701 days!
That’s how long had passed since our last “measurable” snowfall.
I used quotation marks because “measurable” is the term used by weather forecasters. I’m not denying its appropriateness. Rather, I am wondering how else they could have described whatever snow we’ve had: I think many people didn’t even know that any had fallen. For that matter, I can’t remember the last real (I know that’s even more vague than “measurable!”) snow we’ve had.
Although I believe he would be on the right side of just about any cause you can think of, I try not to speculate too much because, well, we can’t know for sure. For example, many in the LGBTQ community, and our allies, have made him into one of our would-be advocates. I think he would have spoken up for us, but he would have joined with us slowly and carefully, as he did when he voiced his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was, after all, a pastor in a church that included many socially conservative congregants and clerics. Even many of his more secular political allies saw homosexuality, let alone any sort of gender variance as a pathology or even a form of criminality.
I have little doubt, however, that he would have endorsed, or at least approved of, bicycling for transportation as well as recreation. After all, he was known to ride—and he looked happy on his bike. But more important, I believe, was his growing awareness that he was working for economic justice. (This is a reason why some believe that he might have joined forces with Malcolm X had they not been assassinated.)
He probably would have seen the bicycle as a vehicle, if you will, for achieving those goals. Not only are bicycles relatively inexpensive and accessible, they help to reduce the environmental ills that disproportionately affect people of color and with low incomes. Also, cycling, like other forms of exercise, helps to combat diseases that—wait for it—also afflict the poor and people of color.
Hmm…Perhaps Transportation Alternatives and other cycling-related organizations should have a portrait of Martin hanging in their headquarters.
I written about bicycles in the military. Turns out, they’ve been very useful in, among other things, reconnaissance missions.
That got me to wondering whether spies have used bikes in their work.
Turns out (I know, I used that phrase already!), the great minds think alike. Or, at least, I think like my people: Apparently, someone in Italy had the same idea!
It was in Tyrol, which some other Italians argue isn’t really Italy: sono tedeschi. So I’ll go with “great minds!”
