The eastern seaboard—and certainly the Mid-Atlantic—has dodged most of the winter bullets that hit the Midwest, the Great Plains, and even California (!) these past few months. Washington DC did not receive any snowfall that lingered more than a few hours. I espied the first blossoming trees on February 19, and though the blossoms at
Many years ago, I met up with a friend in Belgium who took me to the nearby Dreiländerpunkt, where Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany converge, with boundaries lines vaguely resembling the logo for Mercedes-Benz. How appropriately German. The glories of the Schengen Agreement have, since 1995, eliminated the fortified boundaries that straitjacketed these small countries for
Bicycle boulevard: it’s not just another alliteration that’s fun to say (as they usually are). It’s a topic for which aficionados have more answers than there are people asking the questions, which I recognize isn’t exactly a selling point . But since this isn’t always a blog for dilettantes, i’ll posit those questions nonetheless. What
It’s not nice. But it probably was inevitable. Earlier this summer, during a photo shoot on a weekend getaway to his beachside vacation home, a certain head of state stopped his bike but was unable to disengage his feet from the toe clamps in time. Having nothing to stabilize himself, he fell over. No serious
It’s hard to imagine this in 2022, but there was indeed an era when meme was not a part of common parlance. Such a time may be hard to conceive for the Generation Zoomers, but most older Millennials and all Xers can recall when they somehow knew and fully understood what the term means, even
It’s amazing the world of difference that a few stripes of paint can make. Thirty years ago, the notion that various municipal public works departments would overtly reserve portions of our roads as exclusive lanes for bicycles was essentially an extravagance—a weird provision relegated to a few choice roads in college towns, which were the
It’s hard to assess the exact time measurement of a single generation. How long is it? Fifteen years? Twenty? Usually not more than that. However, it’s intended typically to convey the time necessary for a person to “come of age”—that is, the duration from birth to the point when he/she is making adult decisions, including
My latest article just went up at Urban Indy. It’s a familiar subject to those who know this blog well: another ghost bike, this time in the largely suburban, automobile dependent streets of the south side of Indianapolis. Unlike my very recent article on a ghost bike in Albuquerque, this one almost certainly signifies a
Loathe as I am to wade into a subject this topical, the spatial ramifications of it are just as interesting than the content itself—probably more. So, here goes nothing: That small, seemingly innocuous orange and purple sign makes an urgent plea, the context of which should be obvious: the public schools in question are closed
The well-preserved center of Old Town Albuquerque offers at least a hint of surviving evidence of its Spanish colonial heritage, featuring one building from the late 18th century: San Felipe de Neri church. Settlers constructed this church approximately 90 years after the original founding of the Spanish villa of Albuquerque in 1706—a hamlet using the
The eastern seaboard—and certainly the Mid-Atlantic—has dodged most of the winter bullets that hit the Midwest, the Great Plains, and even California (!) these past few months. Washington DC did not receive any
Many years ago, I met up with a friend in Belgium who took me to the nearby Dreiländerpunkt, where Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany converge, with boundaries lines vaguely resembling the logo for Mercedes-Benz.
Bicycle boulevard: it’s not just another alliteration that’s fun to say (as they usually are). It’s a topic for which aficionados have more answers than there are people asking the questions, which I
It’s not nice. But it probably was inevitable. Earlier this summer, during a photo shoot on a weekend getaway to his beachside vacation home, a certain head of state stopped his bike but
It’s hard to imagine this in 2022, but there was indeed an era when meme was not a part of common parlance. Such a time may be hard to conceive for the Generation
It’s amazing the world of difference that a few stripes of paint can make. Thirty years ago, the notion that various municipal public works departments would overtly reserve portions of our roads as
It’s hard to assess the exact time measurement of a single generation. How long is it? Fifteen years? Twenty? Usually not more than that. However, it’s intended typically to convey the time necessary
My latest article just went up at Urban Indy. It’s a familiar subject to those who know this blog well: another ghost bike, this time in the largely suburban, automobile dependent streets of
Loathe as I am to wade into a subject this topical, the spatial ramifications of it are just as interesting than the content itself—probably more. So, here goes nothing: That small, seemingly innocuous
The well-preserved center of Old Town Albuquerque offers at least a hint of surviving evidence of its Spanish colonial heritage, featuring one building from the late 18th century: San Felipe de Neri church.