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RE: This Will Change: Constructive Reply: Thank God For You
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Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Baron von Münchhausen
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Feb 05, 2007 10:22 PST
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Jess:
Sorry I missed this Mass, but I was celebrating a Hippie Bluegrass Weekend
in Pahoa on the Big Island. I did however ride a shitty tandem bicycle
around in the mud for 20 minutes on Friday afternoon, so I was with you in
spirit...
So, how was the January Honolulu Mass????? How many Beers did you have to
buy? What went down? Did you get Hassled by The Man?
We are all dying to know!
Personally, I think that your confrontational style is fantastic, maybe it
will anger some lazy bastards off their asses and out for the Mass... I also
think it is great that someone has finally come to show us all how a Mass is
SUPPOSED to be... Your "Ideal Mass" sounds like a work of Intricate Beauty
which will be a Joy to Behold...
Which other Masses have you Sheparded to Greatness? Does Harvard have its
Own Mass?
Also, it is fantastic to have another Long-Winded Poster. Recently just two
or three of us have been carrying the responsiblity of going on and on at
length just to be able to read our own words in print, so it is great to
have you aboard on that level as well.
Thank God for you, Jess.
Thank God for you.
Hope to see you all next month at Mass!
-The Other Matt (Not The Constructive One)
| | From: Jess Austin <jaus-@post.harvard.edu>
Reply-To: criticalma-@topica.com
To: criticalma-@topica.com
Subject: RE: This Will Change
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 13:01:44 +0000
hi Matt,
Thanks for responding in a constructive manner. Rereading my post, I
think I may have been a bit confrontational. Obviously anyone at a
Critical Mass deserves the benefit of the doubt with respect to whatever
they did there. It's not profound to note that different people have
different memories, and they probably had different understandings to
begin with. I wasn't around, so I won't accomplish anything trying to
figure out what happened and what didn't happen. You and any others who
were part of building CM to 70 riders are to be congratulated.
I still plan on moving forward with this. I hope it will be different
than both the ride you describe and the ones I've heard about from other
sources. Reasonable people can disagree about the best way to interact
with drivers, and my ideal CM is perhaps a bit more free-form than the
ones I've heard about here. Cyclists in a CM aren't asserting any
rights that they don't also have when riding alone.
Frankly, after commuting here for 2 months I don't concur with the whole
aloha driving thing. Perhaps the fact that 5 pedestrians were killed in
the first 2.5 weeks of 2007 undercuts that as well. Poor drivers who
kill people in the street don't do so out of insufficient aloha, but
rather from inattention and lack of skill. The more bikes we get on the
street, the more attention and skill we demand from a currently
distracted and incompetent driving population, even if some of that
population feel inconvenienced. I'm out there every day, riding within
my rights and within the law, and I like to think that even a driver who
isn't happy with my being there is at least getting used to it. Maybe
that driver will be more likely to notice the next child or older person
who isn't exactly where a driver would want them either.
I'm not a local, and I know I won't ever be. However, I can't live and
work here without caring about the community. Honolulu is not a great
place to bike, and hopefully we can do something about that. I hope to
see you at the next ride.
cheers,
Jess
Critical Mass - Take to the streets to make bicycling more than just a
"transportation alternative"
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