Here’s this week’s Clarendon Cycles column, in which I suggest that Arlington County could do a better job of integrating bikes into its own transportation strategy. At the very least, getting parking enforcement on bikes strikes me as a no-brainer.
Year: 2012 Page 10 of 11
It started out early last year.  A friend suggested that I think about joining him (and a couple other guys) in an attempt to ascend Kilimanjaro.  Getting a view of Africa from 5,895 metres/19,336 feet?  Who *wouldn’t* want to do that?  As exciting as the idea was, though, I just couldn’t make it work in the planned timeframe.  So it was with no small amount of jealousy that I followed along with the planning as I helped out with some of the provisioning over the year (they’re based in Dubai, which is sadly short of excellent stores like Casual Adventure and REI).
Then in October, one of the original crew fell ill and the trip got pushed off to February.  I let it roll around in my head for a while, and by the time we were in December, I knew I couldn’t skip this.  So I signed on, and from there the trip snowballed.  What started out as an in-and-out summit attempt with a few people turned into a six person Kilimanjaro expedition.  Then (assuming no one died or otherwise did something inconvenient), we’d head to Zanzibar – adding a few more adults and children – for some rest and recovery.  And since it was on the way home, why not hit Addis Ababa for a few days?
So that was the plan for my February. Â Interested in how it worked out? Â The first of several installments is on the other side of the jump.
Hey, look what else you can check out of the local library, now:
Are you as tired of talking about CaBi as I am? Â Even if you are, it’s still growing and will definitely be changing things in Arlington this year. That’s the subject of my new Clarendon Cycles piece.
A few months ago, I decided to join a very good friend’s long-planned attempt to ascend Kilimanjaro. Â A few days ago, I got back from that attempt. Â So now I’m going to try and tell the story.
Not that there’s been much action here lately, but there’s going to be something of a gap. I’m hoping I can occaisionally update via phone from the road. If not, back in a few weeks …
Sometime soon, set aside an hour and listen to an incredibly powerful edition of This American Life, looking at the origins of an iPhone (or really, any one of the shiny things that play a regular role in your life).
When I first heard this Blawan joint, it took me straight to the early 90s, but I couldn’t quite place it. Â Getting Me Down:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RJy2-F2irA[/youtube]
Turns out I just didn’t keep Brandy within reach:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzpLkcfBe-A[/youtube]
Ta-Nehisi Coates draws a very apt comparison between what Ron Paul and Louis Farrakhan have offered their youthful supporters.
As surely as Ron Paul speaks to a real issue–the state’s broad use of violence and surveillance–which the America’s political leadership has failed to address, Farrakhan spoke to something real, something unsullied, which black America’s political leadership failed to address, Both Paul and Farrakhan, in their glamour, inspired the young, the disaffected, the disillusioned.
I’d never drawn this parallel in my own mind until reading this piece. Â But when I think back to the early/mid 90s and my friends who were drawn into the orbit of the NOI, or who traveled to the Million Man March – they weren’t there for Farrakhan’s crank theories and anti-Semitism any more than most of Paul’s younger supporters are there for his effective support of homophobia and racism.
But as sure as the followers of Farrakhan deserved more than UFOs, anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories, those of us who oppose the drug-war, who oppose the Patriot Act deserve better than Ron Paul[.]
Quite.