I like New Women

Bikes! Women and bikes! Women on Wheels! Sisters in Cycling! Cycle Chics! I'm eating it all up. nom nom nom. Perhaps this topic will grow into that undergraduate research I'm trying to create at VT. So far learning about the history of women taking hold of the bicycle for independence has been captivating. Go Women suffragists, she-roes of the bike movement, yay Susan B. Anthony with your wise revolutionary words.

"I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives a woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. The moment she takes her seat she knows she can't get into harm unless she gets off her bicycle, and away she goes, the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood."

Here's another she-roe, a really cute one: http://cyclingsisters.org/node/59

Best women on wheels history I found: http://www.annielondonderry.com/womenWheels.html#_ednref19

Short video history lesson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URYIlDqQ9Tg&feature=player_embedded (ok totally just bought this book) http://cycleandstyle.com/2011/01/wheels-of-change-how-women-rode-the-bicycle-to-freedom/

Here I blog

Three weeks since Velo-city Sevilla with conference reflections synthesized on the League's blog, I find myself more empowered than I've felt in months. The feeling is comparable to that of Powershift 2007, where the youth climate movement first sucked me in and I began my journey as a passionate environment activist on the Virginia Tech campus.

I started this blog for many, many reasons. Listing them is not fun, but here and there I'll emphasize why. Reason one: I am lucky. I'm currently studying sustainability abroad in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland with great friends (many of them EC'ers and ES'ers) from Virginia Tech. I represent a top percentage of extremely lucky human beings whose parents are well-off and can afford to send me across the Atlantic Ocean with a Eurail pass in hand. Yes I come from one of the leafy cozy suburbs of Washington D.C. My parents worked hard to achieve their American dream and now I get to wreak these benefits by experiencing all that there is to experience in life: planet earth. My peers and I often recognize how priviledged we are, couch surfing and traveling freely, ingesting and embracing Europe's environmentalism, Green Parties and rich organic local culture. We've experienced so much. It's unbelieavable. And while my republican parents did not intend to fund a tree-hugger (bike-hugger?) with strong progressive eco-ideals in hand, that is the daughter mother nature gave them, me! Never the less, what I take away from Europe, whatever incredible adventures and remarkable people I run into, I hope to share these experiences with all who care to listen. An inspiring lady in my life, Ms. Jane Vance, taught me an important lesson in her Creative Process class (a life-changing must take class). She illustrated through the power of storytelling, the ability to captivate the hearts and minds of those who listen. Because of her class, I am alive again.

Europe has allowed me time to continplate my actions, ambitions and activism. Thus, this blog is a creative outlet. A space to gather thoughts, reflect and transform incredible experiences into empowering stories in hopes of touching the lives of others. Perhaps, those who are not as 'lucky' as I can gain from them. Europe has many sustainability success stories. I'd like to bring the ones I learn of home.