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Click here to place a pre-order.

Pre-order closes 3/31

*Prices are cheapest when you pre-order. You’ll be able to buy them after the pre-order closes, while supplies last.*

22 FTW artists collaborated on “FROZEN SMILES: Finding Joy Through Winter Biking” zine. The idea for this zine was born out of our collective enthusiasm for supporting each other through the darkest months of winter. It was funded by Grease Rag donations and assembled by YOLOW Zines, and made possible by our generous contributors.

“How are we seeing beauty and cultivating joy as our bikes carry us through the winter#8221;

We asked this question of our community and heard back from a diverse spectrum of artists who identify as Queer, Non binary, cis, Woman, South Indian-American, 30-Something, Introvert, white, Neurodivergent, Trans, Bisexual, Hispanic, Rural Leftist, Gay, Femme, Third Culture Kid, Trans Boy, Mixed Race, POC, Jewish, Elder, and more.

We spent Grease Rag’s money to pay contributors for their art and produce zines. Each 32 page color zine costs $8.50 to print. It took approximately 40 hours to coordinate and lay out, and another 10 hours of printing, assembling, and mailing. We offer these at sliding scale prices to keep it more accessible. If you are FTW and would like a free copy, there is a space for you to request one! Consider pitching in a few bucks for shipping, or picking up in Powderhorn. Zines will be available 4/1. This form will close 11:59pm 3/31.

All proceeds go to Grease Rag to fund free copies of the zine, and additional programming.

Thank you to contributors JJ Kahle, Xena Goldman, Karla Hovde, L. Kling, Lily Sevilla, Scout, Blue, Sol, Ilse, Adelaide, Lee Penn, Liberty Kirkeide, The Knight Ridder, Ash Hall, Annie Deutsch, Anouk V, Molly, Patrick Schwinn, olive nofzinger, Umi Hagitani, and Shruthi

After the pre-order closes, any extra copies will be available for online purchase here.

After a meet-up and stretch session in Uptown, our small crew of six WTFs was rolling at a leisurely pace from Minneapolis to Carver Lake Reserve for the 2017 Beginner Bike Camping Trip. Despite gray clouds, the rain was at bay, and the trail was awash in our music, conversation and laughter as we rode two abreast catching up with friends and making new connections.

Following in the footsteps of last year’s organizers, we pulled off at the Excelsior library for our second and final (or so we thought) stop before the campground. But, as I munched on some carrots, I casually pulled out the campsite reservation to check which sites we had — and my stomach dropped.

I’d booked the wrong campground.

Yep! Organizer botches pretty much the one and only thing that’s essential to the trip. My brain froze. Like many of you, I’m sure, I’m fully convinced that if I make one mistake people will hate me forever. I cringed as I told my fellow campers that I f*cked up… big time. The campground I had booked was another 13 miles away, on roads, in the direction of the quickly approaching storm.

Instead of anger and disappointment I was met with resilience. While our bodies were starting to fatigue, we lept right into problem solving. We called Carver and asked if they had any openings or a bike-in site; they said no. After checking in with how everyone felt, we decided to press on to Carver — and try to befriend folx at one of the group camp sites.

When I got a flat (because, OF COURSE, I would also get a flat), a couple of campers continued on to the site and made an exciting connection. An entire group camp section was occupied by the national convening of the Black Label Punks and a couple of their members, chilling by a camp fire next to a bunch of tall bikes, said we’d be welcome to snag a corner of their site — if we’d be willing to embrace any shenanigans that went down that night.

Needless to say, we were stoked.

But when our full crew rolled up, that offer was rescinded. A surly woman with a baby on her arm looked at us sideways and rallied a vote from the full group that they were NOT okay with six unfamiliar WTFs crashing their party.

My stomach dropped again. By this point, the rain was starting to settle in. It was well after 5 p.m. I was increasingly convinced that I had ruined everyone’s weekend. But somehow everyone remained determined. And positive. We decided to roll on, through the drizzle and wind, to the group camp site and see if we could tuck into an empty spot or pitch our tents, guerilla style, on the banks of the lake.

Long story short — and skipping over the first time we pitched our tents — Anne, my co-organizer of the trip, made a wonderful discovery. Despite what they told us on the phone, Carver DOES have a bike-in site. And it’s perfect. Secluded from the rest of the car camping, up a little hill and surrounded by trees, we set up camp and pitched a tarp before the skies opened and rain started to pour.

Over a cozy dinner of burritos, with fresh veggies cooked over the fire, Anne made a great suggestion. Since we’d had such an… unexpectedly eventful journey, she proposed a round of Rose, Thorn and Bud, an opportunity for everyone to share something they enjoyed, something that challenged them and something that was hopeful or emerging from the day’s experience.

For me, the thorn was obvious: I couldn’t believe that I made such a stupid mistake that put additional stress on all the amazing WTFs who had trusted me to facilitate such a basic trip. But the rose was just as apparent: I was embraced by the care of our community and our collective belief that we had all the tools and determination we needed to find a solution together. And the bud, made my heart want to burst: Instead of feeling rejected for my mess up, I felt even more connection to the amazing WTFs sitting around the picnic table, smiling and laughing as the rain pelted our tarp and threatened to snuff our beautiful fire.

The next morning, as we rode back, we decided that sharing our Roses, Thorns and Buds would be a great way to recap our trip for the wider Grease Rag community and share some of our lessons learned for other beginning bike campers! Incredible gratitude again to my co-organizer, Anne, and the WTFs who made the trip such a beautiful AND imperfect experience!

***

Joy

The bud of the trip was the sincerity and vulnerability we all brought to the weekend from the start. We met up the Saturday morning after Philando Castile’s murderer was found not guilty and started with a check-in, sharing our truth and showing up for each other where we were at. Many/all of us were feeling heavy and didn’t have peppy, social energy. This is my bud because I feel myself bringing more and more of my truth and myself into Grease Rag space, and it’s always met with so much support.

The rose of the trip was 4 of us squeezing in a 1 person tent that we had just pitched in a clearing along the bike path. We had biked for hours, realized we didn’t have a reservation at Carver, befriended some punks to camp with, then been turned away by the punks, and were getting rained on. It was so lovely to be still, be dry, be in each other’s company, and drink warm summer shandy. I was reassured to know I was with powerful people and we were going to find a space to camp together.

The thorn of the trip was my hands hurt more than they normally do from long rides, and the next day I (for once!) wasn’t excited to get back on my bike!

Scout

My thorn was laying awake in our tent for ages, anxiously wondering if the pounding rain would soak us or our stuff. Luckily we woke up dry! Thank you modern tent technology!

My rose of the trip was being outside, on my bike, with such rad folks! I loved our conversations as we rode along the lush, green trails.

My bud is that I hope to bike camp more sometime soon and continue to connect with other members of the trip!

Elissa

My bud: Knowing I can go bike camping again, with a group or by myself. I was feeling anxious because of some injuries that still impact my ability to ride, but took care of myself and can’t wait to do it again.

My thorn: Not bringing enough clothes. On the ride home on Sunday I wore some of the same clothes again (the plan was, of course, to save space/weight in my panniers) but really wished I’d been able to start the day fresh.

My rose: The quiet moments right after all our tents were set up, and the group breathed a collective sigh of relief. It was lovely to have some time alone to appreciate what we’d all done before jumping into making dinner.

Anne

My rose: All of the positive energy everyone brought to the trip and getting to hang out with yall! I appreciated how willing people were to keep checking in on their needs, and how tough everyone was in the face of new challenges! Shout-out especially to Carolyn for fixing a side of the road flat like a pro (right after talking about how little you like working on bikes). Man, I really just appreciate all of y’all.

My thorn: The hardest moment of the trip was after the punks changed their minds about letting us camp near their space, when I was riding around trying to find out if there were any spots available. I was so worried that we’d let y’all down or that we’d get kicked out or we’d have to secret camp and we wouldn’t get to roast marshmallows! (Although y’all were incredibly positive throughout this whole ordeal and didn’t seem fazed at all). I don’t think I’ve ever felt so relieved as I was when the park attendants said that the bike camping ~oasis~ was open and we could camp there.

My bud: I really think that we should go camping at Baker. Who’s up for trip part two!?

Ilana

My rose was having this amazing experience to really push my body, get out of the city into nature, and get to know new people! All of whom were so full of energy, and so much interesting skill & wisdom to share especially about bikes/biking but also about queer community, life, etc!

My thorn was that I didn’t pack as much warm clothing as would have been fully comfortable and my cushion situation both for sleeping and sitting/hanging out wasn’t ideal so that made it the least comfortable. Want to fix that for next time. Also just to say — it wasn’t the best best that we didn’t know where we were gonna camp/sleep for a bit, but it was really easy to have perspective that “We’re fine, we’re on vacay pretty much, we’re gonna figure it out and it’ll be good either way.”

My bud is seeing what my body is capable of when it’s pushed, definitely excited to do more bike camping and longer biking trips! Thanks all who put it together!! Solving puzzles you can improve your dexterity and problem solving skills! xoxo

White savior talking about gifting bikes to villages in Africa. A bike fashion show that was… beyond words. Even I cringed through half of the program.

Still, despite the fact that I invited them to be on an equity panel (Yep! Did that, too!), three young leaders from the Ovarian Psycos graciously accepted an invitation to speak. Representing their women of color led group ,which actively confronts injustice and builds radical community, they blew sh*t up with their rejection of the cartoonish but prevailing image of women in the bike advocacy community: compliant, skirt-wearing, white ladies riding Dutch bikes.

Just this month, I got schooled by the Ovas again, as founder Xela de la X came to Minneapolis for our screening of the Ovarian Psycos documentary. Not only did she make me consider my own role in perpetuating white supremacy as a communicator and cyclist — but she also addressed criticism that the Ovas’ language is unwelcoming to trans, non-binary and disabled folx.

Xela at the Grease Rag screening, photo by Monica Bryand

One of the most important moments for me came before the film, as Xela explained the deeply problematic nature of white filmmakers telling the stories of women of color. That had a special sting. I was a reporter for many years, telling stories of powerful people, like Xela, in ways that were likely tokenizing and superficial. In my current job, I do communications around an issue that disproportionately impacts communities of color — an issue I’ve never personally experienced.

It was uncomfortable, but necessary, to hear Xela talk about how that “white gaze” romanticizes and flattens fights against oppression, often leaving unexamined the role of white folx in creating and perpetuating the racist systems — and then discovering or “lifting up the stories” of people acting for their liberation. Not to mention minimizing or omiting community-driven solutions because they threaten the current paradigm.

Photo courtesy of filmmakers

As she spoke about the filmmakers doggedly pursuing the Ovas even after they said they weren’t interested in being the subject of a film, I reflected on my audacity to believe I have the right or ability to tell these stories at all, rather than using any power or privilege to pass on skills and resources to community members to create and share their own narrative.

And, maybe more than anything else, she made clear the imperative that the characters in the story have the right to review and determine how their story is told — a concept they definitely didn’t teach me in journalism school.

With that preface, I watched the documentary with a different lens. Yes, it’s deeply moving in telling the personal stories of several leaders who have endured unspeakable hardships, and the imagery of LA streets full of rowdy WTF riders taking up space and celebrating their power is f*cking awesome. But I could see a tinge of that white gaze.

After the film, Xela took a few questions and there was such a passion and urgency in her voice. When I had the privilege to ask her about the Ovarian Psycos’ work pushing back against gentrification, she described their efforts by saying, “This is war.” Rather than patiently waiting for their communities to be colonized and destroyed as elected officials or advocates bumble to come up with ivory tower policies to combat displacement, the Ovarian Psycos are taking direct action in defense of their families and neighbors.

That wasn’t in the documentary.

That reality, the life and death implications of our white supremacist, capitalist institutions, doesn’t show up in most of our bike spaces, either. And that silence — or worse, erasure — is violence, too.

And Xela owned that the Ovas have heard the concerns that they are complicit in erasing WTF identities, as well. As has been cited in other stories (h/t to Z’s comment in Low’s post this week), the language infused throughout the group’s work and identity is gender essentialist and trans-exclusive. Xela said they’re working to address those valid critiques and are in the process of changing some aspects of their group expression.

One of the goals of the documentary screening was to raise money for the Ovarian Pyscos healing space in LA and to support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) leaders within Grease Rag. In just a few hours, we raised more than $1,100.

Local leaders and organizers
(Photos by Monica Bryand)

Xela and Grease Rag leader, Low
(Photos by Monica Bryand)

For me the screening was a warm reminder of the solidarity that has been and is constantly being created with Grease Rag. It reminded me that we need to vigilant in addressing oppresive behavior — and be eager to receive and act on that input.

So much gratitude to Xela and the Ovarian Psycos, as well as everyone who made the screening happen!

International WTF Day

#InternationalWTFDay is our day.

Our day is rooted in the labor struggles that continues today. Our day recognizes not all labor fits into the traditional economy, but that doesn’t mean it is not real work. Our day celebrates the spectrum of our genders, and does not stop at “woman.” Our day does not determine membership with genitals. Our day is multi-generational, multi-cultural, and intersectional.

Join the WTF labor strike! March for trans youth, for trans women of color, for Black lives, Queer rights, sex workers’ rights, single moms, and for access to sexual and reproductive health. March for Jaquarrius Holland, Chyna Gibson, Ciara McElveen, Mesha Caldwell, Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, Keke Collier, and Jojo Striker.

Celebrate with us by listening to our stories in our podcast. Everyone volunteered their time for this labor of love, with the offer of sliding scale compensation, although there is no price to be put on the value of our experiences!

WTF Grease Rag?

Anna and Maddy!

Thank you

Thank you to Maddy Love for recording, editing, and publishing this podcast! Anneka for the ambitious idea and motivation to tell our stories. Anneka, Riley, Shruthi, Holly, Anna, Amanda, Meg, Emily, Lily, Kenzie, Anna, and Andi for trusting us with your stories! You are powerful and important! We value you!

And thank you to my kitties for sitting on laps and purring so we could relax into our recording session.

A little over a year ago I went on my first ever bike camping trip. Not only was it my first time bike touring but it was also my first camping trip in years!

Was I nervous? A bit. My old sleeping bag had gobbled up an entire pannier, thunder storms had awoken me in the wee morning hours, and I’d accidentally loaded up my bike inside my apartment and was barely able to keep it from escaping me down the half flight of steps to the outside!

Was I excited? HECK YEAH! I was going on the Grease Rag WTF newbies’ Bike Camping Trip. I’d been wanting to try bike touring for a while and here was my chance to see what it was all about with a group of supportive, caring, and fun-loving WTFs.

Fast forward to this year. Had I become a bike camping fiend, logging miles near and far? Well…not really. But I did now have my own touring panniers, a new warmer and smaller sleeping bag, and some terrific pack lists. Even more importantly, last year’s trip gave me the confidence and know-how to organize this year’s Grease Rag Beginner Camping trip. So on an early June afternoon, our crew – myself, my co-leader Luci, and eight bike camping rookies ­­– set off on a small touring adventure.

Here we are at the Hopkin’s Depot ready to roll on after a water, snack, and pee break.

And here we are taking a lunch break outside the Excelsior Library. (PS Across the trail is a tiny history museum that would love to have you stop in and say hi!)

After we got into camp, the sunshine took a rest for several rainy hours. Luckily we were able to set up our tents before it began raining in earnest.

There’s nothing like an evening sunset after the rain!

Even though we’d forgotten our fire-starting kits, Frances came though with some dry sheets of newspaper. Thank goodness, roasting smores over a camp stove just wouldn’t have felt the same!

The next morning, we headed back to Minneapolis.

Are you interested in exploring bike camping and/or riding with other WTFs? Check out the Grease Rag facebook page and the Grease Rag calendar for upcoming events, rides, and workshops.

Dana DeMaster is a white, cis-gendered female who is married with two children. She lives in the West End neighborhood of Saint Paul. When she’s not keeping up with Quinn and Daphne, she does research and program evaluation in human services, rabble rouses for better bike infrastructure, and sews useful things. Her writing can also be found on Streets.mn.

I used to be a bike advocate. By that I mean I was a person who took leadership positions in advocacy organizations and spent more than 20 hours a week attending meetings, preparing for meetings, researching local projects, and all the things that advocates do. Then, I stopped. I stopped for a lot of reasons, including family responsibilities, a second pregnancy, and increasing responsibilities at my full-time day job. I also stopped because sexism in the bike advocacy community wore me out. When I tried to explain my experiences and why I was leaving to my cis-male friends and colleagues, I found I could not articulate the problem. They wanted specific examples of sexist things people had said or done, but while there were a few comments, I struggled with anything specific. All I had was a pervasive sense of ultimately being unwelcome. So, I stopped talking about it.

Recently, I read a blog post by Adonia Lugo called, “Unsolicited Advice for Vision Zero.” She articulates so clearly what I have struggled with for so long. Suddenly my experiences, that vague sense of unwelcome, made sense! Some time I would like to return to formal bike advocacy, but when I do, I do not want to have the same experience that I did last time. This is my attempt to put shape to my experience being a cis-gendered female and a bike advocate.

I live in a small town and bike advocacy is an even smaller community within that town. As Lugo says,

“I have a lot of friends in the bike movement,…which made me think I needed to ignore my personal experience of hurt and exclusion.”

This is difficult work precisely because it is my friends and colleagues and organizations that I respect and I think do good work that are hurtful and exclusionary. If you see yourself in this, please do not feel bad and do not apologize. Please do not get angry at me; get angry, yes, but at sexism. My intent is not to point fingers or blame you for being bad people or bad organizations. You just can’t see it. Like a stop light that cannot sense a bicyclist, you can’t see my experience of your behavior. Rather than being apologetic or angry at me, look at yourself and your organization. Do something different.

I am intentionally publishing this through Grease Rag and Wrench rather than other blogs I sometimes write for. It may seem like preaching to the choir, but Grease Rag is a safe space. It is a space where cis-men are welcome as allies and listeners. I do not need a bunch of comments from people defending themselves. I need you to listen. Social media offers such a limited discourse. I would love to have a dialogue, but let’s do it over a beer and a bike ride. Share this widely, but respect that this is coming from a women-trans-femme-centered (WTF) space and just listen. Do not try to justify things – trust me that I am your friend and we advocate for the same cause. I want things to be better and I know you do, too.

“We were expected to use our non-threatening otherness to promote a vision of the world that was determined before we came in the door.” – Adonia Lugo

Hallelujah! I read that sentence and a light went on. That sense of unwelcome made sense. I have attended so many meetings where the agenda was to set a vision or priorities for an organization, but my role was clearly laid out. The vision was decided and my role was to give my womanness, my “non-threatening otherness,” stamp of approval. The question was how to get me to support it without being able to shape it. Terms like “safety,” “bike-friendly,” or “leadership,” are all based in values and experiences. While we may share some ideas of what these things mean, my experience as a woman and as a mother shapes my values in ways that your experience does not. I was asked to change my experience of these things to fit your definition rather than to shape the organization’s definition of these things.

So many times I heard a woman start speaking only to be talked over by the men in the room. Then another woman tries to speak, only to have more male voices talk over her, too. Soon, the women don’t speak. I have seen discussions where women spoke only to not find our words in the meeting notes. It is easy to say that it is simply individual personalities – that person dominates discussions or the note taker couldn’t get everything that was said. It’s happened too many times to just write it off as individuals. It may not be purposeful, but still women’s voices end up silenced.

It is offends further when you want to use my “non-threatening otherness” to promote that vision. I have been explicitly asked to use my identity as a woman to manipulate a public hearing or to get buy-in from a larger group of women. I am fully aware of the paradigm that is woman and the emotional power behind society’s narrative about mothers. But, it is my choice to use that how I will use it (and use it I do because it is used against bicyclists). The problem is when I am told how to use it and I did not get a say in the vision I am supposed to support.

“They want my exotic face but not the brain shaped by living in this skin.” – Adonia Lugo

I may not have an exotic face, but you want my female face and my mother face. Which, brings us to tokenism. “We have our chick, now we need a black dude and a Hmong.” Yep, I actually heard that sentence in a meeting. In front of me, the “chick.” Let’s unpack that a bit. First, the “we” is clearly defined. We refers to the white men setting the agenda – they are the organization, the chick, black dude, and the Hmong are just ways to advance an agenda. Our exotic faces are just a means to an end.

Tokenism is checking off the boxes to give a patina of diverse thought. Ultimately, it is still an organization defined by white men. I am there to check off the “women” box, but still do not get to define the organization. There are lots of problems with this. First, I am a woman – not woman. I am also white, in a partnered heterosexual relationship, middle class, left-handed, vegetarian, ride a single speed with studded tires in the winter, and enjoy knitting. I have my own blinders. I am being asked to speak for all women and, while I have a better sense of what being a woman is about than you, I can’t really speak for all of us.

Second, in tokenism there can only be one. If you are the token female it is tempting to push other women out, rather than changing the organization to make room for others. I have done this. If I did this to you, I am sorry. I should have been making room for others, but I defended my position instead.

“Bike advocates tend to see themselves as an embattled minority, to the point of leaving little room for diversity of experience and opinions within their own ranks.” – Adonia Lugo

I hate to break it to you, but you are not an embattled minority. Yes, bicyclists get treated poorly on the road and laws and infrastructure were not built for us. As bicyclists, we are often invisible on the road – both literally and figuratively in the way roads are designed. I would hope that the experiences not being seen and being sidelined would make people more aware of how sexism, racism, heterosexism, and all the –isms make many of us invisible all the time. Get off your bike and you are a white, cis-male and get all the privilege that comes with that.* Whether I am on my bike or not, I am a woman.

Lugo asks us “to consider what silencing effects a combative tone might have on participation by oppressed groups,” adding “I’ve seen a worrying tendency among bike advocates to dismiss those who disagree with them as NIMBYs, flattening opposition regardless of whether it comes from community members who lived through the ravages of urban renewal or privileged homeowners concerned about an influx of colored bodies into their suburban sanctum. Vision Zero strategists should show their respect for meaningful inclusion through welcoming intersectional perspectives.”

Understand that women who show up in bike advocacy communities have run a gauntlet of sexism to get there. The sexism of the bike industry and community is well documented:

• http://surlybikes.com/blog/post/our_own_two_wheels
• http://321polo.net/2015/12/tacocat-video-response/
• http://femmagazine.com/2015/11/17/always-use-the-buddy-system-or-sexism-in-the-bike-industry/
• https://girlsbikingtowork.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/sexism-in-the-bike-lanes/
• http://takingthelane.com/2012/09/17/is-this-thing-sexist-introducing-the-bike-test/
• http://www.bicycling.com/culture/people/how-sexism-hurting-cycling

Every WTF person I know has tons of individual stories of ways we have been treated poorly by men in the bike community. From simple condescension at the bike shop; to being groped by a drunk in an alley at a bike event; to messages about how we are not as strong, fast, or able; to being called bitch when we refused someone’s advances or had an opinion at a meeting (yup, that happened to me). I personally have had a salesperson put his arm around me to direct me to the products I was looking for, had a mechanic stroke my hand while we were talking, had my hair smelled (I know), and have been told that he wished “more women came to this event because bike girls are sexy.” We get off our bikes and get cat-called, lose out on promotions, lose jobs due to pregnancy, and deal with abusive partners.

My point is not to say that the women who make it through all this and still show up are better, smarter, tougher, or anything. The point is that a lot of voices were silenced along the way. There are a lot of women who left the community or stopped biking altogether before their voices were present to define the agenda.
When you identify as an embattled minority because of being a bicyclist, it first makes me want to laugh and secondly, tells me you are not listening. Let those experiences give you empathy and some insight into what it is like to be female or brown-skinned or disabled or poor rather than be used as a badge of honor.

Lugo writes of the “silencing effects of a combative tone” and “flattening opposition.” I have witnessed this combative tone – us against them, bikes against the world (or at least Public Works) – many times. I have also seen its chilling effect on discourse and new perspectives. The message is clearly that if you are not with us 100 percent, defined by this perceived embattled minority status, then your perspective is wrong. A woman in that meeting, who has faced violence at the hands of combative men, is often silenced. It belittles our experience of invisibility.

“One day, instead of cramming our collective foot into a boot ordered for somebody else, it’d be great if a bigger group could lead the design process and end up with something we can really wiggle our toes in.” – Adonia Lugo

What can you do? Look around. If there are a bunch of white, cis-gendered males setting your agenda, take a step back and pause. Who is missing from the table? How might your agenda be more complete if there were other people at the table? Pause and find those voices and include them. Your organization will be better for it.

But, be careful not to tokenize. One woman does not represent the experience of women. Do not stop because you have a few other voices and then expect us to support your agenda.

Don’t interrupt. Not only is it rude on an individual level, but pay attention to whose voices you are interrupting. Stop and give someone else some space. If you are facilitating a meeting and see men interrupting women, stop them. There are polite ways to do this. “Steven, I believe Keisha was speaking. Let’s hear what she has to say and then we can hear you.”

Reflect on your own behavior and seek to understand. The tricky bit is that most men are not out to be sexist. They did not walk into a meeting and plan how to silence women. Your privilege is hiding from you. Talk to us. Talk to lots of people different than you. It’s not our job to educate you, but we can share our experiences.

Ask what is keeping women and brown-skinned people out of your organization. When I suggested meeting at a different time and place because only people with first shift jobs and no family responsibilities could attend, I was told that “we can’t let some special interests define the time when it works well for everybody else” and “when my wife was in labor I was working on bike stuff, can’t you just skip nursing your baby for one night?” It may be as simple as varying meeting times and places to be welcoming to people working different hours or with competing responsibilities.

Change your perspective from ownership of the organization or platform to that of a facilitator of a process. Everyone gets ownership.

Remember – I am your friend. We advocate for the same cause. That cause will only be stronger when we are all at the table. Sexism makes me tired and I would rather have energy to give.

* An aside about privilege. Here is my best example of how you benefit from sexism that you do not see. As a young woman I had a job where I was told that women were not allowed to go to trainings or conferences because we might get pregnant and quit. The organization would lose their investment. I did not get to go to a conference because I was a 22 year old female. That is straight-up sexism, right? We all can agree that is sexist. However, a young man did get to go to that conference. He got the training, information, and networking that going to conferences brings. Who knows what connections he made that helped him along. No one told him that he was going because I was not allowed to. If anyone told him, he probably would have been disgusted with that unwritten policy. He did not directly participate in the gross sexism, but he still benefited.

Jenny J and Lisa G lead a group ride focusing on murals in Minneapolis. Lisa is a bike commuter and cyclist-while-cross-training. This was her first time leading a group ride. Jenny is a Minneapolis-based artist who has been biking her whole life. She has recently been honing her skill at alleycat rides and distance cycling, enjoys leading themed social rides, and is the outreach organizer for the annual Powderhorn 24 community ride.

Acme Awning Mural by Richard Barlow

The Mural Ride: South Minneapolis Edition was was a social ride led by Lisa Gulya and Jenny Jenkins in late October to visit public art in the Twin Cities. The initial idea for the ride came to Lisa after she visited Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood to see some of the community murals there in August. Back home, while walking from the light rail station to the bus stop on Franklin and Bloomington, she caught sight of the new mural on the east wall of the American Indian Center, and thought, “Hey! I’ll bet there are a bunch of murals worth exploring right here at home…”

On the road

Riders at the Kmart mural

Lisa tossed out the idea on the GR Facebook page, and many members “liked” it, and so the scheming began—kicked off with a planning potluck and maintained through a private Facebook group so comments and other digital materials (maps, blog posts, etc.) could be easily shared. Jenny came on board with her social ride leading experience and knowledge of local public art, and the ride was born! Other GR members pitched in to help, including Anneka K, Kelsey F, Lauren J, and Miya M.

Dylan Mural

We originally planned to see murals in various parts of town but realized the route would be too long for less experienced riders and the ride would take far too long, so we decided to concentrate on South Minneapolis for this ride and do a couple more rides in the spring and summer of 2016.

Broken Crow mural along the LRT

The team from Grease Rag pulled together the necessary components

• consulting Lauren H’s social ride how-to guide
• selecting murals to visit (Start Seeing Art was a helpful resource)
• picking a date that didn’t conflict with other bike events
• creating and test riding a route–we originally planned to see murals in various parts of town but realized the route would be too long for less experienced riders and the ride would take far too long, so we decided to concentrate on South Minneapolis for this ride and do other areas later
• contacting artists to get more information about the artwork and alerting them we’d be visiting in case they wanted to join us
• recruiting “tour guides” to talk a bit about each bit of art
• confirming a crew to lead the ride and sweep, keeping the promise of being a “no-drop” ride
• picking a hashtag (#tcmurals, general enough for use in future rides)

Jenny talks about the Angie Joy Talle mural behind Black Forest Inn

The Good

• peak color!
• warm, dry weather
• a midday ride: no need for lights, family-friendly
• a big crew of riders, around 3 dozen at take-off–credit this partially to luck (see “warm, dry weather”), but also to the fact that the five-member organizing crew all invited Facebook friends, posted to multiple pages (Grease Rag, BIKEFUN, Mpls Bike Love, etc.). We also emailed mplsart.com and discovered that one rider found the event on redcurrent.com
• the ride coincided with the unveiling of the mural at Cedar Avenue and 42^nd Street, so at a related event

Folwell murals by Greta McClain

The It’ll-Be-Better-Next-Time

• we wished we’d done a better job breaking the ice and introducing riders to each other before roll-out; we had decided not to do a GR-style go-around due to the large group size
• we discussed trying to get the ride featured on MPR’s weekly Art Hounds segment, but were short on time; we’ll do more advanced planning and recruit a volunteer to go on the show to promote a future ride
• we weren’t successful in getting any artists to join us and plan to put more effort into doing so in the future
• although we discussed how to accommodate riders less accustomed to group rides, reviewed basics (how to signal turning, stopping, etc.) and had leaders and sweepers, we needed a couple more volunteers to cork intersections and try to keep the group together better

Lisa introduces the Kmart mural

All in all, it was a successful, entertaining and pleasant ride and we are looking forward to future Mural Rides in St. Paul and North/NE Minneapolis. Please join us!

Norm and Josie enjoy a snack after the ride

I attended a workshop this evening. As I listened to S. Bear Bergman educate us about trans* health issues, I watched a storm quickly roll in behind him through the windows of the Smitten Kitten storefront.

The sky swirled purple and grey as the wind that had kicked me around on my ride earlier shook the window awnings and caused the trees to strain. The sun set, but I could still see in the street lights and passing windshield wipers that it was really coming down. I watched the rain come first in streaks, then sheets, then buckets, then dump trucks. And then the lightning. And more lightning. And a little thunder too. A tiny seed of dread started to sprout as I watched umbrellas turning inside out and heard emergency vehicle sirens amplifying the noise of the storm.

But there is no time for dread or doubt when all you really want is to go home and get to bed.

The workshop ended and I ceremoniously suited up. Whipped out the Emergency Rain Jacket, checked my straps and buckles and clips and zippers, and finished with pulling on my gloves. I stood staring out the window for five minutes waiting for the rain to magically and suddenly stop, and then resigned to just get really wet on my way home. I’m not made out of sugar. I won’t melt.

Once I was on my bike, my dread was replaced with excitement for the smell of rain, the sound of everything splashing, and the pure joy of riding a bike.

Lightning flashed in the dark sky as the cool rain refreshed me. I felt the energy of the storm in my body as I pedaled down the dark Greenway, avoiding puddles in low spots and coasting under the overpasses for a tiny little respite from the downpour. I could feel the dirt and dust and sweat and sunscreen melt off of my bare legs. Cool drops on my warm face and neck made me smile… this is spring! I found myself spinning faster and harder down the trail as I absorbed the lightning and the rain and the way every surface of the city shines during a storm.

I’m at home now, with all my wet clothes hung up, and a fan drying out my soggy shoes. I can hear the waning storm out the window as I sit in front of a glowing screen, my big ol’ smile glowing right back at it.

A familiar face!  Maryann Aguirre, from Ovarian Psyco-Cycles, sat on the “Advocacy Through a Gender Lens” panel at the National Bike Summit, and is the subject of this beautiful music video for “Mujer Soy” by Las Cafeteras, remixed by Yukicito.

If you have five minutes… no, you need to make five minutes to watch this video.

I’ve been talking about March being All Women’s Herstory month, and about the National Forum on Women and Biking, and about International Women’s Day.  Is March the only time we celebrate women?  Of course not.  But it is a great opportunity to highlight our stories, show our pride, and start conversations about trans* inclusion and all of the intersections of our identities that make being a woman DIFFICULT and AWESOME.

This video… is perfect.

Maryann is a human.  She wakes up, and gets beatuiful for herself.  She wakes her (cutie) sleeping daughter, and makes breakfast for the two of them.  Maryann drives her daughter to school, and after seeing her off takes her bike down and rides to work at Multicultural Communities for Mobility, where she is an organizer for safer streets for low income people of color in East LA.  At the end of the day, there’s a costume change, and she’s rolling on the streets again, hustling to meet up with a group of rad Ovarian Psyco Cycles womyn to get their bikes ready to ride together, armed with beautiful smiles.  Maryann arrives at La Concha Community Space where a group of Latinxs burn sage and make protest signs against the cis-tem, organizing together.  She listens as much as she leads the organizing effort, and the shot where she holds the poster marker and the smart phone at the same time hits home for me.  Finally she arrives home, kicks off her shoes, and she makes dinner for her and her daughter.  She looks up at the ceiling and smiles.  Hope.

The video continues with statements about the value of womyn’s power and voice, but what really stood out to me is the balancing act that we all do, the multiple faces we put on in a day, the work we put into our communities, and the friends and food and family that nourish and sustain us.

Maryann might have responsibilities and pressures, but I see the freedom in how she moves around her city, the softness of a spiritual energy when smudging the space, the strength in how she takes care of her daughter, and how her power is manifested when she is organizing, and working for change.  Sometimes you wear the suit pants, the pants of a mother, of an activist, a Chicana, caretaker, cook… and all of these things intersect and amplify and coexist together.

From Maribel Falcón of Remezcla:

The video made by Elefante Collective features the dance remix collaboration with Yukicito, member of Los Angeles DJ Crew La Junta Sound System. The song carries consistent melodic hymns combined with the traditional folk sounds of flute and jarana. We asked the female members of the group, Leah Rose Gallegos, Annette Torres, and Denise Carlos about how the song came about. Denise said, “I introduced the words and stories to Leah and Annette during a “mujeres music” session we had at my home a few years back. They loved the idea of singing for and about womyn and the three of us created the melodies of the song, which we then presented to the other members of Las Cafeteras.” The end result of “Mujer Soy” is an homage to their fellow sisters and each other.

If you are interested in hearing more Las Cafeteras, check out this performance:

Thank you!

I appreciate all of the people that donated money. It was very kind and allowed me to go to DC. Such generosity!

Washington DC

I thought DC was amazing! The bike share was very well put together. The cross walk signals were long so it was easy to cross as a pedestrian. The people were extremely kind and gracious. Also, Nelle was kind to offer me a place to stay. It was a beautiful house and it was surrounded by amenities, like the Indian restaurant where we had lunch and a Montessori school. Nelle’s place was close to a Metro stop; Metro stops were very convenient wherever we went.

Wheelwomen Switchboard Happy Hour Networking Event

Monday night, I attended the Wheelwomen Switchboard Happy Hour Networking Event. It was at this meeting that I felt I would be accepted and welcomed to the Forum. Even by people from places that I would consider “conservative.” It was well attended! The room was crowded and we overflowed into the next room. I talked to at least fifteen people about Grease Rag, our purpose, what we do, and I asked about what they did,  what their goals were, and what challenges they face. I found that most of their challenges were challenges that we face. For example, getting people involved, getting the infrastructure we want, and being inclusive of minorities. I met someone from Georgia, Mississippi, Iowa, Wisconsin, Montana, Arizona, Nevada, California, and Nebraska! (And I met people from even more states during the Forum the next day.) I was impressed with our similarities, outside of our shared challenges. Everyone I talked to was excited about what they were doing and despite the challenges they seemed optimistic.

National Forum on Women Biking

Before the Forum started, I was nervous about the goals of the Forum and the direction it would take because it depends a lot on the organizer, and this was my first time at the Forum and Liz Cornish Jones’s first time organizing.

A Case Study in Leadership: How Mentorship and Bold Leadership is growing the mission of Tulsa Hub

The new organizer, Liz, was introduced and impressed me on what she was expecting: it was going to be an event open to a range of genders. Then she introduced Ren Barber from Tulsa Hub. I was inspired by her honesty. She was truthful about her weaknesses, and she was able to admit she didn’t know what to do and asked for outside help. Barbara Bannon joined her on stage and talked about what they had to go through to get Tulsa on the right track. It made me wonder if the goals of the a Tulsa Hub were similar to the goals of Grease Rag, even though they were for all genders. Grease Rag focuses on a more narrow group.

After the talk, I felt that Grease Rag is going fine. Grease Rag’s aims and goals were different from Tulsa Hub’s goals, and my thinking is that doing programming for WTFs-only means we don’t have the same problems. But it was interesting to see what they were going through as a bike group.

Discovering Heart Leadership

Ashley Fullenwider and Laura Todd from Nuu-Muu lead a “speed-dating” exercise of three-minute conversations.

1. Ask the person what their work involves

2. What about their work energizes them the most

3. Look everyone you meet in the eye, and tell them three leadership qualities you see in them

After the exercise, we returned to our tables, and discussed what we learned, with focus on the leadership qualities. We took turns reflecting on the experience with these prompts.

1. Did you believe what people told you about your leadership skills?

I thought no matter what they said, that everyone had all of those skills. You might not use the skills or you might have been put down or you might not have confidence to use those skills, but everyone had them. Some people might not have leadership confidence because they have been put down because of their gender. I’ve seen this: in highschool I saw girls that knew their stuff, but didn’t say anything because they were afraid to stay from the gender norm. So it appeared like they didn’t have skills, but they definitely did.

2. What did you base your three leadership skills that you picked for others on?

Most said that they based their opinions on looking the person in the eyes. I used three senses

Touch- when we shook hands I noticed their grip strength

Sight- looking at how people held eye contact or looked away, and how they smiled

Listening- how steady, determined, and strong their voice was

3. What is the difference between a men’s group and a women’s group?

We had the men in our group, and they all said that the go-around was much different from what it would have been in a men’s group. They said it would have been more competitive- who is strongest?

The women didn’t really have an answer because we didn’t have experiences with men’s groups.

We shared our findings with the larger group, and our group was similar to the others.

I found that people took it seriously, and I think that people really meant what they said, in addition to being very open about listening. It was a close space, but we made it work.

Women Ride: New Numbers

Martha Roskowki from People For Bikes presented some numbers from a recent survey.

Advocacy Through A Gender Lens

I knew Low would be talking about trans* inclusion, but I didn’t know the other panelists or their views. I didn’t want to come in with any preconceptions. I also had no idea where the moderator Barb Chamberlain as going to take the conversation, and what kinds of questions she would ask.

Everyone had three cards in front of them. We were told to hold up a card when asked to respond to a statement.

“I prefer pie to cake.”

Green-that is true for me right now

Yellow-I’m not sure/ I have no preference

Red- that is not true for me right now

I wasn’t so sure how accurate the cards were for “taking the temperature of the room.” People might have been trying to be politically correct, or were peer pressured. So I took it with a grain of salt.

I was pleasantly surprised, because I didn’t know Maryann Aguirre and Rio-Jill Contreras from Ovarian Psyco-Cycles, that they spoke so openly about trans* inclusion. But I knew what Low was going to say, so I wasn’t surprised there. Odessa Phillip was focused on male and female dynamics on the job. I wasn’t sure how she felt outside of her job about gender issues.

After the discussion I felt really good. I thought it was a good, positive talk. It didn’t matter to me that I wasn’t up there, as long as Grease Rag got to say what we wanted to say. The questions were geared toward bringing out a good discussion. I especially liked that three of the panelists were strongly in favor of trans* inclusion.