Recently I was in Eugene, OR, where I lived in the late 1970's. Its been awhile since I was back. Eugene has long been a great biking town. I made do easily with a bicycle and no car during the years I lived there, and I had plenty of company on the peddle back then. But when I headed over for a walkabout of the U of Oregon campus, I felt like I'd just arrived in Copenhagen. I could hardly believe the mob scene of bicycles. It went on for block after block. The contrast to the relatively tame bike culture of the 70's was stunning.
I'd been in Eugene for the Blue River Writer's Gathering. We talked a lot at the writer's conference about how to use the pen in service of cultural transformation in an era of deep ecological losses. And here was evidence of that transformation right in front of me. I logged a lot of miles on foot that afternoon, revisiting familiar old neighborhoods, and enjoying the pleasures of being footloose in a city that is bullish on self-powered locomotion.
May the virus spread!
