Hello Everybody,


Edit: there is an interesting conversation going on in a previous blog post in the comments section worth checkin out.  Here is the link: http://pedalacrosstheamericas.blogspot.com/2011/02/global-climate-change-solutions.html.  Please Check it out, as well as this latest blog update.


I returned recently from my 10 day hiatus from the Pedal project, during which I completed a Vipassana meditation course in North Fork, California.


Before the meditation, I was working at Magic on a work-exchange arrangement.  In addition to fixing community bikes as I mentioned in a previous post,  I also contributed to community work by preparing food for the collective meal, which happens each night, painting the living room, and laying brick for the new driveway, built from salvaged brick and wood.  The photo below is of me angle-grinding a piece of rebar (not salvaged) used as a support for the new driveway.

I also had the chance to interview David Schrom while at Magic, who has been involved with Magic since it's inception in the 1970s.  However, I`m still looking into how to make this audio recording available through our blog, so please hold your horses on this one!

Also, amidst the painting at Magic that I mentioned,  our video camera charger mysteriously vanished, so I am unable to take pictures for the time being,  and have no more photos to share at this time.  Sorry about that.  

I`m staying in Oakland right now, with a friend of a friend (Thanks Sam!).  Although Oakland reflects some of the upscale feel of it`s fancy sister city, San Francisco, Oakland people are also faced with homelessness, street crime, unemployment, and the lack of access to proper medical care.  To address some of these challenges, community-based initiatives in urban food cultivation have sprung to life, and in their essence marry environmental and social justice work.  Thanks to Adam Prince, who I met at Fancyland and provided me with contact information for these incredible and inspiring initiatives.

Here are a couple to check out:

http://www.plantingjustice.org/programs

http://www.peoplesgrocery.org/index.php?topic=aboutus

The significance of these initiatives has become visceral for me since walking around Oakland, talking with people from the city, and witnessing first-hand the hardship that some people in the city are facing.

Thanks to everyone for your support, and blog comments, and thanks to Lucas for the blog entries!  I`m planning on being in Oakland for a little longer to plan out the next section of the journey.

Peace!

Steve