tangible creations

Is this my privilege talking?

To give you some context to read this from, I am currently listening to "Power Pop Song" by Defiance, Ohio (extremely noteworthy band) and taking a break from researching psychology articles about sexual assault and substance abuse...

Therefore, I think that there is no time better than now to write about bicycles- bicycles and sex! And I need to ask,

Have you ever created something tangible that you loved with your own two hands? Do you remember how the material felt beneath your fingertips and brushing against your wrists? What about the rising tension in your muscles as you maneuvered parts together and around each other so that they fit just right? Did your sighs and exclamations change as you made mistakes, changed positions and came to see your final product?

I made a 12 gear a single speed for the first time this week, and it felt very good. Some righteous people showed me how to do it and I rocked the grease off of my old dirty Raleigh. And with my mind focused on the bicycle, I could not help but consider how lucky I was to be a woman in 2010 rather than in the past.

I can choose to cook and clean, or I can choose to ride a motorcycle across the states. Or, I can do both! I often forget that there was a time, a very long time, that the latter options did not exist for the woman. She could not have spent the day at a local bike shop in a tee shirt and shorts, bent over a greasy steel frame, screwing bolts and cutting chains. But I can! And why can I?

I can because people in the past felt, experienced, thought, spoke and created. Movements began in small places with few people and grew over time. So, while it is a rockin' sexy time to have a vagina, there is still need for change. Want to go make some together?