Update: You can now order Pedal, Stretch, Breathe directly right here. It’s an exciting day here at Taking the Lane Media’s mobile headquarters (currently located on a futon in a living room in midtown Houston, Texas). We’re publishing our first title that is entirely by an author who is not me. The zine is Pedal, […]
Tag Archives: DIY
How not to lock your bike
Posted onI have half a draft of a write-up filed away somewhere with directions for locking your bike well. But there’s honestly no single right way to do it, and no truly secure way to do it … and just writing about how it’s done bores me to tears. Reading it probably wouldn’t delight you much […]
How I make these zines
Posted onPeople ask occasionally how I make my zines, so I thought I’d write about that process. First, why publish a zine? I do it because I want to get my and others’ writing out there in the world, and now. A zine is quicker and cheaper to create than a book or magazine, and slower […]
Why I type funny
Posted onBefore someone uses my computer to look up a bus schedule or check their email, I try to remember to switch it back to normal. But often I don’t catch them until they’ve begun to type and are staring at the gibberish on the screen in baffled frustration. “Your keyboard is broken,” they sometimes say. […]
Going to the bike craft fair
Posted onBikeCraft – an annual bicycle-oriented craft fair now in its umpteenth year – is definitely a niche event. But bicycling is a major niche around these parts, and this has almost always been a stupendously good event for vendors, attendees, and organizers alike. I’ve been to all of the BikeCrafts, and even had a hand […]
Portland bike route mini-reviews
Posted onThe northbound MLK experience: A lost classic in experimental thrash riding I’ve been reading Our Band Could Be Your Life, a history of the U.S. indie music that I didn’t listen to in the 80s. The author clearly honed his catchy style writing record reviews and I was inspired to attempt a similar treatment for […]
Creating a rural bike community
Posted onNevada City California: We woke up on a farm in the foothills of the Sierras to the sound of chickens and birds and the smell of vegan breakfast cooking.
Taking back the streets, with books, by ...
Posted onPortland’s Street Books—a library on a cargo trike that serves readers who may not have a home, identification, or other welcoming access to books—has been in the news a lot lately. This charming video shows it well.
Protagonism and Horizontalidad
Posted onI’ve been reading A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster by Rebecca Solnit. Here’s an excerpt with some new words we could use around here, too. She’s talking about Argentina during its economic crisis a decade ago: “The 2001 meltdown created something akin to disaster’s sense of community. It was […]
A video tour of the bike dance movement
Posted onI’m writing about bike dance teams for one of my upcoming zines. I keep wishing I could include video clips in the zine – it’s a limitation of print, but one of the bonuses of having an accompanying blog. Here’s a selection that spans the wide and fascinating variety of what’s going on out there […]
A day at the bike fair
Posted onThe Multnomah County Bike Fair was today. The weather was perfect. Fashion flags were flying high, as were freak bikes. Here are some photos: