It's October. There's nothing like a ride on a beautiful Fall day:
Happy Sunday!
Happy Sunday!
08 October 2017
07 October 2017
If Marcel Duchamp Had Done It....
Last week, I gave the students in one of my classes a very short piece of writing. Some said it looked like a haiku and, perhaps, it bears a passing resemblance to one. I asked the students why that particular piece of writing--which doesn't rhyme, at least not in the way of, say, a ballad or sonnet--was published in a poetry magazine.
At first, there was the silence of students afraid of seeming ignorant. But I reassured them that I wasn't looking for a right answer: I just wanted to know what they thought, and why.
Then, a student pointed out the imagery and figurative language. Another student said the piece of writing didn't rhyme but had "echoes"--internal rhymes. Finally, another student mused, "Well, the writer said it's a poem and the people at the magazine thought it was a poem. So I guess it must be a poem."
I still don't know what to make of that answer. I told him--and the rest of the class--to take a look at Marcel Duchamp's "Bicycle Wheel"--which, in fact, is a bicycle wheel in a bicycle fork mounted upside-down in a stool--and ask themselves whether or not it's a work of art.
Funny I should give that assignment and, soon afterward, come across this:
Police in Springfield, Missouri are investigating what they are calling a "property situation" at a house that's been vacant for some time. In addition to the bicycle wheel hanging from a tree, there are bicycles and parts strewn about the property. Bicycle tires had been thrown through windows. A large trampoline hung from the chimney and a smaller one, with a bicycle on it, topped the house.
When police officers asked a man at the house next door whether he knew what happened, this was his reply: "Bicycles." Other neighbors wouldn't talk to the cops. An employee at a nearby Domino's pizza said she noticed the bike parts, but not the trampolines, a couple of days earlier.
Since no one seems to know how or those bikes and parts ended up on the property, some folks--including a writer for a local newspaper--wonder whether it was an act of vandalism or an art installation.
Hmm...If Marcel Duchamp had done it...
At first, there was the silence of students afraid of seeming ignorant. But I reassured them that I wasn't looking for a right answer: I just wanted to know what they thought, and why.
Then, a student pointed out the imagery and figurative language. Another student said the piece of writing didn't rhyme but had "echoes"--internal rhymes. Finally, another student mused, "Well, the writer said it's a poem and the people at the magazine thought it was a poem. So I guess it must be a poem."
I still don't know what to make of that answer. I told him--and the rest of the class--to take a look at Marcel Duchamp's "Bicycle Wheel"--which, in fact, is a bicycle wheel in a bicycle fork mounted upside-down in a stool--and ask themselves whether or not it's a work of art.
Funny I should give that assignment and, soon afterward, come across this:
Police in Springfield, Missouri are investigating what they are calling a "property situation" at a house that's been vacant for some time. In addition to the bicycle wheel hanging from a tree, there are bicycles and parts strewn about the property. Bicycle tires had been thrown through windows. A large trampoline hung from the chimney and a smaller one, with a bicycle on it, topped the house.
When police officers asked a man at the house next door whether he knew what happened, this was his reply: "Bicycles." Other neighbors wouldn't talk to the cops. An employee at a nearby Domino's pizza said she noticed the bike parts, but not the trampolines, a couple of days earlier.
Since no one seems to know how or those bikes and parts ended up on the property, some folks--including a writer for a local newspaper--wonder whether it was an act of vandalism or an art installation.
Hmm...If Marcel Duchamp had done it...
06 October 2017
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)