Are there people you don’t really know but encounter as you go about your daily routine, and the seeing of them is something you come to expect? There’s the woman around the corner from your house who is already out gardening as you head to work early in the morning (you think of her as pink-sunhat-Gardening-Woman.) There’s an elderly Asian gentleman you see as you drive past the park, and the fellow is slowly going through the movements of tai chi (perhaps without realizing it you label him as: Old-Chinese-Guy-who does-tai chi.)
Well in my town, I’m pretty sure that my role in the lives of the people who are driving about on errands or working at their jobs in the post office or the bank is: Yellow-Jacket-Bicycling-Guy. Though there are days when I have a shoot and need to use my car to transport myself and my gear someplace to work, there are many, many more days when I’m working at home editing photographs or corresponding with clients. If I need to make a trip to town, I ride my bike.
I like bicycling. It’s good exercise, cheap transportation, and easy on the environment. When a local environmental education center recently put on an Earth Day event called EcoFest, a friend who owns a bike shop and I volunteered to host a bike booth. Our intention was to demystify bicycling by handing out bike route maps and free safety ”blinky-lights,” encouraging our neighbors to consider a bike as one of the ways they can get around. EcoFest also gave the folks in town a chance to better get to know Yellow-Jacket-Bicycling-Guy.
So many individuals -- particularly kids -- have respiratory problems these days. Bikes are one way we can all breathe cleaner air.
Here are links:
EcoFest:
http://www.stillwatersenvironmentalcenter.org/
Perpetual Cycle:
http://www.perpetual-cycle.com/
Puget Sound Clean Air Agency:
http://www.pscleanair.org/
Kitsap Transit:
http://www.kitsaptransit.org/
Port Townsend Bicycling Association:
http://www.ptbikes.org/
