’s house, his finances and his opportunities.   We’re completely separated from that.  And we also don’t know what that single farm is doing to the ecosystem around it.  I’m a vegetarian.  I’ve heard people say (and i think it’s really cool) that if you’re going to eat the meat, you should at least be comfortable with where it came from and that whole process.

But this part of the book really sums it up for me.  “Her body moved with the frankness that comes from solitary habits.  But solitude is only a human presumption.  Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life underfoot, a tug of impalpable thread on the web pulling mate to mate and predator to prey, a beginning or an end.  Every choice is a world made new for the chosen.  All secrets are witnessed.”  (adapted from the first and last page of the book.)  Every life has an effect on an entire chain of life cycles and ecosystems.  I thought of this when I killed a fruit fly on my parents counter.   I wondered what predator was absent that made fruit flies so prevalent.   Now, that’s a ridiculous case.  But it’s true - if you kill off the predators with the prey, the prey will out number the predators.

But on a completely other note - there’s women in this book.  and this women blow my mind.  They exude the strong solid quite grounded woman that I COMPLETELY fail to see very much in Christianity.   There are the soft plush women that make great mothers and great christians.  But i don’t see the solid grounded women that can stand in any wind and make great christians.  I can think of 1.  (i thought of 2 but then was reminded of the odd patriarchy that enforced a severe courting ritual with their daughters for the second one.)  This is the cool woman that just exudes confidence, joy, peace and approachability.  Someone that’s not a control freak but is utterly in control of everything around them.  Someone with drive, with ideas, with passions but has the peace about her that her existence doesn’t depend on these ideas.  Someone that is competent and strong, who can do any task that a man can do - and she does it silently, unconsciously, and beautifully.   No one draws attention to it, its as if you don’t even notice it as odd, it just happens.   This is the old woman with the long beautiful grey hair.  it’s not but that’s what I think.

I want to be her.

where are the christian women role models who are like Barbra Kingsolver, Joan Gussow, and the characters in Prodigal Summer?  Are we meant to become the soft squishy women that will open their arms to all the orphans and love them?  or can we be the solid confident women that stand in the face of injustice and fight for better, even if it’s silently.

So okay.  I’m a dreamer.  I won’t argue that by any stretch.  I get cool ideas in my head and really think that I could do it.  reality comes by and either nods or throws me to the curb.  So i dream lots of crazy dreams, little dreams, good dreams and shitty dreams.  It’s my cycle, it’s what i do.

And i would also like to say that I grew up in middle class, two car, private school, dance and music lessons life style.  I grew up in suburbia where we drove all over the place.  most of my childhood was spent in a car.  It’s ingrained in me.  And as a dreamer, i’m not going to be crazy enough to think i can choose to completely leave everything i’ve grown up knowing and embracing a completely new lifestyle.  I know that somethings will stay with me and i know that i can change a lot more than i think.  balance you know?  it’s a good thing.

But i have dreams of lifestyle changes i would loooooooooooooove to implament 6 months ago.  I want to use my car less.  Very less.  like a weekend car.   Now, realistically i live in Rochester, NY and we get biking weather about 3-6 months out of the year (being optimistic of course)       granted, i currently live still in suburbia with my parents.  and the job i hold (for the next week-ish) requires the ability to drive more than just work and back.  So realistically it wasn’t very realistic to cancel out the use of the auto at that moment.  obviously-ish.   but a job change is happening.  I’m looking for a job in the city.  and hopefully one day in the far off unrealistic future i’ll own a home in the city.  once these two paths cross, the world will explode and i will venture out biking to work.

in an ideal world, as i said, i would live in the city, work in the city, and use my car to venture out shopping, or to my parents in suburbia.  the area i’m looking to live would actually allow me to bike to church too.  *awesome!!!*  And i fully understand biking to work (a professional job with a dress code) could be tricky, but it’s called plastic bags, and a change of clothing.  and sweat, who cares about sweat ;)  but there are many people who bike to work and deal with that.  another thing is weather.  weather is an issue.  Jimmy said that as long as you don’t stop, biking in the winter is fine.  HA!  but that’s what public transportation is for.  lowering the use of a vehicle, partaking in what is provided, and being conscious.   My mother said something about how there’s a cyclist she sees on her way to work when she drives and she feels that it’s severely unsafe and annoying… i don’t know how she worded it, it just made it seem like it was inconvenient for her and made her feel nervous driving.    obviously, if i were to bike at night i would purchase proper equipment to light myself up so i am visible.

I dunno, i feel discouraged..  just because i feel that they think i’m crazy, i’m still striving for this dream though.  kiss my tushy.

So… I’ve been hanging out, listening, engaging, watching, remembering, thinking and intaking. you bet i’m pretty busy and attentive… well no. It’s all been by accident and on the sly.

Actually, so i’ve met some really cool people. And they’re connected to really cool people, and things, and knowledge. I won’t bore you with the details, it’s an interesting chain of connections but, they are all real neat, environmental etc. people.
Through them, I’ve found out that Rochester actually has a housing co-op. Ant-hill co-op. It’s real new and young, but really cool that we have one in Rochester. Apparently Madison, Wisconson has a ton of co-ops. One of the people I met is from Wisconson and is connected with Ant Hill.. that’s how i know.
*now personally, co-op -the word- reminds me of RIT’s version of internships, or my mom told me of how some neighborhoods or groups of people would grocery shop all together and then split it up….*
My first naive connection, in my brain, when i heard of this co-op was to think/associate it with the idea of a commune, also another really old word. But it’s all the same general idea… a bunch of people living in community with eachother, sharing groceries, taking care of a garden and other various “quasi-public” events. Which is really cool.
This is really chopy. Anyways, it’s really interesting to me, the whole concept of simple living. This, I believe, comes largely from the environmental side and sustainable living stuff. It’s very cool. It actually connects with the New Urbanism indirectly but it makes sense in my head. But it’s interesting and cool that a bunch of people will get together and choose to share food, shop somewhat organically, live simply, share in the chores of a house, take care of a garden try to do a lot of stuff with the garden, bike places instead of drive and create this community/culture by living together. Soo cool, really neat. I hope it works and lasts.

But another thing that happened was, while hanging out with these really cool, inspiring people, that we were hanging out in the South Wegde in Rochester NY. What’s really really cool is that in the south wedge, they’ve been working for a long time to get an organic, whole foods market in that area. Like a locally owned grocery store. Because when you think about it, the closest grocery stores to the south wedge is either in henrietta, Gates, way east on East ave or Abundance up on Monroe Ave.

I mentioned the grocery store that’s happening over in Syracuse, in the city proper… I almost peed my pants with joy when i found out about this new one in Rochester… I think the sign said it was South Wedge Grocery… maybe. and I never knew about Abundance, so that makes it really neat that there are 2 cool grocery stores in the city of Rochester. They may not meet the needs of all diet types, but it’s really cool.

I don’t know how long any of this is going to last. Who will survive the torment of the ciy, wegmans sure pulled out of Rochester, excpet their East Ave store right on the east edge of the ciy. (dont’ get me wrong, i worshipped wegmans while apart from the northeast at college) We just need to have more faith in the city. Another thing, there’s another coffee shop (yay, whoopy) but that means that it’s better than some lower end fashion shop, bad bars (i’ve not been, can’t really pass judgement) and low end convinent stores. it’s a coffee shop!! a place for the neighborhood, for the community to hang out, a place to go. a destination. A destination. a destination for community. that’s all we ever want.

*bows* thanks for enduring this rambling, disjointed, hopeful joy.

So as previously stated.  I was in college.  now i’m not.  I’m a contractor, handyman, remodler, whatever you want to call it.  I prefer home renovations.  I work on people’s homes, whether patching and fixing old houses, or adding new stuff.  It’s fun work.  I enjoy it, i work with my hands, i’m a visual learning, i love houses.  It’s a pretty neat job. 

as i mentioned previously, also, I just finished reading Home from Nowhere by james howard kunstler.  great book, great author, he’s honest and a great writer.  some of the things he wrote were so dry, sarcastic and hilarious.  great reading.  What i’m doing now fits in with this topic of “new urbanism” as one chunk of what he wrote about is called.  i like buildings and am currently working in them, so it works great.  but i’m also an enviornmentalist (sort of)…  So my job now, currently, somewhat conflicts with what i feel about cars.  for example, refer to the map that is posted.      That’s how much we drove today.  not cool at all.  seriuosly.   Now granted, that’s just because it was a monday.  I agree with and am trying to see how we can limit the use of cars, regardless of whether it’s causeing global warming, it’s adding to it and we have something tangible that we can do to help reduce global warming. 

So i stand there and look at what i do for a living, drive all over town in a big ol’ diseal unicell truck.  seriously?!?!?!

So we’ll see how this resolves in my head later.  I hope this is coherent thoughts.

So my soap box has only been built recently. I took a Senior Seminar at my college, obviously, my senior semester. (from now on it shall be refered to as that. It was a semester, no reason to call it my senior year.)

The senior Sem class was called God Earth and Ethics. The thing that most seniors do is pick the seminar that is closest to their field of study (some science, theater, lit, computer, sports, religion or some combination of them all) They’re broad and sometimes a really bad selection. I like the earth better than theater and would never want to see the reading list for the Lit seminar so I picked God, Earth and Ethics. This class is taught by the resident “Enviornmental Ethicist” on campus. Professor BP. He’s got a thick black beard, young but leathery skin, and a dark mop of somewhat trimmed hair. He used to have way big, old, out of style glasses. But those have been replaced by much less obtrusive frames.

This class opened my eyes to the relationship we as humans, and as christians, have with the earth we walk upon. After I figuratively pulled the cotton out of my brain and myself out of the educational (or was it the self cente..) haze of the past like 15 years I remembered all the anual camping trips i took with my family, the things i would amuze myself with as a small child (diggins a small dam with sticks in the roots of my climbing tree), and said (Besides the fact that this is a way ugly run-on) That I liked nature. I liked climbing trees, and the more general and specific things trees stood for. I like the green, brown, and white seasons i experienced and that I really would rather hang out with people in a forest, lake and field than any building you could ever build (As long as my suburban upper middle class ass could be spared the bugs, sunburn and other bothersome parts of nature)

the class was an interesting look at the earth, what our place was in it and relationally to it, what was our ethical responsibility and duty as humans, as christians and the superior human beings we are. It opened my eyes, blew my mind and made me passionate about something for the first time in college (besides advertisments, masculine and femine roles in the media, and the suckiness of the big 6 media corporations. I was a communication major afterall.) But I actually cared about this stuff. I care about what happens to the world around us, and the future of that world around us for generations to come. I think we as a whole do our part to completely screw the world, but we also do our part to really think about it and care for it. We just don’t think about the future, like after-we’ve-fully-decomposed-in-the-ground-future.

So then, i went out and graduated. But i’ve got this twitch in my bonnett and i’m going to go back and read fully the books from that class.

My sculpture prof. from this same school recommended a book back my sophmore year and I read that one too. And i was soo on board. It was about re-thinking the way we make things. so it’s actually changing the ingredients and/or the process to make things. So that we can truely recycle things, and we can have less trash and create less pollution. And we can make our buildings a lot more eco-friendly. The coolest part was they focused on the balance of ecology, economy and some other e-word. It was great.

and then My friend at church turned me onto an author who is all about urban planning and the direction our architecture has gone and our cities and suburbia and the use of cars as our culture etc. etc. etc. Indirectly this has to do with the enviornmental high/passion I have becuase I really like buidlings, old buidlings and old things. old furniature, old history etc. So i’ve been reading and following these books.

___________________________________________________

So here’s the book list:

Small Wonder - Barbra Kingsolver (great writer, amazing book)
Earth in Mind - David Orr
Enough - Bill McKibben
For the Beauty of the Earth - Steven Bouma-Prediger
Sex, Economy, and Community - Wendell Berry

Cradle to Cradle - William McDonough, Michael Braugart (great book, it’s plasitc, sooo cool)

The Geography of Nowhere - James Howard Kunstler (i gleened 23 book titles from the appendix that I am reading. some are just architectural, some are more “new urbanism” but mainly more historical)
Home from Nowhere - James Howard Kunstler (I gleend like 10 books from the citations throughout the book that i am excited to read, these are more New Urbanism focused)

And then more of just a cool look at the christian faith is
Blue Like Jazz -Donald Miller (i want to read his second book Searching for God Knows What)
And a curious look at the force,history and direction of Technology is

The world is Flat - Thomas Friedman (i’m in the process of finishing this one)