2/17/2021 0 Comments fingers crossedI've been thinking about a lot of things.
I've been thinking about my friend Leah, when we rode our bikes to the store, saying she wished she had a vehicle to bring all the things she wanted to buy, back home. For me out there, I did have my vehicle with me. I've been car free for 8 months now, that honestly blows my mind. It's felt like forever honestly. So many things have happened. It's very strange to ride my bike around town and see my old car parked in a neighborhood i'm passing through. The new owner has driven past me several times, often when I'm riding home from work in a snow storm. I just laugh and keep pedaling. When I looked in the mirror tonight I said to myself, 'I'm starting to see the transformation'. My muscles look strong. My hair is getting long. Marks of the passage of time and hard work. When I looked in the mirror I noticed I lost an earring and a nose ring today. Thinking thats why I enjoy more permanent decor on my body. The permanence is a comfort. I get to become familiar with it and watch it change. When I looked at my big bruised knee in the shower tonight I noticed how its coloring in a wing of my Keith Haring devil tattoo. A visual metaphor for what I know of myself, and how my body reacts to outside forces. I have a new way of thinking about how I plan and transport myself, and my things. And it all happens under my own power. And if that isn't enough of a powerful metaphor, I don't know squat. But that can be super intimidating. When my neighbors were fighting the other night, I thought about how I would leave the house and go to a safe space for the night, but I would have to do that by bike. I shop for groceries differently, and I have to do home renovations differently. And the hardest thing is having to ask for help and relying on people when I need help. 2020 was the year I consciously practiced asking for help. 2021 is a continuation. This past year has held every insane thing you could imagine. It's solidifying this fact that time, the idea of anything linear, is not real. When I started this draft I had just heard about Lael Wilcox's scholarship to create a 1000 mile route and ride in Alaska. I was stoked at first and then got nervous and then stoked again. I was just thinking about it and if I would want to leave my new home for a month. How I would miss my dog and my garden and how the light comes in the kitchen. I never had anything like this before and I really revel in it. A month away from all that and focusing on literally me- my body and myself, I wonder what ideas I could come up with. I wonder what anxiety knots I could unravel. That sounds scary though! What about bears!? I'm scared of bears, despite living in Michigan I have never seen one in real life! These feelings remind me of the Richmond fear. That dark pit I developed and got to know very well when I lived there a few years ago. That alone feeling. I've been working on creating wonderful web of filler for that hole since I got back. It's not filler in a bad way, and its definitely helping to heal that spot. I don't know if I'm scared of being alone again, I don't think thats it. I think I'm afraid of falling into that dread pit again. I think that's a valid concern. But I applied. I made a route I am very excited about. This route focuses on seeing and studying the art of the Indigenous People, the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian and Eyak, who occupy what is now called the Inside Passage. If everything goes according to plan, I would begin my month long journey in Juneau, spending the first week riding along the coast and visiting the museums. I would then ferry to Wrangell, heading there specifically to views the petroglyphs that are preserved at the the state park. Another ferry would then take me to Ketchikan and Prince of Wales Island to visit the Totem Pole parks and other sites of artistic and spiritual importance. I have routed about 800 of the 1000 miles that Lael has challenged the applicants to map out. The rest of the mileage would be rambled out once I am there and can explore roads and trails that may not be on the maps I have been studying. Not only was the research and route making exciting, I found answering the questions Lael posed to be a great time of reflection on how I have gotten to where I am today. Here is my long form answer to, "Write us a story. Tell us about yourself, including school, work and life experiences that you think relate to this application. One page limit." :: Well, I would say I am an artistic mechanic. Creative thinking is the first lens I view the world through. The second lens I use is one guided by my strong moral compass. And both of these are balanced by my love of laughter and experiencing joy. I have studied and made art for most of my life. My parents always encouraged me in any way they could, to make and express. When I was 16 I began boarding school at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Northern Michigan. This is where I started to develop my identity away from my family and broadened my world view. After something so special, I found getting into the groove of college hard. I was restless and had no idea how I could make a career out of something so intensely personal. When I finally landed at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids MI, I found a community that showed me what I was looking for. But it wasn’t at school, or even the art community. It was the effervescent local bike community. I started biking just to get around, and then joined weekly party rides. The summer before my junior year of college I began volunteering at a non profit co-op, called The Spoke Folks. I grew to love the work they were doing in the community, seeing real need, and real change. That following spring they invited me to join their team as a mechanic. Just thinking about that time, and that chosen family we formed makes me tear up! Frick I love those people. I am so grateful and think so fondly of that time, despite the insane challenges we faced. My second year working at the Spoke Folks, I was a senior, working on my thesis, and trying to co-operate a nonprofit. That was wild and hard, but an awesome experience. After graduating I was awarded a week-long residency at a workshop in Colorado, where I met many other amazing artists, but they were all older than me, and all had Master Degrees. At that time, I thought that’s what I wanted to do... needed to do, in order to keep me on the path of becoming a legitimate artist. With a heavy heart, I left the Spoke Folks and moved to Richmond, Virginia, in efforts to manifest an acceptance letter to the very competitive sculpture program at Virginia Commonwealth University. While living there I was working at a bike shop, but really it was just a storefront with no soul. When I received a rejection letter from the school, I did my best to create what I had grown to love in Grand Rapids, working towards making Richmond my new home, but the seeds of loneliness had deep roots. So after a year of living there, I decided to move back to Michigan. Three days after being home I started my job as a mechanic at Grand Rapids Bicycle Company, where I still work! After thinking bikes were going to be my side hustle for so long I decided that I want to be a career mechanic, and I have no regrets in the slightest. I am creatively fulfilled through learning how to fix stuff, solving problems, and getting deeeeep custom with bikes. The support network that I have embedded myself in is something I never had in the art community. I see so many through lines between the art world, and the bike world. Both subjects can be seen as elitist pursuits, only for the wealthy. But they are really quite the opposite. Both center around the core functions of being human. Expression and mobility. And with that, I feel that I can serve my community best as a mechanic. In my work now, I focus on access to information and education through transportation and recreation. I have led a Womens, Trans, Femme - Winter Bike Commuting Panel Discussion, mechanic classes through the shop, and on my own. I want to leverage my position as one of the two female mechanics in Grand Rapids to ensure that silenced voices are elevated and that space is intentionally made, so that everyone can feel welcome on a bike, however they ride. In 2020 I sold my car and bought a house, I am invested in my community, and I look forward to seeing all the growth that we can achieve together. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am looking forward to seeing what this year of growth and opportunity may bring, whether it's a big adventure outside of my home or right in my own community. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to listen to me and helps me and my dreams be heard. Ride on :) Here are some links to help further inform you about the scholarship and the area I would be visiting: https://laelwilcox.com/2021/01/06/lael-rides-alaska-2021-femme-trans-womens-scholarship/ https://www.travelalaska.com/Destinations/Regions/Inside-Passage.aspx https://lam.alaska.gov/asm-events https://www.wrangellalaska.org/visitorservices/petroglyph-beach-state-historic-park http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/aspunits/southeast/totembigshp.htm https://www.adventurecycling.org/default/assets//File/AdventureCyclist/MagazinePDFs/201103_Adventure_Cyclist.pdf Here are some winter update pics!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorLiz is a bike mechanic in Grand Rapids MI. She is one of two female mechanics in the city. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Drawing and has one dog and one hedgehog. Archives
March 2021
|