Moped Stolen!

My innnocent enthusiasm for mopeds has led only to mine being stolen on Wed. night. I reported the theft to the police, and my moped was registered, but I suspect I've seen the last of it. If you see it, let me know!

Another School Year is Coming to a Close; Moped Heaven

Because I've been working part-time, I've been teaching only two courses at Nashoba Regional High School this semester: Law and Psychology. The psych course is for seniors, of which I have only ten, and since the seniors end their year early, after May 22 I'll be down to one class, Law. Since I've just finished my own graduate class today (thank gawd! It was awful!), that lowers my workload considerably, giving me time to ready myself for my upcoming tour ( blog for that is here) on the Eurodam in northern Europe.

What I'm really patting myself on the back for, though, is buying a moped. It hardly makes sense to drive to work at all for just one (or even two) classes, given the price of gas these days. At the end of the fall, I bought a Tomos Arrow, which is a no-ped -- a moped without pedals. It gets about 100 miles to the gallon. So it pretty much pays for itself. It's also a nice way to get around, now that the weather here in Worcester has improved. And my ride to work on rte 70 is quite pleasant, once I get past the potholed streets of my hometown. It's amazing how much better the roads are once I hit the Shrewsbury line.

I've only seen one other moped in Worcester, so I draw a fair amount of attention from bystanders and passers-by. Motorcyclists seem amused, but many of them drop a hand by way of a wave to me -- I'm part of the club, man! I feel like PeeWee Herman at the biker bar in PeeWee's Big Adventure.

Most folks that do notice the bike are initially unsure what to make of it. When I'm riding toward them, or when they're overtaking me, motorists think I'm on a motorcycle, which makes it safer for me than if I were on a bicycle. And since I can go 25 mph -- even uphill -- I can blend in with traffic. Hell, on Highland Street, I overtake the cars.

Still, I wear a full-face helment. Can't be too safe!

"Does Anybody Really Know What Time, er Truth Is?"

Part of the context in which learning takes place is the culture to which the students belong. From our culture, students derive a number of fundamental misunderstandings about historical truth.

Probably the most common misconception among my students is that there is in fact some agreed-upon set of historical “facts” that constitute objective history. This stems from the way history is taught in most public schools, and from the limited exposure most students have to history books, as opposed to school texts. Very few students understand that historical scholarship consists mainly of reviewing surviving documents and artifacts in an attempt to write a (hopefully) more accurate, but still inconclusive version of the past. No doubt they’d be disappointed, if they only knew!

A second misconception has to do with the purposes of history. Virtually no one remembers what Herodotus and Thucydides, who wrote the first attempts at historical research, set out to do in their writing. Especially among minority students, I’ve found that it is more important to them that history be inspiring than true. Exposed as they are to multicultural texts and little else, it does not seem strange to them that history should be written mainly to make them feel good about their ethnic or racial background. This is of course why so many fight so hard over what is included in school history texts (see Ravitch’s The Language Police for a lively version of the culture wars and their effects on educational publishers).

Finally, two related misconceptions color students’ understanding of the past: that movement through time represents progress, and that the past should be judged by the standards of the present. I often wonder what the point is to making moral evaluations of long-deceased historical personages. (Was Helen Keller inspiring or a communist? In fact, she was both. There’s a scary thought for many Americans: an inspiring communist!). I suppose every generation sees itself fit to judge its predecessors, because every generation sees itself as an improvement on the examples of the past!

It is very difficult to correct these misconceptions, and not just because the depths of history (and truths about history) are so difficult to plumb. These ideas are in fact cultural biases and therefore part of the human condition. Let’s start with the last two: the notion of progress and evaluations of the past. In some cultures, Ancient India and in Mesoamerica, for example, history was used to reinforce a concept of time that was cyclical. But Western notions of time are linear. Every monotheistic religion in the West has been introduced as a historical correction and improvement on a past set of religious beliefs, right from the time of the Golden Calf in the Old Testament. Christianity is a New Covenant with all of mankind; Islam is Allah’s final message to mankind, and so on. One can hardly wait for the next Ultimate Revelation; doubtless we’ll all disagree on that one, too.

Related to this conception of time is the idea that not only is there an objective reality, but that it also has a purpose. You’ll often hear it said – sometimes by historians – that everything happens for a reason. Many people suppose that if you study history, you’ll know the reasons for major events. And it’s true that causation is an important part of historical understanding. Whole books of history have been written to “prove” theories of Divine Providence and Eternal Moral Truths. But any decent modern historian will admit that most of what happened in the past didn’t have to happen the way that it did. That is to say, most historians don’t believe in Fate. But even the most sanguine of historical researchers, while they hold fast to the idea of objective truth, will not contend that it can actually be known, except in the collective sense of a culturally agreed-upon version of the past that is incomplete, flawed and subjective.

This brings us to how students objectify the past, often in hopes of finding inspiration. If I can drive a wedge between any one of these misconceptions and another, it may be possible to overcome all of these student misconceptions. I remember reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a major work of revisionist American history about the Indian “wars” of the American West. My high school library stocked it behind the librarian’s desk, and I needed my mother or father to sign permission for me to take it out. It was, of course, a book that posed a danger to commonly held beliefs about the past among the white majority. Yet I could take Mein Kampf right off the shelves, and so I did! In another time and place, the situation has no doubt been reversed.

Probably the best way to overcome students’ misconceptions of history (given that we are free to believe any sort of claptrap about history we choose) is simply to give students enough time and enough versions of some familiar set of events to get them to start questioning their own biases. That is to say, history teachers should give them more dangerous books of different types. David Bowie once sang, “Where there’s trouble there’s poetry.” Something similar may be said of teaching history: Where there’s real history being taught, there’s probably trouble. But then without trouble, there would be no thinking, would there?

A Peak at the Future

The topic of running out of oil never really left my radar screen since listening to Edgar Winter's White Trash and Tower of Power address the issue somewhat lopsidedly. Now comes Harper's Magazine to renew my interest, so I google "peak oil" and find...well a lot commentary. Much more than I expected, in fact, from both sides of the issue. I thought everyone was still arguing about global warming now that Gore put out his film; WRONG AGAIN!

Now unless you're a geologist, you can't really have an informed opinion on this, and even if you ARE a geologist, you've got some pretty questionable data to work with. That may keep some geologist not in the employ of Exxon, et alia from saying much, but it doesn't keep the sides down, and their arguments amount to this:
Peak Oiler: We're running out of oil, on which our civilization depends, and when it runs out, the sh*t is going to hit the fan.
Conservative Capitalist: Oh yeah? How do you know? We might have LOTS of oil available; we just need to figure out better ways to get it out of the ground and use it more efficiently.

If the PO is right, it's time to buy a nuclear submarine and stock it well. If the CC is right, it's business as usual with a little more government funding for renewables and LOTS more tax credits for oil companies.

The PO's have added to their argument that global instability resulting from dependence on oil has gotten worse and will likely continue to do so (not that that's news to anyone); the CC's have added a nod to conservation, as long as it doesn't rock the oil-driven capitalist juggernaut of global trade. I want to assume that BOTH sides are partly right: We are running out oil, and yes, we will adapt; there will be global instability and resource wars, and yes, they will suck. What else can be safely predicted?

I don't make predictions unless I feel that my information is good, and in this case, beyond knowing how much oil is in the ground and how fast it will run out, it actually isn't too bad; one can at least read the trends. Global conflict over resources (including oil; water is becoming scarce, too) will certainly increase, although how quickly is hard to say. The UN and the West have lost much of their moral authority in a world leaning toward religious fundamentalism. The West has also been much more dependent oil for longer than anyone, but has now been joined by China and India. Ideological confrontations have increased as well among the Great Powers, led by the Megapower, the USA.

Probably the safest prediction isn't too helpful. Global warming, whether caused or exacerbated by human activity or not, will lead to higher seas and a more violent climate. There may be a switch in the currents of the seas that keep temperate zones temperate, so that Europe once again undergoes an ice age. Desertification will certainly spread. But I don't believe in any apocalyptic outcomes (and not just because the apocalypse has always failed to show up; the world has to end SOMETIME). Humanity will adapt to the change in resource supply in fits and starts, just as it has in the past. The vast numbers of humans on the planet, with their various cultural adaptations will assure that at least some of humanity's cultures will survive.

For selfish reasons, I'm betting on good 'ole godless, secular Europe to lead us into this new and troubled age, but I have practical reasons for doing so, too. For while you just can't beat the Europeans for showing you a good time, there's nothing like rationality and science to get you through a tough spot, and the Europeans have always had the market cornered on rationality since WWII ended. The EU may be dull, and to outsiders pointless and silly, but it is nothing if not a rational response to the world's problems. Also, Europe will be less likely to blame disasters on divine intervention and think that they deserve the divine onslaughts. I'm counting on the Dutch to do their part to show the rest of the West how to keep out the rising waters -- they have the experience, after all -- and I'm counting on the English to stay calm, because, well, they almost always do. The Italians and the French and the Germans may bicker and quibble, but I expect they'll come through somehow (with the help of the Scandinavians to kick them in the ass when the glaciers move north far enough -- just like they did during the last global warming episode -- remember the Vikings?).

In the US, I expect more crazed millenial movements and folks wearing tinfoil hats to keep out the deadly rays. Of these, I expect the Mormons will survive, perhaps because they have the institutional will combined with pure nutcase fantasy religions to manage it. (Pace, Utah, but Joe Smith was cracked). Or perhaps just the Mormons will take over the US completely, just to spite the likes of atheist rationalists like myself (::shivers::).

China, as it always does, will carry on its ancient traditions at the expense of anything. Expect more cultural hunkering down and centralization.

Japan will disappear. Sorry; I was born after 1956, so I've always liked them. Good cartoons, too. The Ainu will learn to swim and take over what little remains of the archipelago in the Sea of Japan.

On the other hand, trends sometimes take a left turn; maybe the US, Russia, China, Iran, Europe, Canada, Venezuela, Africa and all the rest of the oil-producing and oil-consuming nations will all learn to get along -- just like the Arabs and Jews -- right!

Most likely to thrive in an oil-free tomorrow are those cultures that just happen to be in the right places for the wrong times. They won't be ready for the future, but the future will be theirs regardless. Based on precedent, I believe primitive peoples in remote areas will be just as successful in the post-Peak era as anyone else, if not more so.

So take heart. Even if Tower of Power were right: "there's only so much oil in the ground"--there's also whole lotta people on the surface! Donna Summer's music may not suvive, but something of humanity will. Even if it's the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

The World Needs More Bicycle Shops Like Barney's Bikes in Worcester

I was driving back from the South Shore, where I work, to Worcester, where I live, and got caught in that enormous traffic jam that went on for most of the day while a tanker truck full of methane lay on its side surrounded by public safety personnel understandably concerned about what to do. When I myself release even a little methane, many grow quite concerned ("What the hell is THAT?" is usually what is asked), so with that much methane ready to go abroad into the atmosphere, I was glad that there were emergency personnel on hand to deal with it. Anyway, while they were figuring out what to do about the methane truck I was stuck in traffic that spread for miles in both directions on the Pike.

While thus stranded, my little red Subaru wagon was struck from behind by a very apologetic Irishman in a van. The car was fine, but the bike on the back, a 20-year-old Trek 10-speed (hey, remember when 10-speed meant "fast bike?), bore the brunt of the blow. It was time for another visit to Pete Howard, whose mechanics by this time had worked on my Trek a number of times.

Pete Howard, who is "my" bike guy, owns Barney's on Chandler Street, which is the only bike store around that takes trade-ins. It's also my first choice of bike shop. The local snobby bike store that is Pete's main competitor would have gotten a good laugh out of working on my Trek instead of some fancy-pants Italian bike ridden by some fanatic that shaves his legs, so I prefer to go to the folks at Barney's. I still wasn't sure if I was going to keep the Trek or not; if not, I wanted to trade it in. Pete's mechanics could then work on it and sell it used to someone who needs a good bike for transportation.

It turned out that there was apparently still life left in my old Trek, but after years of riding it, I was ready to be convinced that I needed to upgrade. Apparently there are bikes with more than 10 speeds now, not to mention numerous other improvements that an aging baby-boomer like me can appreciate. Also, while investigating these improvements the week before,I had left my driver's license at Barney's, so I really needed no excuse to go back to Barney's (tell that one to my wife). I don't spend all my hours on a bike; much of the time I'm stuck in traffic like everyone else at rush hour (see above), so I still needed to pick up my license.

After looking it over, Pete explained that while his mechanics could put the Trek into working order, it would not really be the same. I've had accidents on bikes before (hint: always wear a helmet), and the Trek has been no exception. So I let his team put the Trek into working order for someone else (it has really nice components, some of which I'm really going to miss) and bought a Giant OCR3 with not 10, but 24 speeds (now I can go REALLY fast). The Giant is a nice "entry level" road bike, but rides much better than the Trek did at even its best, since the frame is aluminum and the fork carbon-fiber. The components are nothing to write a blog about, so I will probably upgrade those in a year or so, when my wife is either not looking or convinced that I'm riding it enough to make an upgrade worthwhile. My wife found it amusing that I bought a bike named "Giant." I can't imagine why.

While talking to Pete, I noticed that Barney's sponsors the Major Taylor fundraiser, a timed trial of George Street in downtown Worcester that raises money for a memorial to Taylor, the greatest cyclist in Worcester history and the Lance Armstrong of his time (who was African-American and also owned a wallaby, if those kinds of things matter to you). See http://www.majortaylorassociation.org/events/coe04.shtml for more on Taylor. Pete got involved in the George Street ride and showed the folks who were running it a few of his ideas, such as raffles, etc. and they've made more money and gotten more interest as a result. Pete's also president of the Seven Hills Wheelmen, a worthy organization that sponsors many local rides, including the George Street ride. The George Street ride has become a local tradition, sort of like the Summer Nationals, but without the tire-squealing and excessive exhaust.

It doesn't surprise me that Pete Howard can get more attention paid to the Major Taylor Association and make the George Street ride what it is now. He's been selling bikes in Worcester for a long time, when the snobs in Webster Square actually had some other competitors to deal with right around the corner. And as Pete remarked to me, though they probably sell more (and more expensive) bikes than he usually does, there is still room for a bike store like Barney's in Worcester. By the way, the snobs run a good bike shop; I just don't like snobs generally. Plus, bike snobs dress really stupid, like wearing someone else's logos is REALLY COOL. Right. Like NASCAR drivers; way cool.

I was glad to hear that Barney's still carries on the tradition of selling good bikes to folks who need them -- including good used bikes to folks who need a cheap ride -- and you should be, too. Especially if you're in the market for a used Trek with some really nice second-tier Campy and Dura-Ace components. Or maybe if you just want to see how fast you can get up George Street on a single-speed road bike like Major Taylor used to ride.

Ahoy the Geezer!

As I looked ahead to my 48th year on this earth as of May, 2006, I took to the road on my Fisher Nirvana 21-speed bike, my pride and joy. It was the first truly NICE day we've had in Worcester since May Street was cleaned (I always mark the beginning of the bike riding season by the cleanliness of Worcester's streets). I'm always glad to see the DEADLY OF SAND OF DOOM removed so that I can appear intrepid on my two-wheeler.

I am not intrepid anymore, really. In December of 1997 (my first year of teaching) I slipped on a sidewalk going past Hahnemann Hospital on Lincoln St. in Worcester, broke my hip and pelvis, and spent 5 weeks in traction. On my return to school, I found my "students" had been magically transformed into actual slugs, lolling about in pools of adolescent mucus. I also found that my wife had found us a house to buy (a necessity, as we were being evicted from our lovely apartment near the old Coffee Kingdom, now across from the Corner Grille). Oh, and did I mention that this was in the first year of my new (second, and last) marriage to the lovely Aldona Pauliukonis?

These days, I am stressed out in a different way. And I like the biking. Worcester is actually not a bad place to bike, even during rush hour. I've biked in Boston, Somerville and Cambridge in Massachusetts, and Worcester is a far better town. The drivers are less angry, and therefore generally more courteous than in the aforementioned cities. And in Worcester, things are near enough to to one another to make biking a real option as long as the weather's good and you're up for it.

I'm now more of a recreational cyclist, but when I first worked at the ALL School up on Gorham Street off of Burncoat (now the Joy of Music Program) I rode my bike almost daily to work. If it rained or snowed, I had arrangements to get a ride with the generous science teacher and fellow neophyte teacher, Carol Chandley. But if it was simply damp or cold, I dressed accordingly and pedaled boldly up the hill to work each day. One day I rode/walked home in a blizzard. In fact, the Fisher was bought expressly for the purpose of getting me to work so that I wouldn't need a car (thanks Aldona!) and as a more gentle replacement for my road bike, the venerable Trek 10-speed touring bike left over from my days in the less-enjoyably-cycled towns mentioned above.

I have, on occasion, slipped into the smug self-righteousness that only urban bicycle commuters can possess ("I'm saving the planet, WTF do YOU do?) but as my knees have weakened, so has my resolve, and my self-righteousness has decreased. I ride more calmly, with care, and without my previous boldness. I was in my 30's when I nearly knocked one of my students over and instead broke my hip. In my 20's I was as aggressive and reckless as any Boston cabbie; I'm positively sedate now.

So since spring is here, give a thought for your beloved bike, as I have. My relationship with it may have changed, but I can still savor the sweet wine of youth most when I'm perched aboard it.

Worcester: Tripping the Light Fantastic

As one of my favorite Worcester columnists noted, it was school vacation week last week, which meant that not only could I pay twelve bucks for a sno-cone at Disney on ice, but also that I was back in my home town for an ENTIRE WEEK. As some folks may not know, I commute back and forth between Worcester and my new teaching job on the South Shore in a lovingly renovated suburban high school. The commute being what it is, I have a room nearby to stay in, so spending an entire week with my family (less one -- my eldest daughter is off at MCLA in North Adams) rather than pining for their company in my little room in Pembroke was a treat.

Walking around in Worcester (walking the dog is my chief duty at home; more so when the weather is bad) I couldn't help but compare my own "gritty, tightly-knit blue-collar community" with the South Shore. For those that think Worcester comes off badly by comparison, I should point out that Worcester's virtues are easily overlooked by its own citizens. Worcesterites love to complain about their city; maybe it's because they don't get out of it enough.

So let's talk sidewalks. Along May Street, where I live, Public Works was busy ripping up a recently created sidewalk (blacktop, not concrete) to lay PVC pipes that looked like they were for electrical lines. As there is new electrical work being done nearby at Beaver Brook Park, I suspected that it had something to do with that. I'm looking forward to a well-lit, well-drained park with better fields, including soccer fields for our growing legions of soccer players. In the meantime, the sidewalks along May Street were a mess, hastily covered over with blacktop after the pipes went in. That's an observation; I'm not complaining (yet).

The lack of a sidewalk in Worcester is notable, and people in Worcester get rather testy with local government about them from time to time. They should. A sidewalk is a necessary amenity. Good sidewalks not only build good neighborhoods, they improve cardiovascular health and provide dogs places to urinate. They are footpaths to freedom.

"Sidewalks? So what?" you might ask. Well, it seems in the suburbs of the South Shore THERE ARE HARDLY ANY FREAKIN' SIDEWALKS AT ALL! No one walks anywhere except to their cars. Then they get in and drive. The only places with sidewalks are toney neighborhoods and malls. Then, no doubt, they pay to exercise indoors on treadmills, as if they were donkeys grinding grain. WTF?!

I can go quite awhile in my neighborhood without having to drive except to get groceries, and that's only because I'm too lazy to carry them (my kids are too lazy to help; for that matter so's the dog). I can walk to:

• 5 hairdressing salons
• 2 breakfast places
• a luncheonette/cafe
• 2 pizza joints
• a really fancy restaurant
• a college (hey, that's where I got certified to teach!)
• a 24 hour convenience store
• a butcher shop
• a deli
• a supermarket (except I'm too lazy if I'm buying much)
• a dance studio
• a Chinese restaurant run by really friendly and incredibly hardworking Vietnamese folks
• Several Vietnamese restaurants
• any number of bars, liquor stores, etc.
• Two barbecue joints
• until recently, an excellent bookstore and cafe

and so on. You get my point.

So Worcester: Love your neighborhoods. Complain to the city council when your sidewalks are unsafe. And for heaven's sake, spring is coming, so GET OUT AND WALK!