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Link log
8.12.2004
God I Love Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, always one of my favorite writers, has another excellent essay in In These Times, I Love You, Madame Librarian
8.6.2004
Nuts! Bunghole
Here is yet another reason why LBJ is my favorite modern president (via)
Lemons! For Everyone!
Harper has a really well-written post up over at Lemons.
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[LEMONS]
5.25.2004
I Hate My Bike
I hate my bike. I hate cycling. I hate spending 20-30 hours a week straddling metal tubes and rubber tires. I hate lycra and chamois pads and pockets in the back of shirts. I hate tires and pumps and the SPD pedal system. I hate that I know what the SPD pedal system is. I hate that I have two pair of SPD-compatible shoes. I hate shaving my legs. I hate staying hydrated. I hate Clif bars, Balance bars, PowerBars, ProMax bars and Tiger Milk Bars.
I miss plain old bars, where they serve vodka and beer and everyone is pudgy and pale, rather than tan and lean.
Did I mention my farmer's tan? I'm extremely tan these days, as long as you look from the knee down or neck up. Even my arms are segmented, looking all Coppertone from my mid-bicep down to my wrists, where my hands become shockingly pale, only to show color again just past mid-digit. Gloves. I hate gloves.
When I decided, last Fall, that I was going to ride in the AIDS ride, I really had not thought it out too well. I just wanted to do something where I tested out my 31 year-old body. Put it through its paces to see how it reacted, all that. I had no idea what I was getting into. I had no idea how much time would be involved in getting ready. I had no idea how much money it would take to get ready. After all, I wasn't going to plunk down my hard-earned money for a bunch of gay-ass neon yellow bike clothes. No sir. Not me. "Give me cut-off dickies and a white cotton T-shirt and I'll be fine." That lasted until my first long ride-cum-chafing extravaganza. Today I look like Sheila Kelly in Singles, clattering around on hard-plastic shoes. Except I'm not at all attracted to that dude with the beard from 30-something. But I have shelled out hundreds of dollars on attire that, while comfy, makes me look like an uber-dork. Don't even get me started on BUTT'R.
Not that it hasn't been an amazing experience. Over the past few months, I've learned more about the greater Bay Area than I have in the previous six years. I know backroads and highways, flora and fauna. I've seen scores of hawks, elk, deer, even an eagle. I've peddled in redwoods, grasslands, beaches, and Oakland. It's been amazing.
But here's the thing. When I signed up for the AIDS ride, the AIDS part of it was incidental to me. That is, I knew it was raising money for people living with HIV and AIDS, but to me it was all about the ride--the 600 miles in six days. Yet as I've trained and raised money, I've also raised my own awareness of a horrifying disease. I have to admit, I had grown to think of AIDS as not being that big of a deal anymore--at least not in the United States, where everyone knows about condoms and we have drugs that keep people alive.
But as I got involved, I realized that I had been completely ignorant.
I had no idea how many people were living with HIV and AIDS. I had no idea that infection rates were on the rise in the USA. And more than anything else I was shocked at the stigma and blame that still surrounds this disease; the notion that this is a disease that people somehow deserve. That there still is a massive degree of discrimination against people with HIV and AIDS. That this disease, which has been with us for more than twenty years now, still entails a social death that precedes the physical one (to paraphrase the tear-jerker Philadelphia).
And were it merely about the ride, the 600 miles in six days, none of this would be worth it. Fuck it, I can find some other way to get in shape without giving up all my time and most of my money. But it isn't about me. It isn't about getting in shape. It's about a hideous disease for which we still have no cure, and no vaccine. It's about the massive degree of discrimination, ignorance, fear, misinformation, and hysteria that surrounds this same disease. And for those reasons, it's well worth it. All the time, all the money, all the sore muscles and stupid clothes; they're worth it.
And although I've already hit my fundraising minimum, I haven't done nearly enough yet. There are only a few days left for me to raise money before it's all over. So if you have not already, won't you consider making a donation? It's tax-deductible, and benefits the San Francisco AIDS Foundation--which puts on the event itself ensuring that your money goes towards helping people with HIV and AIDS, not overhead.
And as to my bike. I still love it, I do. (If you're reading this, I LOVE YOU BICYCLE, J/K LOL!!! OMG! U R HOTTT!!!)
But I am ready to retire the BUTT'R and bust out the Dickies. And really, aren't we all?
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