En Vive B Vivit: A UBI Scholar Teaches Other Women

One year ago tomorrow, I reported on the scholarships Quality Bicycle Parts (QBP) was offering scholarships for women to learn bicycle mechanics at United Bicycle Institute's (UBI) school.  It's being offered again this year.

One of the great things, at least to me, about that scholarship is that it's open to all types of women, including trans folks like yours truly or anyone else who identifies as female or femme.  

Now, you might wonder how such a thing is an advancement for women, as being a bike mechanic isn't the steadiest (in most places, it's seasonal) or most lucrative work.  Learning the bicycle inside and out at a place like UBI can help someone prepare for other work in the bicycle industry, whether as a shop owner or for companies like QBP.

In fact, what's being offered isn't just a "mechanic's scholarship", as some of the bicycle press has reported. Rather, it's a Professional Repair and Shop Operation curriculum.

The only qualification, aside from gender identity, for a candidate is current employment in a bike shop in the US or any of its territories.  The employment needn't be paid:  interns, volunteers and trainees will also be considered.  Thus, I imagine, someone working in a community recycle-a-bicycle program would be a candidate. 

The deadline to apply is 2 November.

The 32 women who win the scholarships will attend the February 2019 classes in either of UBI's Oregon campuses. (Ashland and Portland)  

If you are one of the lucky ones, there's a chance that one of your instructors will be B Vivit, who graduated from the course last year.

B Vivit (left) at UBI's school

At that time, she was the floor manager at Huckleberry Cycles in San Francisco.  After the course ended, she was giving feedback to some of the instructors via text. "They recommended I apply to teach," she said, "because they overheard me helping other students and teaching during class."

That sounds like as much of an endorsement as any:  The course uncovered a talent a student could contribute to, not only the UBI, but the world of cycling generally.  After all, to paraphrase someone whose name I won't mention, it isn't just about the bike.

Oh, by the way, Park Tool, one of the sponsors of the scholarship, supplies each participant with a travel tool kit she can take home with her.

I Am Happy To Pass My Wrench To Them

Yesterday I "outed" myself in the Women's Studies class I teach.

Now, I am guessing that a couple of students knew that I'm transgender because they're on the "rainbow" themselves.  And, I suspect one or two others might've known because they Googled my name and found that I indeed published and did all sorts of other things under my old name and identity.  And, perhaps, one or two might've guessed just because, well, they've seen enough different kinds of people: They're in New York, after all.

I told the students about my history because this week's readings, discussions and writing assignment were about the different kinds of feminism.  I joked that the class was going to be the Baskin Robbins of the women's movement, as we read about Black, Lesbian separatist, Asian and other kinds of feminism, as well as the ways in which feminism intersects with other areas such as the Civil Rights movement and Disability studies.

Oh, and they read a bit about  transgenders and feminism.  That, of course, was my "segue" into "outing" myself.

I will soon find out what sort of an effect that has on the class dynamic, and the students themselves.  But I told them, toward the end of class, that because I am transgender and started to live as a woman in my mid-40s, I have a different perspective on feminism--and on being a woman--from what others might have.

After that class, I couldn't help but to think about some aspects of my life as a male:  my education, my work history, the ways I related (or didn't) to family members and peers and, of course my cycling.  Though I knew a few active female cyclists--I dated one and rode with others, some of whom were members of clubs or groups with whom I rode--I wondered how much of a cyclist I'd have been, or would be now, had I lived as female all of those years.

And, of course, I wonder whether I would have worked as a bike mechanic.  In the years I did that work--on and off from the mid-1970s until the early 1990s--I never saw a female mechanic.  Oh, I saw women who worked in shops, but they always did sales or customer service.  One of those women was a partner (in a strictly business sense) in one of the shops in which I worked; another owned, along with her husband, another shop for which I fixed bikes.  In fact, it wasn't until my brief stint of fixing Citibikes four years ago, just after the share program started, that I actually worked alongside another female bike mechanic.  They, and I, were Recycle-A-Bicycle volunteers recruited for the task.

Those other female mechanics are considerably younger than I am.  I couldn't help but to wonder whether they would have learned how to fix bikes had they not volunteered for RAB--or whether they would have even been in RAB had they been part of my generation.  And, of course, I wonder whether I would have ever learned how to fix bicycles, let alone work in a shop, had I lived my teens and twenties as male.

At that time, there almost certainly wouldn't have been anything like the scholarships Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) is offering, along with other sponsors, for women to attend the two-week Professional Repair and Shop Operations class at the United Bicycle Institute.  "It's no secret that women have been historically underrepresented in cycling," says Kaitlin Johnson, QBP's Director of the Women's Mechanic Scholarship Program.  "Scholarship recipients gain a wealth of knowledge that helps them serve their communities better and helps them create a more inclusive environment," she added.

Previous scholarship recipients

In 2018, this scholarship is being offered for the fifth year.  Recipients must be able to attend the 29 January-9 February or 15-26 October classes in 2018.  Their scholarships will pay for the full tuition as well as lodging at UBI's Ashland, Oregon campus.  Recipients will also receive a small stipend upon completion of the class to help offset meal and travel expenses.

Oh, and scholarship applicants must be "women, trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming or intersex U.S. residents who are currently employed at a bike shop in the U.S.," according to QBP.  That sounds like something that would help Ms. Johnson's stated objective of "inclusion".  

Most important, it gives people like me--or, at least, younger versions of me who "might have been"--opportunities that I might not have had.  I am glad for that.