Rebellion on Two Wheels

Riding Bikes in February

2010-02-19T06:38:00.000-08:00

This week, Maine is seeing yet another heat wave with temperatures inching up to the mid-40s by tomorrow. What this means is that many cyclists are pumping up our tires and riding our bikes. Yes, there is still snow on the ground, but we are out there.

Yesterday, I rode 25 miles with my partner and it was SO much more rewarding than the spin classes that have sustained my cycling mojo for the last few months. And were far from the only ones. I heard cyclist sightings in Skowhegan and Oakland, and this weekend there will be a group ride out of Vassalboro. We are on the move, and much earlier than any of us expected (thank you El Niño!).

Unfortunately, more cyclists on the roads earlier than Mainers are used to seeing us means that cars aren't behaving as well as they are used to. On our way out to West River Road (Rt. 104), a car had the nerve to honk at us for not riding in the debris-filled shoulder on Elm Street. A few minutes later, the driver grudgingly apologized for honking, then said, "aren't you supposed to ride within 5 feet of the curb?"

My partner responded, "In this state, and many others, cyclists may take up to an entire lane, and cars are supposed to give us a 3 feet buffer."

The driver responded, "well in Virginia, where I'm from, bikes have no rights. It's open season on them."

I said, "Maine is one of the best cycling states in the country."

And then he said something I couldn't believe: "Maine should be more like Virginia and force cyclists to take more responsibility if there's an accident."

I curtly said, "You have a right to your opinion," and rode away. I should have said, "then you should go back to Virginia," but I thought better of it.

I've heard stories like this, especially about Virginia and West Virginia. Cyclists are a hunted species and they have no legal protections on the road. Lovely. I let the guy's comments go and continued on my ride, but I'm hoping that's the last of the hostilities for a few weeks. It's too early in the season to be scared while riding my bike.

Cycling in Cold Weather: An Admission

2009-12-10T12:27:00.000-08:00

Those who know me best are all too aware of how important cycling is to me. Living in a cold climate with dramatic shifts in weather presents me with quite the challenge. Over the course of the last two months, I have learned a few important things about myself that make the prospect of cycling in freezing weather very unlikely.

Example 1: Just over a month ago, I hit the big brick wall of my cold weather cycling tolerance. When I left my house, the temperature was 30 degrees fahrenheit (just a tad below freezing). I was wearing 3 layers on the top, long fingered gloves, a wool snow cap, and long cycling pants. My cycling route was short (just over 2 miles), but it was mostly uphill. Climbs and layers aside, I arrived at my destination with slight hypothermia. I couldn't feel my hands for a good 20 minutes after I was inside, and I spent the rest of the day feeling cold and intensely hungry. Unpleasant doesn't even begin to cover it.
Lesson 1: when riding in weather below 40 degrees, a wind vest is mandatory. It turns out that layers just won't cut it when you are moving faster than 10 miles per hour.

Example 2: Whenever I ride when the temperature is between 40 and 45 degrees, I feel warm enough with layers and long fingered gloves. The persistent headaches, however, are completely new. It turns out that the enamel on my teeth is not as strong as it used to be and cold air against them is causing headaches.
Lesson 2: Either my sinuses need to be clear enough to allow me to ride with my mouth closed or I need to invest in some sort of riding scarf.

::sigh:: None of these changes are fun to contemplate. There is hope, however. Just last week we had a day when the temperature was a 50 degrees. You better believe I rode for the 8 hours or so when we had sunlight.

Confessions of a Californian in Maine

2009-11-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

So we lost. And there will be much hand-wringing about the gay rights groups like HRC and NGLTF who poured in amazing organizing resources into the campaign. I have no complaints. As someone involved in the fights against Prop 8 and Maine's Question 1, I can tell you there is no comparison between the two elections aside from the slow, creeping feeling that we lost around midnight after ballots came in. We had a smarter campaign, but it wasn't enough to change people's minds against hate.

There was no complacency among equality supporters: everyone knew the entire time that the vote was going to be stupidly close (news flash: 5 percent is close). And we would have been perfectly happy winning by one vote. Protect Maine Equality (No on 1) made a point of incorporating actual gay people in their television ads (a complete revolution, from my perspective) and keeping their message positive: take a stand, support equality, don't discriminate. Stand for Marriage Maine (Yes on 1) was sneaky and ended up angering many of their supporters, including large numbers of devoted Catholics, who expressed non-stop disappointment in their campaign. For many of them, what they understood to be a virtuous message – maintain traditional marriage as the Church sees it – ended up being quite hate-driven. In those frequent open discussions with people of faith who supported the measure, these Yes on 1 supporters confessed that they wished their church were not involved because it sullied their message of faith. It ended up galvanizing many Catholics to support No on 1. Wow! This was nothing like what happened in California with the LDS.

One thing I do know is that the analysts attempting to explain why a relatively secular and libertarian state went against gay marriage do not really understand Maine. Nate Silver thinks that the vote came down to an urban-rural divide. Queerty blames the ubiquitous "soccer moms." Those theories, while catchy, only partially explains it. Two larger urban areas – Lewiston and Augusta - voted yes by large margins and many rural towns and small coastal islands voted no. After some analysis, I think it's more indicative of the huge cultural differences between southern and northern Maine. If you look at a map, most tourists never go north of Augusta, let alone Waterville, where I live. The rest of the state is huge. Once you get north of Bangor, you run out of coastline. The towns up there are extremely quaint and traditional. Many of the people who live in the north have never been south of Bangor let alone outside of the state and have no desire to leave. While they may be regular church-goers, religion is not the driving force of their lives. Yet, from what I understand, they have no desire to change. One of the full-time volunteers for the campaign described anti-gay harassment in one of those towns on par with levels that I haven't heard about for 15 years. This is the part of Maine where even if you have lived there your entire life since you were 2 years old, you are not a real Mainer and are thus "from away." It is nothing like the Maine that most visitors to Portland, Freeport and the Boothbay harbor experience.

And then there is the question of the ads. In the last week of the campaign, the Yes on 1 side released ads that basically gave people who were borderline supporters of marriage equality an easy out. The message said, in essence, "voting Yes doesn't mean you hate gay people and want to deny them their happiness; it just means you want to keep marriage 'traditional.' We can extend domestic partnership rights later. Vote Yes now." This, coupled with the classic "what about the children" ads gave anyone with creeping discomfort about gay people an excuse to tell a portion of their society that they are not worthy. According to what I heard, the group of people who were most moved by the last round of ads were non-republican women – a designation far more liberal than "soccer moms."

As someone who got married in California when I could, marriage rights represent the brass ring, something the movement should build up to. Unfortunately, I don't think we've done a good job building up the rest of the basic human rights, like being able to work where you want (hello, armed forces?) and protection against housing discrimination based on gender presentation. And while we are at it, what about accepting and promoting the more radical elements of queer people. If that is what comes from this most recent setback, then it isn't a setback at all.

Thoughts on Urban v. Rural, pt. 1

2009-10-09T05:19:00.000-07:00

I have the rare opportunity to be teaching a course that thinks about musical cultures through the lens of urban studies. Doing this in a place so remarkably not urban forces me to consider what it all means. Thus, I have decided to write a series of posts contemplating how music from urban centers considers the rural and vice versa. We'll see what this turns up. Thus I present: a blog post in bullet points on rural v. urban academia.

• I've been reading many academic discussions of world/global cities and their role in globalization. Theorists like Saskia Sassen contend that urban centers like New York, London and Tokyo are the main conduits of globalization to such an extent that nation-states are no longer dominant. Fun stuff! It's strange to be thinking so strongly about such megalopoli while living in a rural part of the country. It's even stranger to be discussing different genres of music that romanticize rural life but are, in essence, city born. I'm thinking of the folk music revival of the 1950s and '60s in NYC, the university Forró craze in São Paulo, and the modern mariachi sound from Mexico D.F. This doesn't even begin to approach the hybrid genres that accompany these revivalist movements or transnational transformations of folk genres (like cumbia)... What is it about urbanity in the americas that promotes such romanticizations and reinventions? The easy answer might be the legacy of 19th century nationalism with its idealizations of the land. My instincts tell me that it is probably more complicated. Many of these genres also have to do with social class and sometimes persons celebrating the working class from a position of power leads to gross generalizations and vulgarizations. Think of what John Wayne pictures did to generalize the "American Frontier." Thomas Turino contends that urban, middle class appropriations of rural folk music has to do with a lack of participatory music making (see his Music as Social Life) and a larger lack of marked culture. My mind is spinning...

• On a related note, many of my colleagues commute close to 4 hours a day just so that they can live in a reasonably-sized city and work in the country. Other colleagues commute from central Maine to NYC and even Washington D.C. every weekend. They love their urban lifestyles and their research so much that they will do anything they can to stay connected to it. This seems to me to be the polar opposite of the economic factors that drove urban growth during the last 150 years where people migrated from rural to urban spaces for work. But for this particular group of academics, urbanity is such an integral part of their lifestyles that they go through great lengths to maintain it. I would be traveling with them if I had the time to spare and the money to do it. Alas, I do not and I am getting used to life here in central Maine. Odd that.

• Many of my students have great difficulty imagining urban life that isn't like Boston or New York. As a southern California native I feel like I am at a distinct advantage for understanding the newer geographic formations born in Los Angeles that serve as the template for global megacities (a la Soja and Mike Davis). For the first time in my life, I am thankful that I resided in LA for 10 years and not elsewhere. It really does help when I try to explain why people in these global centers would rather stay home than sit through hours of traffic...

On a related note, I miss good cycling weather.

Planning to Cycle the Rural New England Winter

2009-09-10T05:24:00.000-07:00

My summer cycling in Maine was nearly ruined by the wettest July and August in recent memory. Of course I got out, but my weekly miles are considerably lower than I would like them to be. In the coming weeks, I'm going to start saving money to buy the necessary gear to equip my bike for commuting in inclement weather. Already the temperature is dropping in the mornings and evenings. Thus, here is the beginning of my planning for cycling on ice and snow!

Studded tires or inverted fat tires: according to most sources, studded tires are necessary when roads become icy. According to NOA, New England's winter is supposed to "mild" while the Farmer's Almanac predicts painfully cold months ahead. Which wins? What is the happy medium between the two winter tire options?

Mud flaps: kind of a no brainer. My cross-bike is practically designed to handle fenders and rain-friendly alterations.

Base layers: think of these as thermal layers for cyclists.

Lubricants: if it gets so cold that my chain freezes up, what do I do? I've heard recommendations for teflon, to sub zero oil based lubricants. I must admit that I'm at a loss when it comes to this one.

Lighting System: My cateye lights just won't do once I'm cycling in rural Maine after I teach. I've currently got my eye on a generator lighting system that powers itself as you pedal.

Any suggestions?

Syllabus - Music and the Global Metropolis

2009-08-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

This fall semester, I will be teaching a course at Colby College entitled "Music and the Global Metropolis." I thought it might be fun and productive to post the syllabus minus audio examples on Musicology / Matters and here, for commentary and public use. So please, feel free to use the syllabus as you like!

Music 197 A: Music and the Global Metropolis

________

Professor:
Kariann E. Goldschmitt
Lorimer Chapel 001

Lecture:
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
1:00PM – 2:15PM
150 Bixler Art and Music Center

Office Hours:
Wednesdays
10:30AM–12:30PM

Required Texts:
Thomas Turino, Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008).
Mike Davis, Planet of Slums (New York: Verso, 2007).

Readings on Reserve in Bixler Library:
e-Reserves (ER)
Bixler Reserves (BR)

Course Description:

Metropolises bring together diverse groups of people in concentrated locations all over the world. Despite the dangers that these cities represent (violence, crime, and poverty), they also produce an astounding variety of musical innovations. This course is an exploration of the meetings of disparate musical cultures in major metropolises of the world. Throughout the semester, we will study six different major cities (New York, Mexico City, São Paulo, Paris, Tokyo, and Mumbai), the major musical developments to come from them, and the cultural conflicts and celebrations that emerge in contemporary urban life. We will discuss styles such as hip hop, punk, reggaeton, mariachi, nor-tec, dancehall, roots music, samba, j-pop, shibuya ke’i, karaoke, bhangra, filmi, “world music,” and electronic dance music, and how they relate to the urban environments where they were developed and where they continue to thrive.

Throughout the course, the professor will bring audio, visual and participatory examples that relate to the reading. Students are encouraged to do the same so long as they email the professor in advance.

Students will become familiar with the critical issues at stake to these musical communities through a variety of course readings, writing assignments, exams and the development of term paper. Class objectives include:

· increasing basic understanding of the relationship of music and geography;
· developing of critical reading and listening skills;
· understanding the diversity of musical practices in different places in the world;
· appreciating music as a site of conflict and celebration in present day urban policy;
· the development and revision of an original term-paper that meets the academic requirements of the course.

Course Expectations:

o Students are expected to do all reading for the course and have questions and comments prepared before class convenes. The easiest way to succeed is to take note of questions that arise as you engage with course materials and bring those concerns to class meetings.
o Students are expected to keep up with the listening on a regular basis. The musical examples for this course will be available through links on the course website (under “A/V examples”), often in the form of YouTube videos and streaming audio.
o All students with documented disabilities will be given special dispensations if they so require them. Please notify me during the first sessions of class.
o I am happy to answer questions and chat with you about your thoughts and ideas about this class. Please feel free to visit me during Office Hours. I am also available by appointment via email, text or phone and I maintain an open door policy with all students.

Grading and Assignments:

I. There will be two exams in this course: a midterm (worth 15% of your final grade) and a final (worth 20% of your final grade).
II. There will be three short written assignments designed to help you work through recurring issues in the course and help you develop your term paper: one reading response (1-2 pages in length) worth 5%, one listening response related to your term paper (2-3 pages) worth 5%, and a final paper proposal outlining your repertoire / locale of choice, your line of inquiry, and how it relates to the class (10%). I will discuss the details of writing assignments throughout the term. Keep copies of all papers in the case my copy goes astray. Late papers result in a grade deduction of one-third a grade every day they are late.
III. There will be one term paper (7-10 pages), worth 25% of your final grade. You must show evidence of incorporating the professor’s comments on your writing assignments into the final paper to get a good grade.
IV. Due to privacy, I only discuss grades in person. Please make an appointment or visit my office hours if you wish to inquire about your performance.

Grading Breakdown:

15% Midterm Exam
20% Final Exam
20% Writing Assignments
25% Term Paper
20% Participation

Schedule of Class Meetings

Unit 1: Conceptual Foundations to Music and Urban Geography

[Music] / [Global] / [Metropolis]

• Wk 1: September 9 Introduction to Music and Globalization
Bohlman, Philip V. “Colonial Musics, Post-colonial Worlds, and the Globalization of World Music.” In World Music: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. ER
Turino, Thomas. “Introduction: Why Music Matters.” In Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.

• Wk 1: September 11 Urban Studies and Musical Participation
Davis, Mike. “Urban Climactic.” In Planet of Slums. New York: Verso, 2007.
Turino, Thomas. “Participatory and Presentational Performance.” In Music as Social Life.

Urban Geography, Community, and Divisions

• Wk 2: September 14 Musical Communities and Music as Culture
Turino, Thomas. “Habits of the Self, Identity, and Culture .” In Music as Social Life.

• Wk 2: September 16 Music Technology and Urbanism
Krims, Adam. “Introduction.” In Music and Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2007. ER
Turino, Thomas. “The Recording Fields: High Fidelity and Studio Audio Art.” In Music as Social Life.

• Wk 2: September 18 Cultural Impact of Post-Fordism and Urban Renewal
Davis, Mike. “The Prevalence of Slums.” In Planet of Slums.
OPTIONAL
Abrahamson, Mark. “Introduction, Background, and Preview.” In Global Cities. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. ER

Unit 2: New York City, United States

The Five Boroughs and the ’70s and early ’80s: Hip Hop, Punk, and Club Culture

• Wk 3: September 21 Downtown to Uptown: The Development and Spread of Disco
Lawrence, Tim. “Pollination: The Rise of the Downtown Party Network.” In Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. ER
OPTIONAL
Lawrence, Tim. “Recognition: The Crystallization of a Sound.” In Love Saves the Day. ER

• Wk 3: September 23 Urban Grit and Noise: Punk and DIY
Polk O’Meara, Caroline. “The Bush Tetras, ‘Too Many Creeps,’ and New York City.” American Music 25 (2007): 193-215. ER

• Wk 3: September 25 Hip-Hop and the Bronx
** Writing Assignment 1: Reading Response Due in Class (5% of Final Grade)
Chang, Jeff. “Necropolis: The Bronx and the Politics of Abandonment.” In Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005. ER

The City, Migration, and Mobility

• September 28 No Class – Yom Kippur

• Wk 4 TBA Latinos and Música Negra I: Nuyorican Soul and Salsa
Knights, Vanessa. “Nostalgia and the Negotiation of Dislocated Identities : Puerto Rican Boleros in New York and Nuyorican Poetry.” In Postnational Musical Identities: Cultural Production, Distribution and Consumption in a Globalized Scenario. Edited Ignácio Corona and Alejandro L. Madrid. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007. ER
OPTIONAL
García, David F. “Embodying Music / Disciplining Dance: The Mambo Body in Havana and New York City.” In Ballroom, Boogie, Shimmy Sham, Shake: A Social and Popular Dance Reader. Edited by Julie Malnig. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009. ER

• Wk 4: September 30 Latinos and Música Negra II: Reggaetón
Marshall, Wayne. “Dem Bow, Dembow, Dembo: Translation and Transnation in Reggaeton.” Lied und populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture: Jahrbuch des Deutschen Volksliedarchivs 53 (2008): 131-51. ER
OPTIONAL
Marshall, Wayne. “From Música Negra to Reggaeton Latino: The Cultural Politics of Nation, Migration, and Commercialization.” In Reggaeton. Edited by Raquel Z. Rivera, Wayne Marshall, and Deborah Pacini Hernandez. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009. BR

• Wk 4: October 2 Urban Folk Music and Class Mobility
Turino, Thomas. “Old Time Music and Dance.” In Music as Social Life: the Politics of Participation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Unit 3: Mexico City: The Biggest City in the Western Hemisphere

Intranational Musical Genres: Mariachi and Cumbia

• Wk 5: October 5 Mexico City and the World
Davis, Mike. “Treason of the State” and “SAPing the Third World.” In Planet of Slums.

• Wk 5: October 7 Cultural Industry and Mariachi
Sheehy, Daniel E. “Mexico.” In Handbook of Latin American Music. 2d Edition. Edited by Dale A. Olson and Daniel E. Sheehy. New York: Routledge, 2007. ER

• Wk 5: October 9 Transnational Hybrids: Cumbia and Tecno-Cumbia
** Writing Assignment 2, Listening Response Due in Class (5% of Final Grade)
García Canclini, Néstor. “Mexico: Cultural Globalization in a Disintegrating City.” American Ethnologist 22 (November 1995): 743-755. ER

Transnational Music of Mexico: Rock en Español, Nor-tec, World Music of Mexico

• Wk 6: October 12 No Class for Fall Break

• Wk 6: October 14 Rock en Español and Border Music
Kun, Josh. “Rock's Reconquista.” In Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. ER
Dillon, Hope. "Café Tacuba: Forging a New Mexican Identity." Journal of American Culture 20 (1997): 75-83 ER

• Wk 6: October 16 Mexican World Music
Gonzales Aktories, Susana. “Lila Downs: The Voice of a Butterfly.” Lied und Populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture: Jahrbuch des Deutschen Volksliedarchivs 53 (2008): 153-166. ER

Unit 4: São Paulo, Brazil: Urban Jungle and Folk Music Revivalism

A City of Division and Peripheries
• Wk 7: October 19 São Paulo and Spatial Segregation
Caldeira, Teresa P.R. “São Paulo: Three Patterns of Spatial Segregation.” In City of Walls: Crime, Segregation and Citizenship in São Paulo. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. ER
Davis, Mike. “Illusions of Self-Help.” In Planet of Slums.

• Wk 7: October 21 Developmentalism and Regional Folk Music Reinvention
Davis, Mike. “Haussman in the Tropics.” In Planet of Slums.
OPTIONAL
Caldeira, Teresa P.R. “The Increase in Violence.” In City of Walls: Crime, Segregation and Citizenship in São Paulo. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. BR

• Wk 7: October 23 Drum ‘n’ Bass in the São Paulo Periphery
Fontanari, Ivan Paulo de Paris. “Globalizing the Periphery: Transnational Extensions and Local Tensions in an Global/Underground Music Scene in Brazil.” Echo: A Music-Centered Journal 8 (Fall 2006). ER

Immigration and Transnational Identification

• Wk 8: October 26 Brazilian Cultural Capital
Ortiz, Renato. “Legitimacy and Life-Style.” In Latin American Cultural Studies Reader (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004), 474-497. ER

• Wk 8: October 28 Regional and Folk Music and Cannibalist Aesthetics
Olson, Dale A. “Music of Immigrant Groups.” In Handbook of Latin American Music. 2d Edition. Edited by Dale A. Olson and Daniel E. Sheehy. New York: Routledge, 2007. BR

• Wk 8: October 30 Brazilian Hip-Hop
** Term Paper Proposal Due in Class (10 percent of Final Grade) **
Pardue, Derek. “Hip Hop as Pedagogy: A Look into ‘Heaven’ and ‘Soul’ in São Paulo, Brazil,” Anthropological Quarterly 80 (2007): 673-709. ER

Unit 5 Paris, France as Cosmopolis

Chanson, Parisian Electronic Dance Music and Hip-Hop
• Wk 9: November 1 Parisian Chanson and the Legacy of Colonialism
Looseley, David L. “Chanson as National Myth: The Authenticity Debate.” In Popular Music in Contemporary France: Authenticity, Politics, Debate. New York: Berg, 2003. ER

• Wk 9: November 3 Parisian Hip-Hop and Electronic Dance Music
Hawkins, Peter. “MC Solaar: A Gardiner of Words.” Chanson: The French Singer-Songwriter From Aristide Bruant to the Present Day. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000. ER
Prévos, André J. M. “Postcolonial Popular Music in France: Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture in the 1980s and 1990s.” In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA. Edited by Tony Mitchell. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2002. BR

• Wk 9: November 5 Midterm Exam (15 percent of Final Grade)

Unit 6 Mumbai, India

Film Music Producer

• Wk 10: November 9 Mumbai as Cultural Producer
Davis, Mike. “Slum Ecology.” In Planet of Slums..
Neuwirth, Robert. “Mumbai: Squatter Class Structure.” In Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World. New York: Routledge, 2006. ER

• Wk 10: November 11 History of Bollywood and Film Music
Sen, Biswarup. “The Sounds of Modernity: The Evolution of Bollywood Film Song.” In Global Bollywood : Travels of Hindi Song and Dance. Edited by Sangita Gopal, Sujata Moorti. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008. ER

• Wk 10: TBA Contemporary Bollywood and NRI Culture

North Indian Classical Music, Light Classical and Popular Music

• Wk 11: November 16 Bollywood and Classical Music
Booth, Greg. “Pandits in the Movies: Contesting the Identity of Hindustani Classical Music and Musicians in the Hindi Popular Cinema.” Asian Music (2005): 60-86. ER

• Wk 11: November 18 Non-Cinematic Popular Music in India
Manuel, Peter. “Popular Music in India: 1901-1986.” Popular Music 7 (1988): 157-176. ER

• Wk 11: November 20 No Class!

• Wk 12: November 23 Light Classical Music
** Term Papers (25 percent of Final Grade) Due!
Manuel, Peter. “Cassettes and the Modern Ghazal.” In Cassette Culture: Popular Music and Technology in North India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. ER

Unit 7 Tokyo, Japan: The "Postmodern" City

Post World War II Development, J-Pop, Karaoke, Shibuya Ke’i

• Wk 13: November 30 Tokyo Post-WWII
Atkins, E. Taylor. “Bop, Funk, Junk, and That Old Democracy Boogie: The Jazz Tribes of Postwar Japan.” In Blue Nippon: Authenticating Jazz in Japan. Durham: Duke University Press, 2001. BR

• Wk 13: December 2 Contemporary Tokyo, J-Pop and Karaoke
Shimatachi, Hiro R. “A Karaoke Perspective on International Relations.” In Japan Pop! Inside the World of Japanese Pop Culture. Edited by Timothy J. Craig. 2000. ER

• Wk 13: December 4 J-Pop and Shebuya Ke’i
Toth, Csabah. “J-Pop and Performances of Young Female Identity.” Young 16 (2008): 111-129. ER

Hip Hop, Video Game Music, and Cosplay

• Wk 14: December 7 Japanese Hip-Hop
Condry, Ian. “A History of Japanese Hip Hop: Street Dance, Club Scene, Pop Market.” In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA. Edited by Tony Mitchell. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2002. ER
OPTIONAL
Condry, Ian. Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization. Durham: Duke University Press, 2006. BR

• Wk 14: December 9 Contemporary Japanese Popular Music
Mattar, Yasser. “Miso Soup for the Ears: Contemporary Japanese Popular Music and its Relation to the Genres Familiar to the Anglophonic Audience.” Popular Music and Society 31 (2008): 113-123.

• Wk 14: December 11 Video Game Music and Cosplay

Final Exam TBA!

Notes on Being "From Away"

2009-07-31T07:50:00.000-07:00

You may have heard, but I no longer live in Los Angeles. And I no longer survive on merely "two wheels." Last month, my partner/wife (depends on state) and I packed up our cat and our household and high-tailed it across the country to Waterville, Maine where I will be a Postdoctoral Fellow of Non-Western Music at Colby College starting September 1. While I'm grateful for the job at such a nice educational institution, some very basic things about my life have fundamentally changed.

I now live in rural New England. I live in a state with around 1 million residents and a city with around 12,000 people. Everyone knows that I am not from around here. Mainers have an expression to describe people like me – "from away." And that isn't necessarily a good thing. In the campaign to preserve the right for same-sex couples to marry, the opposition is quick to inform voters that the other campaign is using dollars and personnel "from away." (Technically, both sides are doing this but no matter.)

The climate and food politics are really different here. The locavore movement has been huge in this region for quite some time, which specialty license plates saying "support local agriculture" and the Hannaford's supermarkets featuring "local produce" alongside produce from Mexico and California. Also, many restaurants proudly support local agriculture. I often hear, "Maine was local before it was trendy." All of this local agriculture is really different from what I am used to. When I go to Farmers' Markets, I will encounter produce that is about 6 months off from what we used to get in our CSA box in Los Angeles. We are still eating a lot of chard, kale, and squash. It also means that I'm more likely to encounter blueberries and goat's milk products than I ever thought possible. Unfortunately because Maine has been trapped in unseasonal rainfall and a nasty bit of blight invading crops, it means that all produce is much more expensive here.

The rain also means that I am riding my bike significantly less than I used to. At first the rain was completely discouraging, but now I am of the opinion that unless the forecast predicts a 50 percent chance of rain or more, I will ride if possible. But thunder storms (and flood warnings) happen, and I'm still not riding as much as I'd like. Whereas a typical week in LA had me riding between 150-250 miles a week, here I'm lucky if I can hit 90 miles. It's quite depressing. Sure there are cycling clubs and groups in my area, but people here are content to do 30 miles maximum. They all think I'm a little intense in my desire to go long.

And cycling is really different here. The air is clean. There are no major climbs. There are significantly fewer cars on the roads. Cyclists ride two-three-four abreast. And there are cows and wild turkeys alongside the roads. Often when I ride around, I never have to stop at a traffic signal. There is less of a need to fight about cycling etiquette because there is so much more space. Whenever I talk about my collisions with cars in Los Angeles, people just don't understand. Cycling culture shock is not something I expected in the least, but there it is.

Rural New England also means that I am now the proud(?) owner of a car. I try to avoid using it whenever possible, but I'm driving much more than I want to be. A few weekends ago, we drove to a camp site with our bikes in tow and went for a nice ride around a Maine peninsula. It was beautiful and vastly different from what I am used to. We'll see how I continue to adjust in the coming months.

Notes on Transitions

2009-06-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

So the ALC was great (except for the rain on Day 6). I returned and almost immediately graduated from UCLA and proceeded to pack up my life for a big move. In 3 days I will board a plane with my partner, my mom, and my cat for Maine where I will begin a postdoctoral fellowship in non-western music at Colby College. Big news and big changes!

The huge contrast between riding my bike everyday for the AIDS/LifeCycle and temporarily returning to life in LA has been a little rough. I did a couple of nice and long rides before all of the huge changes got under way, but I have mostly been living a very different lifestyle than I would prefer. For the last week I have lived life in LA without my bike or my scooter and have instead been using a variety of buses to get around town (and the occasional car use). As a result, I have been cranky and extremely sad about seeing the incredible disfunction of the city. Why, for example are major roads like Beverly and Pico so poorly maintained? Why is the city cutting back on the 704 line (the rapid line that runs along Santa Monica Blvd.) when ridership is so consistently high? But I suppose I will have to let go of all of these LA specific problems along with the sad condition of my home state once I board that plane on Tuesday.

I have been fretting for the last few weeks about the fate of this blog. What will happen to my thoughts on urban life on two wheels when I will be living in a small town and once again be a car-owner? What will happen when I am forced by cold weather to stay off my bike saddle for months at a time? Honestly, I haven't been a very good blogger since I started the home stretch of my dissertation. But now that I have more time to contemplate bigger ideas, I have decided to use this blog for a slightly different purpose than it was originally intended to do. The theme of this blog will shift to a more general contemplation of sound studies, urban studies and social media. The specificity of LA, and more broadly southern California, will disappear almost entirely in place of my contemplations of living my pro-bicycle lifestyle in a very different environment.

In coming posts, expect to see my thoughts on my fall and spring courses at Colby College. Fun times!

Stops, Starts, and the Dangers of Hesitation

2009-05-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

Warning! Snarky Post Below

In honor of Bike to Work Day, I must register the following complaint about cyclist - motorist relations. And no, I do not wish to address the infamous Hummer v. Cyclist incident (check this for LAPD's horrifying response at a recent City Council meeting). Rather, I want to discuss something much more fundamental.

You know you have seen them. You are stopped at an intersection and just within eyeshot you see a cyclist riding in tiny circles just behind the limit line. If you are a driver, you probably tried to ignore this strange behavior. After all, who in their right mind would ride in tiny circles in the middle of a busy intersection? Better yet, you may remember that cyclist with clipless pedals frantically trying to keep from falling with quick jerks, tiny slides forward, or what have you (what I call "a failed track stand").

Fixed-gear cyclists and wannabe track racers listen up: it's ok to put your foot down when you are stopped at a major intersection. In fact, it's probably a much safer option than riding in tiny circles. I've seen this ridiculous behavior more and more on my daily rides through town, and it is almost completely exclusive to commuters who don't wear helmets (itself a sign of the wisdom of the rider). At it's worst, those "circle riders" (is that a good name for them?) selfishly endanger other cyclists by hogging the most visible area of an intersection. It also inconveniences pedestrians (you know, the people who ALWAYS have the right of way?) by not allowing them to cross the street. As someone who can't do a track stand, I respect those cyclists who can effectively come to a complete stop, balance, and restart without putting their foot down. But the circles? Please. You aren't that cool and you look like a fool and only irritate everyone else around you.

Another problem I've recently noticed on my rides around town are the overly courteous drivers. You know who they are. They obviously have the right of way, yet they don't take it because they see a bicycle and assume the cyclist will do something unpredictable and stupid. The whole chain of events is incredibly disruptive to the flow of traffic and only aggravates everyone involved. When I signal that I will make a left turn, I normally stop to yield to oncoming traffic. Once my foot is down, that's it. Any excessive courtesy doesn't help me because I have to restart from a stop anyway. I've gotten to the point lately where I have to signal to oncoming traffic to please, for the love of god, take your right of way! I fully realize that some of my less well-mannered fellow cyclists might be perpetuating this behavior, but I really wish social norms were much more clearly established. However, it should not be so difficult for me to negotiate a left-turn into campus...

I'm a person who likes ambiguities. I am a humanities scholar after all. But in social contexts like traffic, hesitation and ambiguity only cause problems. People fail driver's exams for not being decisive. This is why all drivers have to pass tests about the rules. Simple things like stops, starts, and yielding to oncoming traffic should not be difficult negotiations. C'mon people. There are bigger things to worry about. So let's get out there and ride safely and predictably.

that 30-30

2009-05-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

I owe the readers of this blog a real blow-by-blow of what happened from days 16-30. But since time and patience are limited commodities, I must sum up.

How did I fare in my crazy training schedule?
For all days but one I rode the minimum of 30 miles. The one day I rode fewer miles was the night before my weekend of riding over 90 miles two days in a row. I think the excess of what followed justified a little leniency. I discovered that weekend that I am getting much faster in my cycling. On day 20 (96 miles), I rode through heavy headwinds and still finished in the top ten percent of riders. On day 21 (93 miles), I finished in the top five percent. There is something to be said for the kind of long-term endurance over many days that I now have. It's great.

Any Injuries?
In the last ten days of my 30-30, my recoveries got longer. Often, I felt fatigued for the first ten or fifteen miles each day. It took me until Thursday (day 25) before I felt good again, and even then I felt like I was always edging close to an injury. My final weekend of longer rides was scary. Clearly, pushing it into my threshold would have resulted in injuries to either my ankles or knees (hello I-T band!). Nothing happened, but the last few days were scary.

Fundraising?
I finished my 30-30 incredibly close to my fundraising goal. I did not make it, though, and I will likely not raise enough money to earn a fancy AIDS / LifeCycle jersey.

In other news, I have joined Team Marriage Equality (although my name is not on the team page yet), a Life Cycle team that aims to draw attention to marriage equality rights for gay and lesbian couples. I'm not sure if we are going to order team jerseys or anything, but I am very excited about this.

** Next post: Bike to Work Week!

Days 14 and 15: Hot fun!

2009-04-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

Day 14: I did a short ride up Nichols Canyon to Mulholland Drive and down Sepulveda with Lauren S. on the warmest Sunday in recent memory. Lauren doesn't normally climb hills and considering the intensity and heat of this particular route (ahem... 15% grade on Woodrow Wilson Drive), I was impressed with her good attitude. At one point during the rolling hills on Mulholland, Lauren and I met some of the LA Wheelmen. What a good natured cycling club! I need to remember them when I want to have a good ride at a chill pace (or a crazy 400-miler... who does that?!). Good times! We also saw the Shifting Gears crew on Sepulveda. What a cruel climb to do in the heat since there is no shade... Poor gears! Total miles: 35.

Day 15: PCH / Latigo / the valley / Topanga Canyon
Chad and I had this crazy idea of doing a long, hill-intensive ride on Monday. What we didn't anticipate was that it would be a blazingly hot day. Even though we left Santa Monica at 7AM, it got really hot by 8:30AM (smack-dab in the middle of our 7-mile ascent on Latigo). It was so hot, in fact, that we decided to trim the route when we reached Kanan-Pt. Dume. Our trip to the valley was hot and uneventful. All of the major corridors between the valley and malibu always astound me. Cars move at such high speeds even though they often only get two lane roads. The temperatures in Agoura Hills and Calabasis were awful and made me wish we were back on Latigo Canyon... Our return ride up Topanga Canyon featured some very rude cars (why honk when the cyclist is as far to the right as possible?) and extremely warm gusts on our decent back to PCH. (Hint: cyclists are not supposed to work that hard on downhills.) Ironically, the riding was easy once we got to PCH and both of us felt fine. Wind is such a strange mistress... We ended our day with a lunch stop in Santa Monica. here's the route. Total miles: 66

Day 13: ALC Day on the Ride

2009-04-18T17:08:00.000-07:00

For today's training ride, I went out with hundreds of LA area ALC riders for the "Day on the Ride," a 65-mile simulation of the LifeCycle experience. I was determined to not get caught in the hoards of riders (I hate cycling crowds. Who knew?) so I rode out with the fast Training Ride Leader (TRL in these parts) who also happened to be ex-child star Chad Allen. BTW, he is really good humored about his past as a teeny bopper. I informed him that my sister used to have his picture on her wall and he laughed about it and said "it was an interesting way to grow up." So much fun! All of the faster riders (including Dario, David, Melissa, Tom, Chad and the other members of the team "Funky Monkey") played cycle-tag throughout the day and traded off who was in the lead. I felt completely challenged by riding with such great athletes. Also, Dario had a minor spill (complete with bike flip) when he hit a crack in the road just was we were turning onto Westmont from Gaffey. It was an elegant spill yielding only minor scratches on his arms and legs. If you are going to fall, that's how you want to do it... I was afraid that we was really hurt, but he did just fine.

Day on the Ride is never an "easy" ride. The ALC planners always try to set us up with a challenging, yet doable, route through the South Bay area. We had the big climb up the north side of the peninsula early on and another slow climb after lunch. Predictably, I had some difficulty on those rollers. They are a challenging set of hills. And with the temperature edging up to the high 80s and sand all along the beach bike path (NO!), it was a challenging day. I rolled across the finish line around 1:30.

Days 11 and 12

2009-04-17T19:30:00.001-07:00

As part of my preparations for a long weekend of riding, I have limited my riding for the last couple of days to the closest imaginable neighborhoods.

Day 11: I rolled out of my apartment at 5:50 AM to meet up with riding buddy Chad for a morning spin down to the Marina. It was somewhat celebratory as I recently heard some good news. We also stopped by Groundworks Coffee on Main Street for some hot morning beverages. It was fabulous. Also, I made it to work with plenty of time to prepare for my TA duties. 6AM it is! For those interested, here's my (abbreviated) morning route to the Marina. Total miles (with commute): just shy of 32.

Day 12: Afternoon rides are never very fun, but today it was just downright irritating. Maybe I should shift my Friday strategy? It is a little tough to do otherwise since I teach in the morning, and I normally need those morning hours to prep for section. Today, it was windy as an added bonus, numerous things happened to me to make this ride less than pleasant. Much of this had to do with bad luck and poorly chosen route. I elaborate below:
• I got lost in the Palisades two times.
• I neglected to bring enough liquids for a warmer-weather ride and had to stop after 15 miles to get more.
• A truck knock a tree on Upper Mandeville Boulevard blocking traffic in both directions. I helped with its removal as much as I could in my cycling cleats.
• A fellow cyclist flagged me down to help him with his flat tire.

On the plus side, I had friendly conversation with everyone I encountered on my ride. Also, the actual riding was great. I felt really strong on Mandeville's slow ascent and had no trouble going full strength on the last, tough grade increase. Lesson learned: leave the house by 1PM on Fridays to avoid weekend traffic. Total miles: 31 (though it felt longer)

Day 10

2009-04-15T22:37:00.001-07:00

For my first year on the ride, the Bel Air climbs route was one of the most intimidating rides we did. Wednesday morning, I did the most difficult parts of that ride by myself: Sarbonne / Stradella / Roscomare to Mulholland Drive. It was actually much easier than it used to be. (I distinctly remember feeling nauseated my first time attempting this ride.) The only difficult part was navigating a higher volume of traffic on Mulholland as I rode out to Encino Hills. Who knew so many people treated that road like a highway in the mornings?!
I finished off my day's riding by heading to UCLA to pick up my vegetables from our local CSA (complete with panniers and a rack). As part of a special event, the UCLA CSA hosted a screening of The Garden, the oscar nominated documentary about the closing of the South Central Community Gardens. As an aside, it turns out that UCLA CSA has noticed that some of us like to pick up our vegetables on our bikes. Check out this article. Note a certain familiar cyclist (not I!) in the second photo.
Total miles (including commute): 35

Days 8 and 9

2009-04-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

Day 8
On Monday I decided to be nice to my body and do some casual climbs up Mandeville and Bundy – two of the most popular climbing spots in Brentwood. Something must be changing with my body because it felt really easy and painless (even the final push on Mandeville when the grade increases from six to ten percent). There is nothing like a low-intensity ride to make the training process doable.
In the afternoon, I made a trip to REI and finally obtained two very important items: Pearl Izumi's Sugar cycling knickers (with the world's best chamois), and full-fingered gloves. Spring is deceptive in Los Angeles, and on some occasions the morning temperatures in places like Mandeville can get dangerously cold. During Chad's 30-30, I rode dangerously underdressed and stopped being able to feel my fingers. This was grave news for my considering that cycling is a sport that depends on manual dexterity for safety. Eeek! So rest assured, dear readers, that I have no intention of freezing on my 6AM training rides around the west side of LA. Total Miles: 30.

Day 9
On Tuesday, I rolled out of the house at 6AM on the dot to do my morning training AND make it to work on time (that plan was successful). On my way up 26th, I saw all of the LaGrange morning riders preparing for their weekly spin down to the marina. I rode on without them down San Vicente. On my way back from the marina, I was overtaken by their pack. For just a second I understood why pack riding is so appealing: everyone was talking and pushing themselves and they were entirely visible to morning drivers. Chad was with them and we talked for all of 20 seconds.
I am not fast enough for LaGrange, but being around them in the middle of my 30-30 did raise an interesting thought for me. Over the last week or so I haven't suffered from any lethargy after a ride. The training has been working, but I worry that I have hit a plateau of sorts.
All of this means that my normal pace is no longer pushing me on a day-to-day basis and I need to change my gearing to get a better workout or I need to start switching things up. I suppose I can wait until the 30-30 (or even the LifeCycle) ends to really push my thresholds. But something needs to change if I'm going to see any improvements. Total miles (including commute): 34.

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In other news, I have decided that I need to spend at least as much time on my research as I do on my bicycle saddle. It seems kind of obvious, but as the LifeCycle takes over my life in the coming weeks, this will prove to be quite a challenge. In other eco/community news, I plan to attend a screening of The Garden tonight at UCLA. I'll post my Day 10 entry once I ride home.

Days 3-7

2009-04-09T18:46:00.001-07:00

Day 3: marina, mandeville, and wind. I am slowly learning that afternoon rides in the springtime in Los Angeles are a bad idea. Reason 1: more wind! I moved my tire size down to 23cm from 25 and every gust pushes my bike around like it's nothing. On days like last Wednesday it was SCARY!!
Reason 2: afternoon drivers don't like bicycles as much as early morning drivers. There was a lot of impatience on the road. Also there were an inordinate number of women who angrily honked at me that afternoon. What gives? I was in the right side of the lane near the shoulder. And, I was being perfectly safe and courteous. Some things in life I will never understand.
On the plus side, climbing mandeville (a 7 mile moderate hill) in the afternoon is great! There isn't much traffic and less traffic means fewer chances for accidents. When I got home I felt a strange compulsion to eat lotsa matzo. I made some matzo ball soup, charoset, and drank some wine. It was lovely day of riding and celebrating. Total mileage (including commute): 45.

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Day 4: Almost immediately after my teaching responsibilities for the day ended, I left UCLA for Malibu with fellow graduate student CedarBough. It was a quick, fun spin and we even met up with some triathlon guys on San Vicente. Unfortunately, we made a bad decision when entering the VA on our way back to campus resulting in a pinched tire for my cycling buddy. Too bad because it was otherwise a perfect ride. Total mileage (including commute): 47.

Fundraising: My dollar count topped $1200 on Thursday which made me feel incredible! You guys are awesome!

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Day 5: After teaching discussion section, I loaded up my panniers and rode straight down PCH to Laguna Beach for a family passover seder. Aside from the weather being really gloomy, it was a fun ride. Aside from an abnormally large number of phone calls, and the huge amount of extra weight I was carrying, I feel that I made pretty good time. When I was just south of Long Beach, I met another cyclist who was carrying the full touring gear. He showed me a beach path through Sunset Beach and Huntington Beach that avoided all of the cars. It was nice and we got to chat for quite some time. In Newport Beach, I met up with my mom for a late lunch. She insisted that I get in the car with her (mothers will do that), but the only problem was that my bike would not fit in the car as is along with 4 passengers. So, I dismantled my bike as quickly as I could (including the handlebars), and we drove the last 12 miles to the house in Laguna Beach. By the time we got to dinner, I ate like I truly earned it. Total mileage (including commute): 65.

Casualties: I realized 10 miles in that I had completely neglected to bring some bike water bottles with me (doh!), so I had to stop at a cycling shop to grab some more. Good bye $8...

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Day 6: Yesterday's riding mostly consisted of getting to Occidental College and then getting home. I took the Amtrak from Orange County to Union Station, LA and hopped on the Gold-Line to South Pasadena. I then biked the 4 miles from the light-rail to Occidental College for some canvassing with Vote for Equality. After the canvass (around 3:30PM), I attempted to get myself home to Santa Monica. Unfortunately, I got a little lost once I hit the LA river. Who knew Los Angeles was so complicated?! I eventually found my way to Broadway, which got me to Olympic (my bicycle corridor of choice). The stretch from Chinatown to Downtown LA is simply amazing. I've been to both neighborhoods many times, but I normally don't get to look around at the scene on Broadway. I felt like I was in a real city for about 20 blocks. Unbelievable! And I was the only cyclist on that street!
Olympic was a good ride as is usual –- cracked gravel, rolling hills, and not very much traffic. I played a little tag with a Metro bus. The driver laughed each time I passed him in Koreatown. Somewhere near Highland, another cyclist (who enjoyed running stop lights) and I began to chat. Those two things made an otherwise unpleasant route bearable. You see, normally I ride my bike to get places or to get away. Doing a training ride along a commuting route was just... not fun. I will file this information away for future reference. Total mileage: 30 on the nose!!

Casualties of the day: a somewhat wasted training day (is my resentment too much?) and a lost set of panniers containing clothes on the Amtrak.

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Day 7: Rolling spin to Trancas Canyon and back with Shifting Gears. At the meet-up I ran into an old training buddy from last year's AIDS/LifeCycle. Although the official ride consisted of 3 options (cross-creek, Latigo, and Trancas), I opted for Trancas when said cycling buddy said that he wasn't interested in the 10-mile climb. Sometimes company means more than mileage... We averaged 17 miles per hour (a relatively quick pace) and beat most of the nasty traffic. What a fun Easter ride! Total miles: 50.

In other news, I decided that I will indeed be riding in the Shifting Gears Double Century on April 25-26. What's another 200 miles?!

Day 1 and Day 2

2009-04-07T15:21:00.000-07:00

Day 1, 6 April 2009
Yesterday was my third day in a row of riding at least 50 miles. This isn't the healthiest way to train, but there they were – three glorious days of sun. Can you blame me? I don't have anywhere to be on Mondays, so Chad called me up to see if I would be interested in riding out to Zuma beach and back (40+ mile round trip). I went, but within the first 5 miles I got a flat tire. (That's my second day in a row!) Not fun! Flat tires are especially bad news on PCH where there is no safe place to pull over and remedy the situation. Chad let me use his CO2 cartridge (which saved us about 10 minutes), but he also made the entire ride possible. When we noticed that in addition to my rear tire being on its way out, my rim tape was folded (bad, bad, bad), he told me about the dollar bill trick. You place a folded up dollar bill in the offending area of the tire or wheel which theoretically should allow you to ride without consequence. And it worked! We rode all the way out to Point Dune and back without another problem. I would say that our only big mistake was not stopping to get more water. I'm still not used to it being spring... Add in my 10.5 mile commute my total miles for the day were just over 50. Along the way I bought some new armadillo tires and carried Tuesday's wardrobe to my locker at the campus gym.
This was a great way to start off my crazy fundraising/training plan.

Day 2, 7 April 2009
I woke up at 5:30 AM to have enough time to get dressed in my cycling kit, eat breakfast, check my tire-pressure and meet Chad for a quick recovery spin. We went up to San Vicente and 26th and then turned downhill to Ocean Ave. straight through to the Marina and back. We saw a bunch of other cycling teams and clubs along the way (included among them, Shifting Gears and La Grange).
About 10 miles in I noticed two things about my progress: I was really tired and really thirsty. I went through an entire bottle of water in just over an hour. Then, horror of horrors, my left achilles tendon started to "bother me." I think if I were to push my milage to 200 miles in 4 days I would seriously injure myself. I've met my daily minimum with a low intensity ride. Let's hope the issue takes care of itself with some well-deserved rest.

Funds Earned Report
Ever since I announced that I'm doing the 30-30, six people have donated $270 bringing me to the brink of the 25% mark. For the record, that's just in a 24-hour period! You guys are great!

30 in 30 AIDS/LifeCycle Extravaganza

2009-04-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

As many of you are aware, I am raising money for AIDS services in Southern California as part of the California AIDS/LifeCycle, a 7-day, 545 mile event beginning on May 31. I am putting my body through this once again because it is a great cause. All funds raised go directly to the LA Gay & Lesbian Center's HIV and AIDS services. The LifeCycle is more needed than ever before because of funding cuts from the state and federal government. In addition, as many people are hurting financially, the services are in much higher demand. The center doesn't want to have to turn anyone away. And to make matters more pressing: if I don't raise enough funds, I will not be able to ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It is an amazing event: over 2000 cyclists and 500 support staff moving through California over a week to increase visibility for HIV/AIDS. There is nothing else like it and I don't want to miss it.

I recently decided that I need to do more than train and ask for money. Instead, I've decided to do something that illustrates the AIDS/LifeCycle on a smaller, more personal level. Starting today, I will ride my bike a minimum of 30 miles a day for 30 days in a row regardless of weather. Often, that number will be higher (today it is 50 miles), but there will be no days off. I do this for the people I have known and lost. It is a small gesture, but I think it is meaningful.

I am asking you to sponsor me for the next 30 days. Would you be willing to give me an amount per day on my bicycle? I will post updates on facebook/twitter and this blog. The AIDS/LifeCycle will allow you to make your donation in installments (as many people have already done). Here is my own personal fundraising page.

Thank you for your support and please spread the word!

Earbuds, Listening, and Riding

2009-02-15T12:16:00.000-08:00

Just to be clear: I have yet to defend the dissertation. I have, however, written all of my chapters. (Thank you, my dear readers, for your patience through that weird sprint to the finish.) The crazy and intense period of writing is, for all intents and purposes, over and has been for a few weeks now. My diss advisor tells me to let the document sit and work on other things. I consider my forays into sound studies and urban policy issues to be a PERFECT opportunity. So yes, I am back.

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Today was the first official meeting of the Sound Studies Special Interest Group for the Society of Ethnomusicology. My participation in that meeting (via Skype) prompted me to think about one of the most prevalent activities I witness from my bicycle saddle as I ride around town. Earbuds. Many people drive with earbuds. An even higher percentage of bicycle riders train or commute with their headphones on. In case you didn't know, this activity is completely illegal. According to the California Vehicle Code, you can't operate a vehicle with anything in your ears unless it is for hearing protection (say, if you are operating a very noisy vehicle at a construction site). Many motorcyclists, for example, ride with ear plugs because they are literally damaging their ears when they travel at high speeds. I think the point of the prohibition is a safety concern. Can you hear a car overtaking you from behind as you ride along to your favorite tunes? Can you respond to an emergency if you can't hear it?

I have a problem with the way this law is set out. I personally never ride while wearing earbuds because I would never feel safe. After years of loud rehearsals and long club nights, my hearing isn't as good as it used to be. But I am sure that some people can properly distinguish mediated sound from the sounds of their environment and do it with panache. Many pedestrians walk in unsafe areas while wearing headphones, and earbuds are extremely common in public transit. (And many dangerous things happen to pedestrians and passengers on buses, subways, and trains.) Why the prohibition on riding or driving? What's more: many people who are hard of hearing operate vehicles and there is no prohibition against them. So why such an arbitrary prohibition?

Let me push a little bit more. Many policy makers do not pay attention to other factors that may inhibit hearing, such as construction and landscaping machines. Imagine trying to safely pass a bicycle when you can't even hear yourself saying "on your left." Earbuds don't help that situation, but they are far from the villain. There are so many acoustic factors that make certain traffic situations completely unsafe; yet, they rarely catch the sustained attention of policy makers (in the los angeles area at least).

My (completely unfounded) suspicion is that the prohibition is not against loud noises, but rather that sounds in earbuds are distracting. I could provide an extensive bibliography of theorists who lament the rise in distracted listening practice as a fundamental negative component of late modernity. But many drivers and cyclists long to be distracted. If they pay too much attention to the road or vehicle in front of them, they run the risk of being jittery and overreacting. One's awareness of moving so quickly can quickly heighten reflexes along with anxieties. It can also have the opposite effect: the constant rhythm of lights and lane dividers on the road (or the spandex of the cyclist in front of you) can be mesmerizing and make someone zone out, thereby decreasing reflexes. And in heavy traffic situations, being all-too-aware that you aren't moving can actually heighten road-rage. In these cases, distraction is an important part of process of moderating rather extreme reactions to the commuting experience. It is the most popular coping mechanism for stress and fatigue.

Maybe policy makers need to think of better ways to try to make the commuting experience better instead of encroaching on possible individual solutions to the problem. Maybe?

Stepping Away

2009-01-19T14:05:00.000-08:00

Cross-posted on Musicology/Matters

There is a ton to blog about. I'm completely serious, and I have a lot to say. But there's also this nagging thing called my dissertation that has to get done very soon. And while I have been almost done for quite some time, I'd like to finally be done done. So forgive my absence in the blogosphere, but I have to step away for awhile. I'll return once I have a Ph.D next to my name, I promise.

In the meantime, rest assured that I will still ride my bike, think critically about sound in urban space, and contemplate the larger meaning of musicology (my chosen profession) and the new administration. I just won't be writing about it.

'Till then.

On Yielding

2009-01-11T15:43:00.001-08:00

Sometime over the summer, I was riding back to Santa Monica from Palos Verdes via the South Bay Bike Path when I nearly collided with some pedestrians near the Marina. Yes, I was riding as safely as I thought necessary on a path with heavy traffic from bicycles, pedestrians (including runners, kit-flyers, surfers), and roller-bladers when I scared everyone by not waiting for the path to be completely clear during my pass. No accidents or collisions occurred, but I was a little miffed. What were all of these non-cyclists doing on a bike path? And why should I yield to them?!

After much thought (and prodding from my partner), I realized that we cyclists can be just as bad as cars in our impatience on the road. Even though many of the group rides take the time to warn us to be safe and courteous during our group rides, they often neglect to discuss pedestrians; the main focus of these safety speeches is other cyclists and cars. But what about pedestrians? Or, to extend the point a little, young children on bicycles out with their parents? Ever since that day, I've tried to be more careful on my rides and practice "yielding" to the less mobile in the same way that I'd hope cars would treat me. I'm vulnerable on a bicycle, but I'm not nearly as vulnerable as a pedestrian is.

Today one of my fellow cyclists near got into a fist-fight when he almost crashed trying to pass a parent who was taking up 2/3s of the bike path to help his son as he learned to ride. I understand both sides of the story, and clearly the parent and cyclist were equally at fault in the near collision. If this moment were unique, I wouldn't have anything to say (or blog), but on many other moments during my short training ride I witnessed other acts of impatient cyclists not yielding to our vulnerable colleagues on the road. It concerns me. And I wonder why cyclists of all people feel entitled to ignore that particular rule. I obviously get upset when I see other cyclists break the law and put me at danger. Is it a lack of awareness? Why doesn't anyone else talk about it in the LA cycling community?

PSA: Cyclist at Fault

2008-12-04T10:02:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, I got into my very first cyclist-at-fault collision with a vehicle. I was on my way from my folks' house to the train station. My partner was leading and was extremely worried that we would miss our train (which we did, due to the accident) and was running stop signs left and right. But then she rolled through a two-way stop, and I followed. Then I collided with a Mercedes. Talk about stupid.

So kids, do not roll through stop signs, especially when you think no one is out. You never know when that 4 way stop is really a 2-way stop. And you don't want to liable for damaging an expensive luxury car like a Mercedes. Two seconds is a small price to pay for the pain and monetary cost that come from a jolting collision.

Public service announcement over...

Meme

2008-12-03T21:02:00.001-08:00

I haven't felt much like blogging since I have had an endless stream of deadlines AND I got into yet another collision over the holiday weekend. Working like a dog on unpleasant things that have little to do with writing really forces me to conserve my writing energy for other things, like the dissertation. Anyway...

Phil tagged me to do a meme, so I guess I'll follow suit. Dude, we really need to talk now that classes are winding down!

The rules:

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird. 

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog. 

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. 

5. If you don’t have 7 blog friends, or if someone else already took dibs, then tag some unsuspecting strangers.

Seven random facts

1. I have a serious affection for hats. When I was growing up, I used to decorate my room with them...

2. Even though my cat has a proper name, I still call her "cat" when I come home.

3. I haven't had a functioning iPod for over 3 years and I have no real desire to get another one. (This wouldn't be so weird if I didn't study music.)

4. I watch two or three TV shows on a weekly basis, but I don't own a TV.

5. My hair grows freakishly fast causing me to go to the hair stylist every 3 weeks or so.

6. I can touch my tongue to the tip of my nose.

7. I like going to the movie theater alone.

And tags: Bill, Regarding, Sam, and Xandra. I don't like the idea of tagging random people.

Interview

2008-11-13T12:01:00.000-08:00

Excerpt:

Interviewer: What interests you about our program at [fancy university]? Why do you want to work here?

KG: [some stuff related to the department's reputation.] Also, I'm a cyclist, and I'd like to live in a place where I don't have to worry about being hit by cars all the time. [Fancy city] has a reputation for being bike-friendly, am I wrong?

Interviewer: No, that definitely makes sense. You aren't wrong.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm becoming a parody of myself... In other news, check out the new streetfilm about LA's bike coops.

New Doctor

2008-10-31T20:42:00.000-07:00

Congrats to fellow blogger and friend Phil, the world's newest PhD in Musicology!

Losing Patience

2008-10-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

Today, I officially yelled at a fellow cyclist whose zest for dangerous riding pushed me over the edge.

See, there are many more cyclists out there, the majority of whom never think about safety issues on a bike. They wear headphones and listen to their iPods at top volume completely erasing the only method of signaling from behind that other cyclists have. When a passing cyclist calls out "on your left!" they don't hear, and even sometimes drift leftwards putting the passing cyclist at risk. I don't like being pushed into traffic.

Today, after dealing with many headphone wearing cyclists, I was almost taken out by a cyclist riding ::gasp:: on the wrong side of the road. I was attempting to make a left turn into a bicycle parking lot and was looking for oncoming traffic. This fellow came up from behind and almost hit me. I yelled, "watch out!" Really, though, I shouldn't have to yell. After he realized what had almost happened, I said something along the lines of "traffic laws apply to you too!" Dear. God.

And now, I end with a brief list of other offending actions only committed by irreverent cyclists in town:

• Passing on the right, especially when a cyclist is trying to make a right turn. Disaster waiting to happen!
• Switching rapidly between riding on the sidewalk and the right side of the road causing chaos among cyclists, pedestrians, and cars. Ack!
• Refusing to yield to anyone or anything.
• Riding two or ::gasp!:: three abreast on a busy street at a low speed, thereby eliminating the possibility of safe passing.
• Not looking before moving into traffic thereby almost causing a vehicle to hit a car/ cyclist.

And, my personal favorite:

• Completely running all red lights thereby making all cars hate cyclists. Boo!!

That's all. Someone needs to more actively promote basic courtesy among commuting cyclists. For the love of god, people.

Overdoing It

2008-10-04T20:13:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks, I've been using my bike as my only mode of transportation around town. It's been great. Riding from UCLA to the Grove for Rosh Hashannah? Cool! Travelling from Marina Del Rey to UCLA to teach? No problem. Stopping by the pet store to get cat-food? Not even a question.
But then, something weird happened. I continued to do my long training rides on the weekends AND I woke up at an absurdly early hour on Wednesday to ride 20 miles with the UCLA cycling team (up Mandeville Canyon). Around yesterday afternoon, my left achilles tendon started to scream at me. Quite loudly. And then I noticed that my old injury in my right leg was making some noise as well. So, even though I had been training intensely for over 2 months to do the Angeles Crest Century ride, my body was starting to let me know that I have been overdoing it by just a tad.
I skipped the century in favor of my physical health (and to preserve my ability to ride in the future). It's a good thing that my scooter is finally fixed because my legs need a serious rest.
Part of me wonders why I have been riding with such manic intensity. I have it boiled down to three reasons:

• I cut off my hair a week ago and I now want to take advantage of the increased ease of wearing a helmet. It literally takes me 2 minutes to remove all traces of helmet head. Awesome!

• Getting hit by a car sucks. In my need to not let the accident ruin my love for my bicycle, I've let my riding get a little too intense.

• I recently let go of a very major commitment in my life, and instead of dealing with the reasons for leaving this organization, I want to distract myself from the inevitable.

Whatever it is, I think I need to tone things down just a tad. Or maybe I ought to stick to slower riding speeds for my training rides. Or something. The good news is that I don't need to be riding to wear my cute Surly cycling cap and look at the new bike models for next year. Nothing heals sore tendons like retail therapy.

Lame

2008-09-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

For the second time in two years, some motorist knocked over my scooter and failed to leave any contact information. The result was two broken lights (the all important left-turn directional signals) and a bent left break handle. Just in case you didn't know, scooter repairs are legally necessary and can also be costly. The last time someone knocked over my scooter, the damage amounted to nearly $1000. Who knows how much this one will cost! Lame.

Wreck

2008-09-16T09:37:00.001-07:00

Please forgive me, but I am in a lot of physical pain right now. Today, at 8:00 AM, I was hit by a mini-van at the corner of Barrington and Olympic. I was going straight, she decided to try to go around me to make a right-turn. I was essentially cut-off and thrown to the pavement. It was bad. I am bruised all along the left side of my body, and my left elbow and hand are sporting a seriously nasty looking road rash. She was the better kind of impatient motorist: she stopped to make sure I was ok, listened to me as I explained what she did wrong, put me and my bike in her van, and drove me to UCLA's student health clinic. She also gave me all of her information and never once tried to blame me for what happened. What's sad is that her behavior is the exception not the rule, and that makes me sad. But I'm not blogging today to complain about her, the van, or the intense pain I currently feel in my left arm.

Instead, I need to complain about the many motorists who had the nerve to honk at me once after the accident happened. OK, so you see a cyclist and a car collide resulting in a pretty nasty looking wound including blood, a dazed cyclist, and a whole lot of confusion. Does honking really help the situation? I wonder: if the accident had involved a pedestrian would the other impatient motorists have felt the need to honk at the injured party? Just thinking aloud here...

Car-Free Bike Path is Suddenly Dangerous

2008-08-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

Forget aggressive motorists on our city streets, the real threat is, paradoxically, along the Ballona Creek bike-path. Apparently gang members in Culver City attacked a cyclist then used his U-lock to attack others. Ummm... scary!

On Media Narratives of Bike-Car Aggression

2008-08-14T16:21:00.000-07:00

In the last two months, the explosion of news stories about bike-car violence has been astounding. I follow all of this coverage among bike blogs with anxiety (and even re-post about it), but recently the academic in me is reading the phenomenon of bikes in the media with a more critical lens. Believe it or not, there is a narrative that many news outlets are willingly writing:

• Gas prices rise and driving a car is no longer a viable option for a number of people
• They start looking for alternatives, including public transportation, motorcycles, and bicycles
• Numbers of bicycles on the road increase
• Unaccustomed and/or inexperienced cyclists and motorists begin to express their frustrations on the road
• Tensions rise as Critical Mass rides become increasingly disruptive
• Chaos ensues

It's fine that the LA Times and NY Times are talking about bikes (coverage is a good thing if it leads to increased awareness), but my problem is the very foundation of the big bike switch-over: people are only crazy enough to ride bikes when cars are no longer affordable. That sort of determinist argument frustrates the hippie in me, and I think we in the bike community need to be more vocal about our diversity. We also need to complicate this explanation from a social and cultural theory perspective.

To borrow a page from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, people are different and that is an inconvenient narrative for the rise in bike riding.

I became a bike commuter long before gas prices rose above $2 a gallon. And I know that as a long-time bike commuter, I do not fall within this narrative. When I started riding my bicycle, just about everyone who was making the switch cited the reasons above as secondary. The big reason they were switching was because, get this, riding a bike is REALLY fun. It's a happy activity. I also feel much more free on my bicycle than I do in a car and I'm sure I am not alone. I remember a conversation I had with my sister right after I saved up some money to buy a cheap mountain bike. She said, "isn't it fun?" Eventually, the fun is what won out; it is what pushed me to ride my bike more often and eventually forsake my car. I've only heard the fun side of this rise in bicycles mentioned in reference to the fixed-gear frenzy that is taking over many urban spaces.

Second to fun, the efficiency of commuting on a bike around LA further urged me to continue to ride. Parking is rarely an issue and I always get to park my bike close to my final destination. My commute times are predictable and consistent, I waste less energy and arrive at my work or school in a good mood. Fun efficiency!

And I have a strong feeling that fun is huge reason why Critical Mass and other large group rides are so popular. Just spend a day watching people ride their bikes along the Santa Monica Beach Bike path, and the fun part of the revolution will be inescapable. Now I'm just waiting for the LA Times to catch up with that side of things.

Foul Play

2008-08-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

I know it's a bit violent, but a deep part of my subconscious can't help but wonder: if only all foul play resulted in this sort of spectator vengeance...

LA Bike Commuters in the Wall Street Journal

2008-08-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

Here's the article, which includes some rather prominent omissions in terms of LA bike activism (LA Bike Coalition anybody?). However, the overall tone is: Look ma! Bike commuters are normal people!

Bike Haters?

2008-07-31T11:45:00.000-07:00

In the last two weeks I feel like there has been an outpouring of news about really horrible tension between bicyclists and the rest of the world, mostly motorists, police, and the news media. First there was news of a really terrible road-rage incident between cyclists and a motorist on Mandeville Canyon Road in Brentwood that resulted in some serious injuries. Then there was news about "formal discussions" between the cycling community and LA city governance to address the clearly growing tension between motorists and cyclists. I know I have been away for awhile, but I had no idea that tensions were getting that bad. And then, there was news of two really horrible incidents involving Critical Mass rides,* one in Seattle and the other in involving a rookie officer and cyclist in NYC (which, incidentally, became a sensation on YouTube). This hate has been so strong that I have been specifically avoiding talking about it and instead forward emails to all of my friends with the bad news. This is no way for me to behave, but I have been filled with so much anger about the situation (and the odd press bias against the cyclists involved) that all that was coming out was a bunch of rage-filled spew. Who wants to read that?!

I think that bike community is finally starting to deal with all of this tension. See Exhibit A, my new favorite explanation for all the anti-bike bias and hatred. We need more than that opinion circulating out there, but seriously people, what on earth is going on? In other venues I have been calling for more policy solutions. I don't know how ready we as a society are to accept the fact that our bike numbers are going up. But seriously, we are going to have to deal with it.

* For the record, I do not frequent Critical Mass events in the LA area, mostly because the anarchist spirit is a little much for my taste. I do, however, firmly believe in the right for cyclists to ride in groups. That is all.

More Reasons to go Car-Free

2008-07-28T06:22:00.000-07:00

It's official. Aside from the many reasons to go car-free, here's another: it can actually help you save/make gobs of money. Last night Alina sent me this link to a book I should have read back when my car was beginning to show early signs of death: How To Live Well Without A Car. As anyone who has ditched their car can tell you: cars are way more expensive than the price of gasoline and your car payments. Think: insurance, maintenance, parking tickets, toll-roads, and parking. Hell, some apartment buildings go so far as to charge monthly fees for their own residents! The preview on page 8 breaks down all of the financial benefits for you (although in today's sad economy the investment aspect of things might not be quite so apparent). I am pretty sure my first bike purchase paid for itself within the first month of use, and that was when gas was at $2 a gallon! Anyway... I do not need to be given more reasons or guidelines on how to live my life without a car at this point, but it would have been nice if someone had presented the option to me around 2 years before I bought my first bike. And for the record, getting rid of my car did not allow me to save money or pay off my debt, it just stopped my debt from increasing exponentially.

And also, I can't wait to get back in the states just to ride my Surly again.

Planning a Carless Commute to Irvine

2008-07-20T07:09:00.000-07:00

In the middle of August I will be attending a Seminar in Experimental Critical Theory about cultural policy and creative industry at UC Irvine. Getting there will be an adventure. I'll probably take an Amtrak down with my bike and ride to my final destination. It will take some planning, but I think I can make it work. Lucky for me I will be staying a mere 15 miles away for free. I shall thus use my daily commute to and from UCI as a training opportunity. Fun stuff, right? The irony of all of this is that I have been trying to work out the details of doing Orange County without a car for way too long. If you thought LA was addicted to cars, try the orange curtain, which never really had public transportation in mind during as part of its master-plan. Yeah, there are buses, but they aren't realistic for most people's needs.

I find it oddly ironic that this seminar which has such an emphasis on cultural policy is in a place that was thoroughly planned for a world which is no longer realistic. Growing up in a place like Laguna Beach, Irvine was often the target of much derision by my classmates and neighbors mostly because of its connections with the Irvine Company, Orange County's intensely powerful real estate firm. UCI only exists, for example, through a donation of the Irvine Company. Some would go so far as to say that all that is good about the OC only exists through the "generosity" of the Irvine Company. It's kind of hard to swallow.

For much of my youth, the wilderness-loving hippies of Laguna Beach hated everything that the Irvine Company stood for. This was mostly because they were responsible for turning most of Orange County's groves into an endless mass of controlled and pre-planned communities with look-alike homes. In 1989, many of Laguna's citizens (including myself) had to stage repeated protests just to persuade the Irvine Company not to build more tract homes in the Laguna canyon wilderness. (I could go on... but California's endless growth is finally coming to a close due to strains on water supplies.)

The ironies of dealing with the most unfortunate aspects of Orange County's development pattern will make my quest to go without a car quite... well... crazy. I'm pretty sure that my family thinks I'm nuts for insisting on not using a car for two weeks. However, I want to really experience life from my bike-saddle in a place that is really averse to making that work. And, to be honest, I also see my daily climb over Newport Coast drive as an excellent physical challenge...

Everyone's Talking Vélib!

2008-07-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

Since Paris's Vélib just celebrated its one-year anniversary, everybody from the NY Times, to our friends over at StreetFilms is celebrating the world's largest bike share system. It's fashionable and is transforming one of the major cultural centers of the world. Check out the video! You will see people in high fashion riding little gray bikes all over the city. It's great!

Just yesterday I had a conversation with a friend of mine living in Rio de Janeiro about the possibility of a bike share program. "I'm afraid they would get stolen," she says. Part of me thinks that real revolution of a system like Vélib isn't that people who need bikes suddenly have them, but rather that people who otherwise would never think of using bikes have them at their disposal in a practical and convenient way. And for a place with such a close relationship with French culture like Rio, I would hope that bike shares would be, in the very least, a possibility... Maybe not.

California Alternative Commuting in the News

2008-07-08T04:18:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to many articles about commuting and bicycles in the news:

• High gas prices are pushing more and more people to commute by bike. You will notice that the article emphasizes how terrifying it is to ride a bike in Los Angeles due to distracted drivers. Despite this danger, bicycle sales for the month of June spiked by 20%. Ironically, for many commuters the biking option is much quicker than driving. Awesome!

I've got to say that there are some major downsides to this spike in bike riders in LA. First, the city has yet to implement its bicycle master plan and thus bike lanes and routes are often not very well advertised or supported. Also, an influx of inexperienced riders on the road can actually be dangerous if no one follows traffic laws. I could tell you stories of the police completely ignoring dangerous cyclists out there. Finally, the article notes that many bike repair shops are completely over-booked with this new influx. New bikes mean that they all have to be tuned-up within the first few months on the road. I guess that I can't just show up at my local shop for a quick diagnosis anymore...

• Apparently with the aforementioned terror of riding with clueless drivers, many cyclists really want to use sidewalks. It is so pressing that the City of West Hollywood wants to abandon its ban of cycling on the sidewalks. This is coming from a city that actually has marked bike lanes! I've got to say that I personally prefer riding with cars than pedestrians. Cars are generally predictable, while pedestrians often aren't looking for anything moving faster than walking speed, let alone a vehicle going 10-20 miles per hour in the path. I think it's great that so many people want to ride their bikes that this is even a consideration, but it sounds to me like a major step backwards.

• Aside from bikes and scooters, the high gas prices are also encouraging southland commuters to use mass transit. No surprise there. I can't wait until SoCal's rail system actually has the capacity and lines to make the transition easier; right now, the system makes very little sense. Just think: it is actually far less of a hassle for my to ride my bike 55 miles south to Laguna Beach than to take a train. None of it makes sense...

• And just when you thought it was safe to live in your car, it seems that the California state government wants to curb the bad habits of its motorists. I'm not talking about talking or texting on cell phones, I'm talking about such offenses as reading a newspaper, painting fingernails, or having one's dog on one's lap. My personal favorite offense is changing an entire outfit while stuck in traffic (which, as a cyclist, I've seen numerous times). If this actually works, perhaps the roads will be more encouraging to the newbie bike commuter and we won't need to have cyclists on sidewalks. I can dream, right?

I miss my bike...

2008-07-07T11:57:00.001-07:00

thus, I identified immediately with a D&R post entitled, I Want to Ride My Bicycle. Guess what? I want to ride mine too, except mine isn't nearly as cool as a cardboard bike. I never thought a theft-proof bike would be so enticing. Check it out!

Bike-Blogging from São Paulo

2008-07-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

In today's Folha de São Paulo there's a brief editorial column about bicycle culture in Paris. The author, Clôvis Rossi, describes a married couple arriving at a fancy hotel on bicycles as a way of introducing Paris's Vélib or free bike service. Like other cities around the world, Paris now has approximately 20 thousand bikes at over 14 hundred stations throughout the city for rent with the first half-hour free. Awesome! (A little voice in my head nags: "but what about bike fit?" which I'll ignore for now.) Rossi muses about what this could means for traffic in such large cities like São Paulo (which is, btw, one of the largest cities in the world):

É um modelo copiável? Do ponto de vista ambiental, parece interessante. Mas você acha que São Paulo é suficientemente civilizada para que carros e motos não atropelam os ciclistas?

Or in English:

Is it a copiable model? From a distanced perspective, it looks interesting. But do you think that São Paulo is civilized enough that cars and motorcycles wouldn't run over cyclists?

I've got to say, I'm not surprised by the author's doubt. Unlike Rio de Janeiro, there is no ciclovia or specially designated bike lane here. There isn't even enough space in the right lane for cyclists to ride independent of traffic patterns. Cyclists here are the craziest bunch I've ever seen, literally riding in the middle of traffic. They often ride mountain bikes with good reason: it allows them more flexibility to jump up on bumpy sidewalks. If any of my loyal readers ever thought that I was crazy to ride around LA, I present to you the craziness that is São Paulo cycling culture.

A few years ago (before I spoke a word of Portuguese), the Folha ran an article about a reporter's experiences on a bike for a month of his working life. Not only was he robbed, but he was constantly afraid for his life as cars would frequently cut him off. A motorcycle delivery boy (known here as "motorboy") witnessed such an occurence and expounded: "nobody here respects (the rights of) cyclists." Well, to be fair, they don't respect pedestrians either.

Winter in São Paulo

2008-06-25T05:14:00.000-07:00

I've done winter in Brazil two different times in the past. The first was in Salvador da Bahia. Winter there was tropical. It meant wearing shorts, a tank top and carrying an umbrella. I ruined a good pair of shoes in the rain there, but it was fine since sandals were much more appropriate. When rain combines with heat, it's easy, and you know it is going to end soon. The second time I did winter was in Rio. There, winter means wearing jeans and carrying a sweatshirt. It also means that electric showers are much less fun than using the awesomeness of an aquecedor, whose very potential means lovely hot showers. See, the blazing hot summers in Rio mean that hot showers make very little sense, but winters are a little too chilly to get by without them.

São Paulo is different. (São Paulo is different from the rest of Brazil in a number of ways, but that isn't what this post is about...) It's at a higher elevation than either Rio or Salvador and is thus cold here. Every night I sleep with three blankets on my bed and often layer when I go to sleep. It isn't that it's dropped below 9 degrees centigrade (which is normal for a city in the south like Porto Alegre), but that some of the apartment buildings in the city don't have anything resembling insulation, or even windows that close completely. Mine just happens to be one of those buildings. The first week I was here, the weather fooled me. It felt like LA in the spring with extremely short days. But now it's cooling down. I know I'm getting away with something by missing LA's heatwave right now, but seriously this weather is bumming me out. Maybe I wasn't meant to experience two winters a year...

Also, in unrelated news, I really miss my bike and the research is speeding by like a metro train. Go figure.

Video!

2008-06-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm in São Paulo and although I normally accompany my time in Brazil with area-specific posts, I just had to get something off my chest. I promise after I'm functioning in the proper time-zone, I'll say something more meaningful.

But for now I just though I'd point out that hey, I'm famous! If you watch the below video to around 2:40 you will see me and Alina. At around 3:00 you will see our tent neighbor David. If you needed hard evidence that I participated, here you go:

Enjoy!

AIDS Life Cycle, end of Day 3

2008-06-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick update to summarize life on the AIDE Life Cycle 7:

- We are currently in Paso Robles. Yay wine country(though I would never drink the night before a 100 mile ride), and yay for paying too much money to sleep in a real bed!

- I can barely walk, sit, or do much of anything with my legs tonight. I guess 250 miles in 3 days is more than my body can take. I also suppose it doesn't help that I developed a new injury just one week before the ride. But, the Physical Therapists, Chiropracters, and Sports Medicine people (not to mention the bike techs) have made my riding possible. Thank the gods!

- I've never felt so much agony and inspiration at the same time. Weird stuff this athletic masochism.

And boy did I miss a lot of news over the last few days... I'll update again when I can spare the time.

Transformation

2008-05-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

At some point during the 2007-08 academic year I lost all control. In addition to the dissertation, I decided to participate in a number of other ventures that quickly took over my life leaving very little time to enjoy much of anything else. My own wedding capped out a very busy Winter quarter and, fittingly enough, the California AIDS Life Cycle will close the Spring quarter. These two events, though quite different, have served as important punctiation marks in the most hectic of academic years. (And just think, I was on fellowship this year. Imagine what would have happened if I were a TA!)

As a ritual of life passage, the wedding was psychologically transformative and wonderful in ways I never expected. This AIDS Life Cycle process is something quite different. For the last 6 months I've devoted my weekends and a few week days to training for the craziest and longest ride of my life. As the training rides of have extended to 80, 100 even 200 miles in a weekend, I've watched myself do things I never imagined. I've become really sensitive to certain foods (keep me away from granola and do not stand between me and my soy chocolate milk after a long ride), and I've also discovered that I like to climb hills. A lot. But all of these physical changes are going to be nothing compared to what I will likely experience next week. It's going to be tough and amazing and everything in between. I'm not sure I'm ready for the intensity of it.

I'm nervous and exhausted. I freely admit that I haven't been blogging due to an absolute lack of energy. I'll probably have a lot more to say when I'm done with the ride and looking forward to my next research trip in Brazil (that trip will commense a mere 5 days after the Life Cycle is over). I'll likely having some better insights for this blog at that point, but for now I wish everyone a safe week with peace and tailwinds.

Beijos.

Peace and tailwinds. kg

Collision

2008-04-18T12:27:00.001-07:00

A few weeks back I got hit by my first SUV during my daily commute. Luckily, I didn't get hurt but the timing and circumstances were rather auspicious. Just that morning I had shared stories of bike accidents and the normal trials of my daily commute. See, Alina and I have a route that while not the safest nor most dangerous ride on the west-side, it is certainly prone to road rage and idiocy. Two streets in particular, Barrington and Ohio, regularly feature cars not noticing that they are on a bike route. Ohio serves for many west-siders as an alternative to Santa Monica Boulevard. What this means is that cars treat it like a major thoroughfare when it is, in fact a two lane roud complete with stop signs and driveways. The culprit for my moment of impact was a silver Lexus SUV that was attempting to take a right turn on Federal Ave. Normally, we cyclists look for such signs as slowly swerving towards the curve or ::gasp!:: a directional signal of some sort. This Lexus did nothing of the sort and slowly drove right into me. The driver had a look of panic on his face when he heard the sound of my bike colliding with his door. He did not stop to see if I was ok (the nerve!), and continued to drive.

I'm sorry: whenever a driver realizes that he or she has hit a cyclist, they have a minimum obligation to stop and ensure that the cyclist has no real injuries. My shoulder hurt for a good three days after that accident. Not two days later another SUV pulled out of a driveway on Ohio without looking both ways and nearly hit me. This time I had enough time to yell, "WATCH OUT!" and avoid an accident. But seriously, people, is it that hard to treat moving vehicles like moving vehicles? I know we bikes are smaller, but the street in question is a popular bike route!

Needless to say, I've been much more paranoid on my rides. Maybe it didn't help that I recently spend a weekend sharing memories of a deceased friend and cyclist. Or maybe it's that the drivers are losing their sense of sharing roads. I try not to think of my riding as a full-contact sport, but sometimes I wonder.

Should I Take This Prank Personally?

2008-04-16T22:42:00.000-07:00

From last Sunday's LA Times: USC Student All Wrapped Up, But Not In Studies. I don't know if its the fact that this student society targeted cyclists (aren't we targets already?), or that the justification was that only early morning lecture attendees would suffer, but the whole prank feels so... personal. Do we as academics-in-training bear some of the responsibility for this type of failure in priorities? (And no, I'm not attempting to diminish much more significant evidence of failures in our midst.)

In upgrade news, I have officially given in and am now riding slick tires. Ask me some day if climbing big hills is any easier. On the commuting end of things, I don't sense much of a difference aside from the lower level of noise.

Fatigue

2008-04-09T07:25:00.001-07:00

The training continues! I spent the weekend juggling my other commitments with cycling well apart from the AIDS Life Cycle crowd. Yesterday, Alina and I finally rode the Topanga Canyon loop. This is my new favorite L.A. area ride. Yes, it is climbing intensive (over 2300 feet), but the views are beautiful and the seclusion from PCH is incredibly peaceful (minus the racing cars and motorcycles, of course). Just before Thanksgiving of last year, we tried to ride up to just the corner of Topangan Canyon and Old Topanga Canyon Road for the first time. That ride was very difficult for us. Yesterday, the first 3-mile hill was no problem nor were the other hills in the loop. As the first real measure of my progress since I started doing longer rides, the Topanga ride was probably one of the most satisfying experiences in recent months. I felt like I had conquered a monster.

Today, I am off to Helen's to get new tires. I got a really nasty flat yesterday just 1 mile shy of Santa Monica. As I was changing the tube I noticed that the only reason why I haven't had more flats is my tire liner: it was all chewed up. The holes in my back tire are so bad that you can literally see them from the saddle. Clearly, a change is necessary. (Also, it's a great opportunity to downgrade to something smaller, say a 25cm tire.)

For those of you wondering where I've been for the last few weeks, I feel that I should inform you that I took on a second job for the spring quarter AND I am sitting-in on my advisor's social theory seminar. Both of these elements mean that blogging is generally the last thing on my mind. The job is for a good cause and the money is certainly nice. I keep telling myself that I won't let it distract too much from my research, but I can't be sure. This much is true: my fatigue is palatable.

Coming soon: comments on LA's new Bus Rapid Transit and getting hit by my first SUV during my commute.

Century

2008-03-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Alina and I did our very first century. For those of you not hip to cycling slang, a century is any ride that entails 100 miles or more in one day. Our century ended up being around 103. Positive Pedalers, a cycling group for people living with HIV / AIDS, sponsors a century ride every year from Santa Clarita to Ventura and back in the memory of cyclist and activist Paul Hulse. Almost everyone who participates is part of the AIDS/LifeCycle in one form or another: they are planning to ride, they work for the organization, or they plan to be roadies. It was a beautiful and relatively easy ride (meaning that when there were hills, they were rolling hills as opposed to steep climbs). Our scenery included orange groves, mountains, and beaches, which was awesome. It all would have gone without a hitch were it not for a few factors:

1) Alina and I had never ridden more than 65 miles in a single day and we didn't ride the previous weekend due to that wedding of ours.
2) Alina suffered from 3 flat tires during the ride. It turns out that her back wheel had a sharp object lodged in the tire-wall and her rim-tape was cheap. Curses!
3) The vegetarian lunch was incredibly low in protein.

Oh well. Due to the protein issue, my energy level crashed beyond repair around mile 80 (well before my fellow riders). I suffered from much more fatigue than anyone else in my immediate riding circle and it wasn't until I realized that my lunch was lacking that I stopped feeling shame about it.

Strange things happen on centuries. All of the minor quirks of riding have the potential become major discomforts. Many people complained of numb wrists and... uh... nether regions. I was lucky enough to have my discomfort limited to fatigue and some slight tension in my neck. Everything else, like muscle soreness, rapidly disappears with rest. My right knee did not give me any real problems which bodes well, I think, for riding 545 miles in 7 days. Now, all I can say is that I'm really thirsty.

I've learned something important in my training process: every time I break through some new threshold, say riding a lot of nasty climbs in a short period of time, or riding more days for longer distances, it always feels more difficult than it actually is. One of the training ride leaders explained to me that it's that anxiety of newness that contributes to one's perception of difficulty more than the energy required to complete the task. And from what I can tell, centuries will probably be the same for me. When I got home last night (yeah... centuries are all-day events), I wanted to fall asleep... at 7PM and I was really thirsty. So yeah... Newness.

Now to return to that gallon of water...

Awareness Test

2008-03-27T15:19:00.000-07:00

Do you ever want to know why nearly every time a motorist hits a cyclist they say, "but he/she came from out of nowhere!" Check out this cool awareness test from Transport for London.

And for the record, I failed miserably and kept looking beyond the group. Tells you how safe I am as a cyclist...

In Memory of a Student

2008-03-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

As graduate students, we often don't feel very connected to the undergraduate community. I know that my interaction with the major constituency at UCLA is extremely limited. But in my time at UCLA, I got to know Elias Ibrahim, a physiological science major who once took History of Rock n' Roll. For those of you who don't read the daily bruin or who don't notice major uproars on facebook, you may have missed that this extremely bright and warmhearted student recently passed away. Elias distinguished himself as being that brave student to ask a funny, but somewhat inappropriate question in an extremely large lecture hall. My colleague, Erica, had just given a guest lecture about Bob Dylan during the early 1960s and Elias asked, "But why does he sound so stoned?" Twenty minutes later, the professor of the class, Robert Walser, shot back, "So do you, dude!" It was a funny moment and he took it well.

Since that class, I had seen Elias everywhere around school. It seemed like he was always on campus getting involved in something. He always acknowledged me when he passed me on Bruin Walk even if he didn't remember exactly how he knew me. (This is all too common to TAs... students often don't recognize us outside of that teaching context.) I had my last conversation with him at the UCLA Bike Shop, where he and I were both doing some minor maintenance on our bikes. I had seen him there before, and we struck up a conversation. After a few minutes, he realized that I had been one of the TAs for the Rock n' Roll class. He told me he enjoyed the class, that it wasn't what he expected ("We learned the entire history of American Popular Music! We really got the big picture!), and that he was looking forward to medical school. As a teaching assistant, I rarely get that kind of affirmation years after the fact.

I didn't know him well, but that brief conversation with him in a different context, where I wasn't his teacher but a fellow bicycle commuter, allowed me to see how deep his involvement was in the UCLA community. Everyone in the Bike Shop knew him. And I'm pretty sure that his reach into campus life would have continued had he survived this last weekend.

I wish all who mourn for him the best. He will certainly be missed.

Blogging Hiatus

2008-03-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

I feel that I have to apologize in advance, but I won't be posting much if at all in the coming weeks. Not only is it crunch time for a certain second dissertation chapter (which I was supposed to complete 3 weeks ago), but it's also that time of the year when certain conference abstracts are due as well as the last round of fellowship applications. But more important than any of these things, my partner and I are having a commitment ceremony in 12 days out in the desert.

So while I may still be riding my bicycle (in increasingly larger quantities by the week) and thinking critically about musicology, I really can't spare the emotional energy to blog about it all.

I'll see you all on the other side.

Cross-posted on Musicology Matters

New Identity

2008-02-25T21:27:00.001-08:00

According to another day ruined, I have a new name: Richard S. Chang. Huh... I've got to admit I'm puzzled. Maybe it will be my new blogging alias. At other points when he quotes me, I have the name "unknown." Strange indeed.

It is ironic since this blog and my other blog are part of a concerted effort to not hide who I am. Thus is the blog life.

Bike Moves

2008-02-24T08:45:00.000-08:00

Watching these two streetfilms about Bike Moves gave me both a rush of inspiration and a mild sadness. A bike move is when someone changes residence and moves all of their belongings only through the use of bicycles. So cool! (Watch the videos to see how it has been done in Portland, OR and Brooklyn, NY.) I seriously doubt this would work for my next major move after I finish the PhD. Has anyone in the alt transportation or biking blogospheres ever heard of this? Please, let me know. It could make for a fascinating post-graduation event!

Fantasies aside, I doubt this would work and I'm pretty sure that all of the activists in these two films would laugh at me for such a rapid dismissal of a Bike Move's feasability in my near future. ::sigh:: I await answers!

I must admit that I seriously doubt that a Bike Move would work in the LA area. Oh Los Angeles, you have so far to go! Just to clarify the origins of my pessimism, I recently completed a City of LA Bicycle Advisory Committee survey. The questions were rather frustrating (i.e. the very idea that fear of "helmet head" could compete with the dangers of careless drivers or debris in the streets as major deterrents for bicycle commuting). I doubt the city is actually serious about improving things if they don't include other municipalities in their plans. The argument persists that last year's survey resulted in the new bike lanes along Santa Monica Boulevard, but I don't think these lanes are the answer. Until there are safe routes through Beverly Hills, for example, I have very little hope.

Star-Sighting From My Saddle

2008-02-23T15:26:00.000-08:00

On my ride back from the AIDS Life Cycle training ride, Alina and I had the good fortune to spot Edward James Olmos at the corner of Westwood and Pico. We made eye contact. It was AWESOME! All the exhaustion my legs felt after a 50-plus mile course through Bel Air, Mulholland Dr (via Stradella), Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Culver City, disappeared the instant I saw him. I literally felt an unexplainable push to ride on. The man exudes motivation even when he's out of character.

This officially made my week.

Big Fatty and the Fleeing U-Lock

2008-02-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was not just Super Tuesday, but also Fat Tuesday and the last day of Carnaval. In my universe, this means that I voted 2 weeks ago by mail, woke up at 5:45 AM for a 6:30 ride with the good people at Shifting Gears, volunteered for our TA Union for few hours (rather unsuccessfully, I might add), picked up a package from the post office, did busy school things (research, went to the gym, attended a lecture), and then bolted over to Santa Monica's Temple Bar to play for its annual "Big Fatty" Mardi Gras event. Whew! Yes, ladies and gentleman, I had a very busy and long day.

But there were some highlights:
– During my early morning ride, I discovered that my knee injury is frighteningly common. I heard a bunch of cyclists talking about doing their time on the "foam roller of pain" to avert knee problems later in the day. And yes, I did my time on the foam roller, and yes, it was very painful but necessary. The whole situation with my t-band and knee makes me very sad because I can't run, and I certainly can't dance. You see, I went to a friend's wedding between Christmas and New Year's, and my little knee chose that night to become a big problem. It was horrible because on the surface, my refusal to dance made me look like a drag on the party mood. So sad! And I have another few parties on the horizon (not to mention the basic dancing I do when I get excited from playing music) and not trusting my right knee to do its job makes me sad.

– While riding from UCLA to the Temple Bar along Wilshire, my U-lock decided to free itself of my bike and fly into traffic. This has happened before. In the past, I was fortunate enough to be riding in a relatively safe area for turning around and I successfully returned it safely to its home on my bike frame. Last night the U-lock's attempt at emancipation occurred while I was rapidly riding down Wilshire between Federal and Barrington during the height of rush hour and bad visibility. Ever since the City of Los Angeles opened the bus lane (which bikes could share) to regular traffic, the ride down Wilshire has been significantly more dangerous. There was no way I was going to turn around to find my lock and I had to let it go. One rather pressing problem remained: how I was going to keep my bike secure while playing the gig? I stopped at a sporting goods store, but they only had coil lock (boo!). Out of desperation, I rode down to Santa Monica Blvd's Cynergy Bike Shop and, lucky for me, they were still open for 5 more minutes. With a new U-lock in hand, I headed over to the Temple Bar and played some good Bahian-style Brazilian music.

– Last Saturday's ride to Palos Verdes was great. I rode a total of 55 miles that day and still went on to work on my dissertation chapter for a good 3 hours. Perhaps I am finally learning how to do something else after a big training day. Also, I have discovered that I am a better than average climber. By no means do I like hills, but I love getting to the top. Also, I had no knee trouble on Saturday! Yay!

– I am now four dollars within reach of raising 1K for the Aids Life Cycle. Will you be that fabulous person to help me hit 40% of my goal? If you are feeling inspired, donate here. I get that very few people read this blog, but if you happen to be passing through and want to donate to a good cause, there is no reason to hold back!

Ok. That's all. Today will be my first day off my bike in over 5 days.

Street Films

2008-02-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

My new favorite website by way of billtron on all things involving urban living is StreetFilms. Those of you who want to know what life is like in a bicycle friendly city should check out their features on Bogotá, Colombia and Davis, California. (For the record, a similar beautiful urban thing also happens on Sundays in Rio de Janeiro even when it isn't Carnaval. Can you tell I'm experiencing some serious saudades?)

Such a beautiful way to celebrate the best of urban living!

P.S. An update on Saturday's ride to Palos Verdes is on the docket.

Block/Injury

2008-02-01T15:24:00.000-08:00

Just to dispel any rumors:

1) I am suffering from a flare-up of a right knee injury.

2) I am in the midst of a nasty bit of writer's block.

Both of these problems will eventually subside, but I have some rather pressing deadlines. Tomorrow I will embark on a 45-mile training ride to Palos Verdes. I will also submit a draft of my second chapter to a dissertation reading group. Clearly, I am feeling a tad bit out of time and luck.

Deep Canyon

2008-01-29T09:20:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday the clouds and rain finally gave way to clear skies for just enough time for the AIDS Life Cycle training rides to get on their way. Let me tell you, after a week of being strapped to a stationary bike at the gym, I couldn't have been more excited to get out and ride. The week of rain still caused some disruptions, though. We left our meeting point in Culver City a little late because we were waiting (in vain) for more riders to show up. We also had to change our route due to the closure of the Ballona Creek bike path. But all was well. The ride was much more challenging than the climb up Bundy two weeks before. We eventually made our way through Beverly Hills and up Benedict Canyon on our way to Mulholland Dr. At a certain point one of our ride leaders asked, "so are you all feeling masochistic or do you want to do the normal ride up." Being stupid, I nodded my head along with the others and we proceeded to ride up "deep canyon" for the last part of our climb. All six of us who chose this route suffered together, but I was having special problems that day. I recently purchased new biking shoes, and while I had no problems clipping out, I was having a some difficulty clipping back in. This was especially clear on the steep climbs where there just wasn't enough time to get the right footing. I eventually had to stake out enough space to go down first and then turn back up the hill. And the climb itself was extremely painful By the time I reached the final crest to see the view of the valley, I felt sick to stomach. That was "deep canyon." Never again.

We spent another hour or so riding around Mulholland which was great and totally frightening. There isn't enough space for all the cyclists who like to ride around up there and many of the expensive cars don't really know what to do with us. This is me at the corner of Mulholland and Encino Hills. While it isn't very flattering and you can't see the snow-capped mountains behind, it is evidence that I was there.

According to people who saw me later that day, I was beaming with happiness. Good day! Too bad Alina couldn't make it out with me.

bikes, money, and class

2008-01-22T16:47:00.001-08:00

As is well-known, bicycling tends to appeal to a vast array of people. What tends to receive the most attention in the news-media (especially magazines), however, are the upper-middle class weekend warriors who shell out tons of money on their bikes and related gear. I hear stories all the time of people who spend upwards of 4K just for their frames. Damn! So when I encounter strange tensions and statements like the ones I referenced just over a week ago, I wonder how much it has to do with consumption and class.

If someone wants to go faster and be stronger, they probably have a fair amount of money that they are willing to invest in the sport. Racing and training isn't for the weak of mind nor the weak of wallet. And even the people who love their low-riding bicycles spend time and money fixing them up. That's just how it is. And just this weekend, I spent a fair amount of cash on new shoes and pedals. (My wallet didn't exactly cry, but it wasn't happy.) For this reason, this discussion about fixing up used bikes made me exceptionally happy. It's wonderful to see people from within such a consumption happy hobby talking about sustainability an using a bike to its full extent. Hurrah!
And in regards to the larger point about class, I clearly have much more to consider here. I'll post again once I've thought about it some more.

Lost Weekend

2008-01-19T18:38:00.000-08:00

I never though this blog would lead to my first quote in the LA Weekly, but it did just that last month. Further proof that my bicycle is getting me more fame these days than my research. I really need to google myself more often.

In other news, I missed a 60-mile ride to Palos Verdes to do the good work of my union. All is not lost from a biking standpoint: my pitch for donations yielded some results. Yay for donations! I also managed to squeeze out 22 minutes of time on a stationary bike at school before they announced they were closing early for the holiday weekend. Boo! And I was so entertained by watching CNN pundits discuss just why Hillary Clinton won Nevada by 51%. Sometimes I wonder if the constant stream of commentary ruins our political process.

Tomorrow I am in for yet another day of unioning. I wonder if I can work in a ride after it's all over. I've never so anticipated the end to the weekend. I blame my bike.

Riding at Dawn

2008-01-15T10:10:00.001-08:00

When the alarm went off at 5:20AM this morning, I thought it was a joke. Alina hit the snooze button and we eventually rose from my bed at 5:30AM. Two days ago I heard about a bicycle training group that does morning rides during the week called shifting gears. They were formed from a bunch of AIDS Life Cycle riders (back when it was called the California AIDS Ride) who wanted to continue their training after the event was over. The only problem (is it a problem?) with their Tuesday rides is that they meet at 6:15 and start riding at 6:30AM. Ouch!

We got to the meeting point much earlier than everyone else. Some of the regulars were a little late today, so ended up leaving around 6:40AM. (What is that, 15 more minutes of sleep?) All was good, though.It was cold. My fingers felt frozen, and it was dark enough that I should have brought a back light. But the ride was beautiful. Apparently, many cycling groups do their daily training that early in morning (who knew?) and at various points, the size of the cycling crowd felt comparable to a critical mass event. Of course if I said that to the speed demons passing us on the way to the marina, it probably would have started a scuffle. There is so much competition among cyclists...

The best part about this ride, though, was watching the sun rise over the water as we headed to the bridge at the end of Ballona creek. The water may be dirty, but it sure is pretty to look at when the sky is pink and orange. There were rowing crews on both sides of the bike paths. It was gorgeous and made the 5:30 wake up time almost worth it. Almost. Maybe I'll be able to pull off an early morning ride again on Thursday.

Life Cycle Training, Week 1

2008-01-14T10:14:00.000-08:00

Saturday was my first official group training ride with the California AIDS Life Cycle folks. For a grand total of 28.5 miles, we rode from Culver City along Ballona Creek, through Santa Monica, up through Brentwood (along Bundy) to Mount St. Mary's College, through the VA, back to Culver City. Combine that with the ride to the meeting point and back, and my total for the day was almost 40 miles. Pretty cool. I discovered that I'm a strong beginner for a group cyclist. I keep a good pace, and I have good endurance. I can also climb steep hills (I did the last part of the Bundy hill 2.5 times!). Woo hoo!

I do have a lot of learn about riding in big groups. Since I am a commuter, I don't follow group rules very well. I'm not accustomed to stopping when it isn't absolutely necessary, and I am definitely not used to always yelling out signals and warnings to other cyclists. I am much more used to yelling at passing cars who are trying to run me off the road. During my worst 5 minutes on Saturday, I couldn't unclip on my right foot resulting in cutting off the ride leader. It was horrible. After he advised me to get used to alternating my feet for unclipping, I tried unclipping the left foot for the next stop sign. You can probably imagine what happened next: I proceeded to crash when I couldn't figure out how to properly shift my weight. When I replied that I didn't really hurt myself, another rider said, "But you hurt your pride." Ummm yeah...

After the training ride, we headed over to a training workshop where we didn't learn very much. Since I have already had my bike professionally fitted to my body (best decision ever!) and my only knee injuries have been a result of other activities, I didn't really learn much. It was sad. Most of what they talked about was common sports sense and the rest of it was so technical and performance-oriented that I can't see myself caring. Do I really see myself getting VO2 tested and strapping on a heart monitor?

My experiences Saturday did further elaborate something I had only vaguely perceived before: the huge cultural rifts within the biking community. I am a commuter which means that I don't care too much about speed: I'm happy to be outside and not using cars. Most of my decisions regarding gear have to do with practicality. Of the cyclists who ride on roads (as opposed to mountain-bikers), I am the extreme opposite of the weekend riders/warriors who drive their bikes to meeting points even if it is within 5 miles of their homes. I have also heard road cyclists complain about triathletes. I can't really understand this. Aren't they way more athletic and well-rounded than the rest of us? Whatever. The way I see it, the more people who ride the better. I also heard some smack-talking about bike messengers. Again, I am completely mystified. Maybe I'll better understand the more I take part in group rides.

Ghost Bikes: Agents of Change?

2008-01-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

Just two days ago, I was riding to a doctor's appointment when a woman in a Prius nearly ran me off the road. (This was near the intersection of Westwood and Wilshire.) I yelled at her as I almost slammed into her. I suspect she didn't hear a word: her eyes were clearly focused on entering the parking structure at the Oppenheimer tower. Minutes later my drive chain got stuck between two gears in the middle of the intersection and I felt like I was dead in the water. Talk about scary!

But this brings me to another point: ever since I started commuting by bike, I have noticed that a high frequency of my scariest incidents on the road involved Priuses. (Rarely do my fellow riders believe me on this one.) My doctor confirmed the point. She owns both a Prius and a Civic hybrid and said that Priuses have such terrible visibility that it forces safety-conscious drivers to be especially vigilant on the road. My favorite comment of hers was when she said, "I myself avoid being near Priuses on the road." I am wondering if Toyota is aware that their cars are so dangerous for their fellow vehicles in low emission. It makes me sad that their incidence of near accidents is so close to the other big offenders -- SUVs -- the polar opposite of the Prius in terms of political and environmental ideology. (Full disclosure: my partner and I will likely purchase a Prius in the near future.)

Speaking of dangerous road conditions, the Ghost Bike project is finally getting some widespread attention, not for the project itself but for how it has inspired Portland, Oregon to become even safer for bicyclists. The recent surge in bike-related deaths in the city, which in the past may have caused me to doubt the city's level of safety for bicycles, have contributed to an increased level of activism and awareness within the city's cycling community. And what a result! After the high profile death of an LA cyclist at the corner of Santa Monic Blvd. and Wilshire last year, there was a lot of anger and awareness. It pales to the activism and awareness that produced results like Portland's.

It makes me genuinely jealous. Can you imagine a clearly-designated space for cyclists to wait at intersections like Portland's "bike boxes" in major cities around the country? Surely such a move would help with visibility problems and an awareness that there are bikes out there. What I especially like about the article is its frankness in discussing the type of driving maneuver that causes the most accidents: right-turns at red lights. It was certainly a right-hand turn that produced my scary moment just the other day... So, when is moving day?

New Year's Resolutions

2008-01-02T10:38:00.001-08:00

I normally don't make resolutions, but since I have made some clear goals for 2008 (many of which are related to cycling), I'd put them in the most appropriate place.

1. The AIDS Lifecycle

For years I have promised myself that when given the clear opportunity to participate in the 7-day, 545-mile ride from San Francisco to LA to support AIDS-related services at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, I would take it. This year, I have no reason to be stuck in LA for the first week of June, so Alina and I are taking the plunge. Why not? We were already planning to make a bike tour of California. We already ride around Southern California for various social events. And we have an activist streak that makes this event ideal. If you feel inclined, please support me (emotionally or financially) on my lifecycle homepage here.

2. Finish the Majority of my Dissertation

This is a self-generated goal designed to allow me to live my life in approximately 18 months. I want to finish my PhD before I turn 30. To do that, I need to defend and file my dissertation with enough time to receive my degree and walk in June 2009. Goals don't accomplish themselves, so here is my mini-goal for 2008. To do that, I need to have a real writing schedule and a clear plan. It's all in the works (and incredibly private), but here's the public component. Please hold me to it if you catch me blogging in excess.

3. Bike More Whenever Possible

I'm pretty sure resolution 1 and my general habits in LA will take care of this resolution, but so will doing the sort of things I did yesterday. For New Year's Day brunch with my family, my partner and I rode down the coast to Long Beach. Sure, I wasn't quite ready for a lengthy power-ride (we finished around 46.5 miles in total), but it was great to remind myself that these things can be done even when one has spent 5 weeks away from the bicycle. I've always taken the saying "spend New Year's Day doing what you want to do all year" to heart and I think riding around in a relatively car-free Southern California on New Year's Day was a great way to do it.

It helps that the City of Santa Monica has installed more bike lanes around town in the last month. Those simple lines of paint (and the accompanying reduced vehicle traffic) encourage me in very direct ways for my daily life.

Speaking of encouragement, I've heard a rumor that one of my best friends is moving to Topanga either today or tomorrow -- get this -- without his car. He's also training for the Solvang Century ride, so I will be gaining another cycling buddy. Awesome!

4. Reduce My Injury and Illness Frequency

This kind of goal can only be accomplished through care and persistence. Perhaps some professional guidance as well. (I'm wondering how expensive that will be...) For quite some time I've noticed that my body doesn't respond well to sudden bouts of high-impact activity. That sort of activity stopped well into my 20s. Take my recent knee injury, or the infamous bout of wrist and elbow injuries that started around the time I finished my MA Thesis nearly 4 years ago. For over 7 years, I've noticed that the only way to keep my illness frequency down is to be good to my body. It's just common sense, but well worth noting.

5. Lose 5 Pounds of Emotional Baggage

Kind of speaks for itself and I think it is way more practical than the fitness goals that drive gym memberships up during January. Anyone ever notice how long that influx lasts? Right. Losing 20 pounds of fat is not a very practical goal for January, but I do think working on how one emotionally reacts to the world has a small chance of actually succeeding. Also, I think the bike-related and diss related goals will help with this one.

That's all for the public resolutions. Happy 2008 everybody!

Return of the Bicycle

2007-12-13T04:17:00.000-08:00

Despite much temptation, I refrained from following up about the LA MTA and its bad decisions, despite regular coverage by the national press, local opinions and a rumored LA Weekly article circling about. I am personally waiting for someone more versed in the particulars of LA transit history to weigh in on the matter (I really wish that Mike Davis had a blog).

Anyway, I'm done. As we say in Portuguese, "acabou!" Focusing solely on transit in LA makes me extremely sad, especially when there is increasing evidence that city residents and commuters aren't taking care of their most vulnerable populations. It's enough to ruin my week.

It is for this reason that I present to you, my casual and loyal readers, the return of the swing bike! Not since last winter's rage for fixed-gears has a bike seemed so interesting. Imagine a completely impractical bike made solely for the souther California beach-biking culture! There's no commuting, no going on tour, and definitely no dodging cars in traffic: it's just pure fun. I know too well the importance of fun in promoting bikes within car-saturated SoCal; it was definitely a huge factor in my "bicycle awakening" four years ago. My only hope is that the swing-bikes don't get too disruptive when I take the beach route along PCH, that is if they catch on.

In my temporary locale of Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro a swing bike would be far too impractical. With the plethora of cargo bikes and mountain bikes that I see every day, I couldn't imagine it having a place. (Also, considering the near monopoly that caloi has here, I can't imagine alternative novelty bike such as these becoming popular.)
And with that, I leave you with a swing-bike poppin' a wheelie.

Scooting Across America

2007-12-10T12:25:00.000-08:00

One of the things I hope I someday have the guts to try is travel across the U.S. without a car. And, in keeping with the theme of this blog, I present Rucking Across the U.S., a travel-blog of scooting across america on a ruckus scooter. These scooters are way more tough than my Kymco, but they are still pretty small. Thanks to billtron for the link!

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On another note, buses in Rio de Janeiro cost more if they are air-conditioned. Today the temperature was well above 38 degrees centigrade. I shelled out some cash to avoid the heat for my research travels around the city. And I was far from the only one. I watched people let empty, non-air conditioned buses pass them by to catch those frescão (air conditioned) buses even if it meant waiting in the heat and standing up the entire ride. Summer in Rio is some serious business.

Car-Free No More?

2007-12-08T04:45:00.000-08:00

My car-free status in Los Angeles may be threatened in the somewhat near future. Last night I received an email from my partner that she wants us to buy a Prius after the field portion of her research is done. I honestly don't know when that will be, but it looks like it might be happening before the end of calendar year 2008. This would be a huge change for me, mostly because I would actually be a part of the car-owning masses once again. At the moment the only vehicle under my name is my little scooter, the Kymco People 150.

Partner has a gas-guzzling truck for research purposes that I occasionally use when I visit my parents or when the two of us go on backpacking trips. (Edit: Partner has just informed me that at 25mpg, the truck is not a gas-guzzler. My apologies.) But it isn't my truck (hence the title of this blog!) and it has never felt that way. I don't know how to park it well, I only drive it when I have to, and if I had my druthers I would never have to use it. A car-free existence for me is a happy existence. It is from this perspective that the somewhat imminent purchase of the Prius forces me to pause. Will this be a life-altering purchase? Will I rejoin the LA car-culture once again (complete with regular complaints of traffic, parking, and rising gas prices), or will the Prius maintain the status of the truck: a rarely used necessity mostly for trips that won't suffice on two wheels. I guess we shall see. Maybe I'll rebel and purchase a high-end electric scooter. We shall see.

More Sad Decisions from the MTA

2007-12-05T08:13:00.000-08:00

It's been a real winner of a year for those who ride the MTA in Los Angeles. First, to pull itself out of a serious financial shortfall (of 100 milliong dollars) that had nothing to do with ridership, the MTA voted to raise the rates of daily and monthly passes. That's right: punish the people who ride the most and who are in the most need of affordable transportation to cover for financial problems.

Then just last week, the LA Times announced that in order to save money on the Metro subways and light-rails, the MTA is––get this––spending more money on unnecessary turnstiles. They first announced such a consideration last week. So sad. As today's LA Times shows, I'm not the only one who feels this way. Those LA residents who have used the turnstile-free train system relished the freedom and ease of paying for your ticket and almost never being questioned during the ride. It is a beautiful openness that reflects the best of Southern California. Apparently the original reason for not using turnstiles was both a matter of safety and an attempt by the city to encourage ridership. This is all based on the fact that it does indeed feel better to ride public transportation when you are trusted to do your part. I would even say it encourages civic pride, something all too absent in Los Angeles.

Overall, I think the most dismaying part of the decision to add turnstiles is that this decision comes at the same time that plans to extend rail access to the west side are in jeopardy due to NIMBY-ism, and two of LA's major east/west thoroughfares are about to become one-way roads. As my sympathetic observer from today's LA Times states:

There is, finally, something dismaying about the plan in purely symbolic terms. This MTA move to close off the transit system comes at a time when politicians are pushing a variety of misguided plans to allow cars to move more freely through the region. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's support for widening the 405, paired with the new proposal to turn Olympic and Pico boulevards into streets that would act as one-way thoroughfares during rush hour, make it clear that shopworn transit strategies more appropriate for 1950s Los Angeles than the 2007 version still have plenty of political currency.

Word. We are in dire need of better transportation planning. Now.

Sound-System Bikes and the Modernities of Hauling Music

2007-11-30T06:08:00.000-08:00

Cross-posted on Musicology/Matters.

When I first started my bicycle blog a few weeks ago, I thought it would be an excellent outlet for me to relay stories and observations of my car-less day-to-day life in Los Angeles. What I never expected, however, was how rapidly I would begin to make connections between my life as a musicologist and my life as a cyclist. And then I saw this photograph:

Yesterday, the nation’s “newspaper of record,” The New York Times, published a piece about bicycles in Queens equipped with sound systems. While I think it is wonderful that the Times is covering this alternative mode of blasting music into public spaces, I have to wonder why it has taken so long for this most esteemed newspaper to notice what has been apparent to me for a very long time: people will carry anything they can on a bicycle if the situation demands it, and they will even do it in ways that prevent efficient riding. From touring bicyclists who sleekly carry all their supplies for extended rides to homeless people who obsessively collect and stack their belongings on old bikes, the range of persons who improbably carry large quantities of material on a bicycle is huge and has been this way for a long time. In my area of LA, it is perfectly normal to see people riding to the laundry-mat with their bikes loaded with baskets. And I am describing a supposedly affluent area.

What bothers me about this sudden “discovery” of sound-system bikes is that there is nothing really new about it, whether you are describing the precarious stacking of equipment on a two or three wheeled self-propelled vehicle or the creative use of technologies to remake urban spaces. How many times have you seen someone riding by on a bike with a boom-box? Yes, it is interesting and even “strange” to see people improbably carry large amounts of cargo, but it isn’t a foreign concept to me. Go to any Critical Mass Ride, for example, and you are likely to hear music moving with the multitude of bicycles. Where is it coming from? Fully-loaded cargo-bikes.

But in our techno-savvy culture, people doing things on bikes is a signal of poverty and even development.* Or, in much more rough and inaccurate terms, bikes are orientalist while iPods, cars, and other narrow definitions of modernity are occidentalist.** From my perspective, modernities are apparent all throughout the world, especially in the ways that people use and experience music. Yes, you can see more large objects on bikes and scooters all throughout Rio de Janeiro. And when the city closes down roads on Sundays for beach-crowd use, you can sometimes hear music coming from self-propelled and disabled vehicles that coexist with pedestrians in car-free spaces. The same is true for carnival: the labor for distributing beer, ice, and other beverages throughout the multitude of dancing people does not fall on cars but rather the efforts of those people who work carnival by hauling their cargo on bikes and crates instead of partying to the music. In other places like “developing” and BRIC countries, cargo-carrying bicycles are even more prominent. In some places like the big cities in China, bike lanes get the same amount of space as those for cars. But other places that fall outside this apparent development/modernity binary also have many examples of such bicycles (i.e. the Netherlands, Portland OE, Seattle WA). It just doesn’t work as neatly as one would expect and yet it persists and is reinforced in our popular media.

Take for example the opening photograph of Time Magazine’s article on the iPhone as the Invention of the Year for 2007 (print version only). In this photograph you see a fully decked out self-propelled vehicle apparently doing the same things as a woman carrying an iPhone. Also notice how the racial and gendered messages of the person who uses “low” bike technology as opposed to “high” Apple technology is mixed: it’s a white man pushing the super-loaded bike and an asian woman who holds the iPhone. According to the development/modernity dichotomy, one would expect the opposit portrayal races of the persons in the photo. My friend and colleague billtron has already written about the political and cultural consequences of such messages on new technologies of the iPod (and it was he who first told me about the NYT article). He, along with many others, notes the role of increasingly mobile music in the changing formation of communities around the world. Clearly it isn’t entirely sweet and pretty nor ugly and dehumanizing. That would be too simple an answer. Superethnomusiblogger, wayne&wax, recently presented a stunning paper/presentation (on a Saturday morning SEM panel...) on the rise of global ghetto-tech in blogosphere representations of the global south, among other things. All of this points to a not-so-subtle fetishization of technology and poverty/"the ghetto" in recent uses of mobile music, fully-loaded bicycles included. (NYT reporter Corey Kilgannon does his part to reinforce this representation of ghetto-tech by emphasizing the racial difference of his interviewees in the above article.)

And I wonder, as gadget lust spreads throughout the world, what that means for those people who see no problem with strapping some speakers or a boom-box to their bicycles? Or better yet, what would it mean to the U.S.’s persistent posturing as a fully developed country if it were to consistently show signs of poverty through public displays of creative consumption of old technologies, like bicycles and analog stereo systems, mostly known in places of the global south? Such very large questions.

Which brings me to the larger theme of this blog. Fundamentally, every aspect and connection I make about music, modernities, and their connection to improbable uses of technology draws from a plurality of identities. I am a musicologist who specializes in Latin America with a serious affinity for sound culture studies and urban spaces. I also ride a bike. Sociologists and linguists sometimes call these modes of identities and idioms "codes"; in this instance, I am code-switching more than I normally do. Very rarely do I get to flex so many different critical muscles at the same time, but in such cases of recent portrayals of bicycles, technology, and "the ghetto," it is entirely necessary that I do so. In a recent invited music lecture at my home university, a professor in the audience likened finding one's theory/methodology to cooking from what's available in your refrigerator. I love that metaphor. My response today is shaped by so many aspects of who I consider myself to be in this very moment: it just so happens that I am currently engaged in an extended visit in Rio de Janeiro which undoubtedly influences my reactions. Everything counts and eventually contributes to how we shape ourselves as scholars, especially those of us engaged in inter-disciplinary musicology.

*Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994).

**Fernando Coronil, The Magical State: Nature, Money and Modernity in Venezuela (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997); Néstor García Canclini, Hybrid Cultures: Strategis for Entering and Leaving Modernity, translated by Christopher L. Chiappari and Silvia L. Lopez (Minneapolis: Univeristy of Minnesota Press, 1995); Néstor García Canclini, Consumers and Citizens: Globalization and Multicultural Conflicts, translated and with an introduction by George Yúdice (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001).

Bikes & Sound Systems

2007-11-29T15:19:00.000-08:00

From today's NYT: Bicycles That Carry Powerful Beats, and Even A Rider or Two. Seeing that I am currently on a long research visit to a country where bicycles carry all sorts of improbable things (i.e. matresses, ice, boxes of groceries, supplies, clothinng on hangers, etc.), I don't really know how to respond to such coverage by the NYT. Now that I think about it, this probably deserves a more lengthy exegesis after I've had some time to consider it as a cyclist/musicologist studying in a BRIC country whose economy is experiencing a huge growth spurt. (Don't even get me started on a recent demeaning picture of cargo-carrying bicycles from Time that announced the iPhone as the "Best Invention of 2007" –– I'll just start throwing things at you.)

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In other news I discovered that there is a church for Brazil's infamous Igreja Universal near my apartment tonight when I heard a huge crowd singing their praises. Aside from being involved in controversies like money laundering and fraud, the Igreja Universal is known for being staunchly against all spiritual elements from Africa (which, by the way, are a strong but unofficial part of Catholic practice here). For whatever reason, their music is both overwhelming and boring. It isn't surprising that I much prefered my previous situation where I was living next to a Catholic school.

Sounds of Living and Moving Around in Rio

2007-11-26T05:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't been using an alarm clock. I live next to a morro (hill) called "Cantagalo" or "rooster crows" because of the omnipresence of roosters in that favela. However, one of my neighbors has "saudades" of the countryside and keeps parrots and roosters as pets. Every morning the local roosters start to crow at 7:30AM. That combined with the other roosters on the morro makes an alarm completely unnecessary. Even if I'm exhausted and only get 5 hours or less of sleep, I still wake with the roosters.

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On my third day in the city I heard the sound of guns firing from one street away. The police were invading the favela on Cantagalo from the "Boca de Fumo," or drug-dealing point, in search of a man who had accidentally caused the death of an Italian tourist a few weeks back. The family who owns the apartment where I live instructed me to close the window and to not let the traficantes (drug dealers) see that I see them. It took me a good 4 hours to recover from that incident.

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As I was running along the beach in Ipanema yesterday, a I heard a loud siren coming from behind me. I turned my head to see what was coming at me in the same moment that I was trying to avoid a pot hole in the running/bike path. A bicyclist travelling along at top speed skidded as he expected me to move out of the path completely. I apologized after I figured out what was going on and lept up to the barrier. The cyclist yelled at me, "Você é campinha," or "You are from the country!" I know that it was my mistake but in my defense, I am much more used to hear yells of any sort or even bike bells rather than an ambulance siren in a bike lane. Note to all cyclists: if you choose to cycle in an area also frequented by runners and pedestrians like a beachside path, do not use a siren that could be mistaken for something else. Not effective!

I never use bike bells and siren mostly because I don't want to crowd my handle-bars. Yells work just fine for me, but I generally avoid riding through areas frequented by runners. It's too bad that cyclists and runners here share the same narrow paths all around the city. It can't be safe.

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I went to my first concert/show of the trip last night. Soft-rock hit-maker from the 80s, Marina Lima, perforned a free show at the Lagoa to commemorate the day to denounce violence against women. She is one of a few "out" singers in the MPB scene and the audience clearly reflected her popularity with lesbians. Nearly forty percent of the crowd were gay women, a group in Rio that is normally invisible in comparrison with the men of Rua Farme de Amoedo (the gay street of Ipanema).

I was pleased that Lima played some of her most recent recordings that reflect a sensibility more akin to performance artist Laurie Anderson. There was minimal techno and plenty of monologues with musical accompaniment. In general those songs were much more effective than her old hits from the 80s. She has recently reinvented herself in much that same way that Everything But the Girl did in the mid-1990s: techno programming is apparent and tasteful but not overwhelming. One of my contacts in the music industry informed me that this transformation is the result of damaged vocal chords that can no longer sustain the aggressive, full-throated style of ballads. Since she couldn't rely on her old vocal style, she had to find other creative outlets for her music. It was an incredibly satisfying evening.

Honk for Louder Horns

2007-11-23T04:26:00.000-08:00

From today's opinion section in the LA Times, Honk for Louder Honks, or yet another reason why we need more sound/aural culture studies in daily life. I've never read such an efficient argument for the place of sound in the Los Angeles commute. If I were to stretch the writer's argument to its most practical applications, all users of two-wheeled transportation are in the most need of some serious sound-making strength. But of course, Swati Pandey fails to even consider us. So sad.

Single-Serving Public Relations

2007-11-21T10:26:00.001-08:00

Cross-posted at Musicology/Matters

Here's a fly-by-night post from the road:

I love that scene in Fight Club where Edward Norton explains the concept of a single-serving friend in reference to travelling on airplanes. From the perspective of his character (Bob, is it?), every experience on airplanes comes in single-servings including one's social relationships. And he's right. I'm currently stuck in an airport Santiago, Chile on a (::gasp::) 7-hour layover (don't ask) on my way to Rio de Janeiro and I've just finished with 10 hours of non-stop single-serving friendship-building that I liken more to public relations.

This friend was no less than an eager undergraduate off to South America for his first extended stay. He only spoke English (which was a little disappointing since I couldn't practice my Spanish or Portuguese) so free-flowing conversation was inevitable. But the moment when I was forced to pause was when he asked me what exactly it is that I do. For this student, nothing I said made any sense and I found myself faced with a completely different side of the doing-what-you-love / guilty-pleasures discussion that we've been having over here. That is, are we in trouble if we can't explain the merits of what we do to a college-educated citizen?

Giving the simple, "I study music" answer simply does not suffice for a 10-hour plane ride of mostly undivided attention. Nor does a mini-lecture rapidly culled from all of my first-day experiences in front of a room full of undergraduates. The big difference in this situation is that this single-serving audience doesn't start the conversation expecting to hear about musicology. Even more to the point, this person doesn't necessarily care about the humanities or social science perspective (or my feelings, for that matter). For this moment of single-serving public relations, I found myself without the crutches of GE requirements that normally force otherwise passive consumers of culture to listen and participate.

So what do we do when we basically have to defend our field(s) of study to people with very little patience for the academy, especially those non-applied "ologies" that have a very difficult time seeming relevant? Oh, you know you have faced this same quandary. This debate has been raging for years. Most of the time I ignore the starkness of this reality; I continue to study what I love without guilt and pick my methodologies with care all in the pursuit of doing good work and contributing to the academic conversation. I also teach with enthusiasm and hope that I engage as many students as possible. I try my best to forget those uncomfortable conversations with family or old friends who really don't understand how studying what I love could be a career. But these discussions are very much about about public relations and sometimes I wonder if we, as a group, couldn't be doing a better job at it. For example, maybe we should insist that those conversation openers not end with "I study music," but rather begin there. Such brief explanations rarely help.

I don't know. I am trying to not to read too much into one of many similar conversations I've had in the last few months (make that years). Maybe I'm just tired from not sleeping on a long, bumpy flight. Maybe I will take over that couch on the other side of the lounge...

The Three-Mile Hill

2007-11-18T16:46:00.000-08:00

I've been telling myself for years that someday I will ride through Topanga Canyon. Well, today was the day. I had no really good reason to think that I could take a three-mile hill after not doing any serious training in months, but seeing as I'm leaving tomorrow for one full month away from Los Angeles and my preferred modes of transportation, I thought I'd go out with a bang.

I didn't pick Topanga Canyon arbitrarily. My partner and I had a big brunch date with my family (niece included!). The idea behing the brunch was to substitute for the big-meal bonding which normally occurs during Thanksgiving. I won't be in the U.S. for that holiday, so today was the day. For our brunch location, I selected Inn of the Seventh Ray, an awesome natural foods restaurant in the heart of Topanga Canyon. Forgetting about the intense elevation climb into Topanga, I proposed the idea of a bike trip to my partner. Her response was an enthusiastic yes. (For the record, she thought the ride up Topanga was only a few blocks.)

So we braved the cars of Santa Monica and PCH to make it to one of the most challenging climbs I've done in LA County. It was awesome and beautiful, but am I ever out of shape! Plus, I managed to get a flat rear tire. My partner commented that I am accident prone since the last time I rode up PCH I blew a tube. Whatever. This time I changed the tube all on my own (awesome!) and thoroughly enjoyed the sights of riding at full speed down the three-mile hill. It's always much rewarding to do the majority of the climbing effort during the first half of any ride longer than 10 miles.

Stats:
Total distance: 27 miles
Total elevation gain: 750 feet
Sharpest elevation increase: 500 feet in one mile
Total calories burned: 1100

For the sake of keeping this blog consistent, I'll try to blog about the city life in Rio (where public transportation is much more widely used) while I am there. Otherwise, have a wonderful holiday!

Time Away from Cars Will Do That

2007-11-16T16:34:00.001-08:00

Today my partner and I used her truck to take our new cat to the vet. Unfortunately, our vet's office is a good 7 miles away and requires driving through some serious cross-town traffic. Since I rarely travel by car, I noticed a few things that I normally have the privilege of ignoring.

1) Many people in LA do very stupid, high-risk things when they drive around town. Bicyclists normally complain about drivers paying more attention to their cell-phone conversations than to their surroundings. That and raw aggression are the things that scare cyclists the most. Today's stupidity on the road was illuminating on a completely different level: cars running red lights just to make it ahead by two car-lengths or expensive sports cars cutting off large trucks. I wonder if they think they are bulletproof.

2) The WGA strike is bad. We drove by Fox Studios on Pico and just seeing all of these people who are out of work because of a contract dispute was so sad. There's a big difference between reading about a strike and seeing the people involved. I hope it ends soon.

Needless to say, I've never felt so alien in a vehicle. Time away will do that.

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In unrelated news, something fundamental has changed in the last 24 hours. Yesterday, I was a musicology student working in Schoenberg Music Building. Today, I get to add another famous musician when I talk about the fundamentals of doing my research: I am a musicology student in Herb Alpert School of Music working in Schoenberg Music Building. I'm still not sure what all of this means, but damn!

VW Beetles in Pairs

2007-11-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

In São Paulo, where you have one beetle, you always have another.

Thanks billtron for the link!

Safest Bicycle Cities

2007-11-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

Here's yet another reason why I wish I lived in Seattle: Bicycle Master Plan Approved. The Seattle City Council just passed the Seattle Bicycle Master Plan in order to, "increase bicycling and improve bicyclists' safety in the city." I only wish LA were so progressive.

And while we're on the subject of cool cities, the Wired blog recently published Where Are The Most Bicycle-Friendly Cities in the World. It's odd how bicycle-friendliness tends to go along with other great civic features like good public transportation and a good helping of hippies. And just to give some cheers to the left coast: 3 of the 4 U.S. cities to make the list were on the west coast. It's too bad I'd have to travel a good 380 miles to be in such a city... There's always hope for the post-doc.

Update: What's even better? The comments on the Wired article indicate that the study reeks of ::gasp!:: Eurocentrism. On a related note: today I discovered that the only remaining copy of the above book in the UCLA Research Library was damaged with pages torn out. Who does that anyway?

Another Update: For a city that made the Bicycle-Friendly list, Portland sure has a lot of Ghost Bikes... Maybe the criteria that Wired used needs to take cyclist deaths into account.

Bicycles and Academia

2007-11-08T07:33:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the fall term, I was asked a funny question by a motorist during my morning commute to campus:
"Are you north campus or south campus?" (The UCLA campus is somewhat arbitrarily divided into north and south campus with most of the humanities/social science/arts departments in the north, and the science and engineering departments in the south. The music building was constructed during the height of post-WWII serialism and is positioned right at the intersection of the two, while the old physics building, renamed "Humanities" in the last year is in the north.)
I answered, "Technically, my building is right between the two."
The motorist yelled, "What's your major?!"
I answered, and he said, "You are north!"
I doubt that this motorist was taking a survey, but he did bring underscore something that has been on my mind recently: is there a relationship between field of study and likelihood to prefer bicycles?

The number of cyclists at UCLA is growing with bicycle parking in central campus literally becoming congested for the first time since I've been here. It has gotten to the point where I no longer use my bike to get around campus and rather park it for the entire day as I would a car. The one population that has been consistent about bicycle use are the graduate students, post doctoral scholars and researchers, and a few professors. Of the people I know who commute by bicycle, I would say that the number of scientists who go car-free is slightly higher than north campus types. But I think the proportion is changing as more people lose their patience with driving a car in Los Angeles. Just the other night I met a philosophy grad student who proudly rides a LeMonde road bike. And I know of two colleagues in my department who want to buy bikes, and another who is trying to familiarize herself with the treacherous ride through Beverly Hills (one of the most dangerous neighborhoods for bicycles) from West Hollywood.

Is there something iconic about the cycling academic? A recent promotional spot for MTVU (MTV networks station dedicated to the university set) intended to make fun of professors showed a middle-aged man in tweed parking his bicycle. On my ride home, I often see professors with their briefcases strapped to their bikes and many grad students riding home. My brother-in-law tells me that every academic he knows prefers bicycles. I've been pondering that comment for years. This is a topic that I will have to continue on a later date. Now, about that dissertation of mine...

Being Sick on the Bus

2007-11-06T17:16:00.000-08:00

The worst thing about being sick is not being able to ride my bike. Thank goodness west LA has two wonderful bus lines in addition to the standard Metro system. When forced, I use the Santa Monica line that runs right in front of my house. It's an interesting bus line, and I often feel guilty that the only reason I take the bus is because my other options just won't work. I get exposed to all kinds of people, not just my neighbors, but also a wide variety of people who regularly go car-less in Los Angeles. This is an extremely diverse group and I get to engage with people and the city in such a different way than riding my bike.

A few years ago, a colleague and friend of mine (on a recently-abandoned blog) discussed how easy it is to escape racial diversity in Los Angeles as compared to cities on the east coast. Clearly much of this has to do with class issues and public transportation here. But it isn't just an LA issue. Many people all over the U.S. are afraid of public transportation, not just because there is a certain amount of loss when a person must share space in public, especially during one's commute, with people that are from very different walks of life. For example, whenever I go to Atlanta to visit family, I take the MARTA train from the airport. The people who ride that train are either travelers who only use the train when the airport is concerned, or they are daily commuters going to work. The differences between these two types of people is visibly evident not just in their dress, but by race, age, and social class. The tension on MARTA is clear and like other public transportation systems, people rarely talk to each other. Another friend, billtron, is actually spending a good portion of his dissertation discussing individual and group listening practices in the New York City subway system. In this system, iPods (and soon, mobile phones) are integral to the lived aural experience on the subway. People don't look at each other, and unnecessary talking to strangers is rarely an acceptable thing to do. But subways in New York have a very different character than public transportation in other places. Simply, you can't read Los Angeles through the MTA,* the way you could other cities where the transport system cuts across more sectors of society.

I like buses, but the buses in LA are a mixed blessing. They are really the only public transportation currently available on the West-side (well, the entire city). They are the only affordable way to get to LAX (even though it is painfully slow), while other parts of LA like Pasadena have light-rails.
In the last year, there's been a lot of buzz that the city is going to develop more trains to offer some well-needed traffic relief going from downtown to the beaches. As recently as last week, the LA Times ran two stories about the challenges the city is facing as it plans to expand rail service to the west side. Not surprisingly the two biggest challenges come from neighborhood resistance in the form of NIMBY-ism, and higher expenses having to do with waiting so long to engage in a project of this type. (Remarkably, the resistance isn't coming from Beverly Hills, but Hancock Park and Miracle Mile.) It's sad. And I could go into the history of why this happened, but that's already been well-rehearsed.

In the end, my complaints about public transportation would really be half-hearted. Fundamentally, I want to be able to take my bike on a train to visit my parents, as opposed to enduring a 50-mile bike ride that is excessive for a weekend visit. But really, I generally only ride the bus when I am otherwise immobilized. By the time these new trains are finally implemented, I probably won't be living here anymore. Rails would be nice, but the bus system here is functional.

Today, I actually broke a major rule of bus patronage: I talked to my neighbor. It wasn't more than a sentence or two, but it happened. It was the kind of conversation that would never have fit in any other social situation, and it made me happy.

*Although you could certainly come to some fascinating conclusions through such an analysis (as many already have). See, for example, George Lipsitz, "Learning from Los Angeles: Another One Rides the Bus," American Quarterly 2004: 511-529.

Hello!

2007-11-06T15:48:00.000-08:00

Is going car-less in Los Angeles a sign of rebellion? I am not sure. But it is definitely disruptive to some people. Nearly every time I ride my bike or scooter to a social event, be it drinks at a bar or a party in Hollywood, my friends look on with concern and often ask if I want a ride home. At first I didn't care. Also, my mother and friends often offer to let me borrow their cars when they leave town for long periods. (To be fair, I have said "yes" a few times, but often the car just sits in front of my apartment unused.) The frequency and consistency of such offers has me wondering if my car-less status disrupts the status quo of happily existing in the Los Angeles area.*

I am sure that some of these generous gestures stem from concern from my friends and family about the danger of riding a bicycle in the single largest car-culture in the country. (Just to settle this right away, I was injured repeatedly during my first year of riding in Los Angeles. One accident involving a metro rapid bus, and most other mishaps had to do with clip-less pedal problems or flat-out stupidity on my part.) And I also gather that many people don't want to "put me out" and "force me to ride," as though it were a burden for me to exercise to get around town. Yes, riding a bike is exercise, and sometimes it is even dirty. I try to take care of this minor problem by carrying an extra clean shirt or by cleaning up before officially engaging in social activities.

I don't need to spend an entire post telling you, my currently non-existent readers, why I love living car-less in Los Angeles. Nor do I feel compelled to discuss the reasons why I think more people should ride bikes in this town. That isn't my point, rather, I just wanted to officially say "hello."

*Full disclosure: I was a car owner in Southern California for 8 years. Six of those years were spent living in the LA area.