The Ink-Pot and the Palette

Fun with privilege:

Dottie, the blogger-in-chief of my favorite bike blog, Chicago's Let's Go Ride a Bike, wrote a wonderful post today about the positive impact bike-riding can have on the self-esteem as well as the health of people who participate in it. She's a leading advocate of everyday biking for everyday people (with a cycle-chic slant endorsing the wearing of nice street clothes while doing it).

The most salient point of her post today is this:

When your body carries you several miles to and from work every day, you appreciate your body as a tool and a workhorse. When your lungs fill with air and your heart pumps energetically, you know your body is good, without having to examine it in the mirror, searching for flaws. If society declares that your body is not ideal because you are not skinny enough or muscular enough, or your hips or thighs are too big, you know that society is wrong because your body works for you admirably every day.

Words to bike by.

( So of course some asshole has to weigh in. )

The more I ride my bike, the sharper my retorting skills become, I swear. (Also, I've been listening to Sian Phillips reading a Georgette Heyer novel, and those Regency cadences are stuck in my head.)

A wonderful thing just happened.

It started with a terrible thing. Late last night, Tom Daley, a guy about to open his shoestring bike-repair business in Southeast Portland, had his location broken into and most of his tools and inventory stolen.

( A tale of social networking and social conscience. )

Small steps, small steps. Thank you nwhepcat for making me aware, so I could pass it on. And good luck to Tom Daley, who is just trying to open a microbusiness in hard times.