(More pictures soon on our [...]]]> First Night Boston was a blast! The Princess, The Monster, and The Hero tumbled, juggled, fought, and made friends (twice!) for the entertainment of festive family revelers.

(More pictures soon on our Flickr account!)

Happy New Year everyone! May 2010 be full of confetti, polka dots, bike rides, juggling balls, handstands, and attempting the impossible…

I mentioned how [...]]]> I spent yesterday evening with my brother ‘talking shop’ over my new bike. And by talking shop, I mean he helped me fix a few things, gave me a brief verbal tutorial, bike anatomy lesson, and then we leaned against the cars in the garage talking while I idly spun the front wheel.

I mentioned how I was going to try and take the bicycle maintenance class at school, which he agreed was a great idea for finding an open, accepting place to learn. This struck me as being a sort of strange thing to say, since I know there are huge numbers of bike co-ops everywhere. He explained that strangely, most bike co-ops are almost exclusively male and that there have long been issues for women and trans people when trying to be involved. When I asked why, he said that for some reason or another, women and people who are trans don’t usually end up in the bike-mechanic community. This is then perpetuated by them feeling too unwelcome, too shy, or too embarrassed to ask for help. I had never considered this, though I realized I’ve been really shy about going into our bike shop since I have been known to be a little too proud to ask for help sometimes. (Hence why I asked my brother for help. He doesn’t count. He’s obligated by blood to love me.) He also added that it’s a sad fact that many bike co-ops end up being home to a lot of misogynistic conversations…much like car mechanics, I suppose.

Most bike co-ops apparently have “ladies’ nights” specifically tailored to women and trans individuals. Not that men will be turned away, necessarily, just that the space is set aside specifically for women and others. This got me thinking about a lot of things.

1. Where are my feminist bikers? We’ve got the Sprockettes, mentioned in a previous post, whose feminist views focus mainly on body-image. That’s completely spectacular, but I guess I’m curious about a community of female bicycle enthusiasts who are aware of the issues my brother described to me. Or I suppose I guess I’m mostly curious about a bicycle co-op that isn’t necessarily ‘feminist’ and certainly not misogynistic, but is welcoming to everyone: young, old, male bodied and/or identifying, female bodied and/or identifying and everywhere in between. Surely it’s out there…right?
2. What is it about mechanics that seems to be male-dominated? Sure, I’ll confess. I get a little wary around power tools. (Except nail-guns. Bring on the nail-guns.) But I’d be more than happy to learn. I just haven’t really had the opportunity. Maybe that’s the very reason? Maybe the world is filled with other chicks like me who’d be super keen to have someone show them how to play around inside a car, but they’ve just never had the opportunity. Why is this? Freudian trauma? Societal expectations?  Apathy? I have no idea. (Author’s note: I would probably roundhouse kick Freud in the transference if I had a chance. Consequently, I think that’s the least probable explanation.)
3. How silly is it that when it comes to things we know the least about, we’re the most embarrassed to ask for help?
4. Next time I need help with my bike, I’m not going to be shy or proud. I’m just gonna go ask because hey, it’s probably going to be someone just as helpful and willing to help as my brother.

Three Hampshire College students, Tara Jacob 05F, Victoria Quine 06F, and Lindsay Barbieri 06F are going to ring in the New Year by performing with their group, The Downside-Up Circus, at First Night, Boston’s annual citywide celebration of community through the arts.

For First Night, Jacob, Quine, [...]]]>

A Downside-Up View of the World
By Taliesin Nyala 07F

Three Hampshire College students, Tara Jacob 05F, Victoria Quine 06F, and Lindsay Barbieri 06F are going to ring in the New Year by performing with their group, The Downside-Up Circus, at First Night, Boston’s annual citywide celebration of community through the arts.

For First Night, Jacob, Quine, and Barbieri will perform a skills-based show full of acrobatic tricks, juggling and comedy at the Hynes Convention Center as part of the FedEx Family Festival. Now in its 34th year, First Night brings local and international artists to Boston to showcase their talents in over 200 performances and exhibitions for the public.

The rest of the article is here.

Each [...]]]> Taking back the streets for horns, bikes, and feet! Molly & I had a wonderful time at HONKfest in Boston, MA this weekend. We arrived Saturday afternoon and wandered the streets around Davis Square, stopping every few blocks to tap our toes and nod our heads and dance our hearts out to a different band.

Each motley crew of magnificent musicians had their own sound and their own aesthetic, from the Pinettes, the all-women’s Second Line band from New Orleans to the all-percussion Lloyd Family Players. With goggles and bunny ears, boas and fake mustaches, the bands all poked fun at the usual regimented marching band style, playing popular hits, original compositions, klezmer, swing, punk, gospel and everything in between. From plaza to park to stoop, it was as if music had taken over the streets – which it did, during the huge parade on Sunday!

Molly juggles in the parade

The parade was a honktastic lineup of bands and groups, including the Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble from Montreal, Canada (with a marching cello!), our friends Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band from Somerville, MA, Orkestar Zirkonium from Seattle, the Rude Mechanical Orchestra from NYC, and my new favorites, Environmental Encroachment from Chicago, IL. There was at least one coordinated dance team, a group of jugglers (who we fell in with for a time), several contingents of Bread and Puppet characters and puppets, and a silent clown-band with noiseless papier-mache instruments (who are actually our new friends The Royal Frog Ballet Theatre Company from Amherst, MA). It was incredible to feel the nearly tangible spirit of camaraderie, walking down the street with a veritable army of community support. I didn’t know it was possible for that many people to have that much fun at the same time without the universe imploding!

The parade emptied into Oktoberfest at Harvard Square, with the usual food and crafts vendors, marching bands continuing to perform in alleys and on corners during the afternoon. The weekend wrapped up with a floor-shaking five-hour marathon stage show in the Somerville Theatre, as each of the thirty-two bands played in succession for a full house of people who did not want to stay in their seats, but wanted to dance in the aisles and occasionally join the musicians onstage. We cheered and sang along, showing hearty appreciation for the wonderful folks onstage who traveled from far and wide to bring us HONK!

environmental encroachment really knows how to pump up a crowd

For those who couldn’t make it out to HONK! we’ve brought a dose of it back to the valley with us: TONIGHT in Northampton Downside-Up is performing alongside the Pink Puffers from Rome, the Yellow Hat Band from Seattle, and local favorites Rusty Belle. TOMORROW there is a parade around Hampshire at noon, followed by a performance and a workshop about the brass underground.

For more info on both the Northampton and Hampshire events go here!

But until that day, bake sales it is! We’ve been having semi-regular bake sales, featuring such delicious home-made fare such as raspberry cupcakes, chocolate cheerio chunk cookies, gluten-free brown sugar walnut muffins with cream cheese frosting, and chocolate fudge brownies. Hungry students, sweet-toothed staff, and curious passersby all [...]]]>

Victoria is excited. Molly is studious.

But until that day, bake sales it is! We’ve been having semi-regular bake sales, featuring such delicious home-made fare such as raspberry cupcakes, chocolate cheerio chunk cookies, gluten-free brown sugar walnut muffins with cream cheese frosting, and chocolate fudge brownies. Hungry students, sweet-toothed staff, and curious passersby all seem to appreciate our donations-only choose-your-own-price system, and initial profits are decent. Which means that the bake sales are all set to become a fortnightly fixture…

Other tactics include: grants! We applied for the Clif Bar Family Foundation Grant, because we think they’re cool, and to the New Belgium Brewing Company, because we think they’re REALLY cool. No word yet from Clif Bar, but New Belgium got back to us pretty quickly – in the negative. We still think they’re really cool. After all, they organize the Tour de Fat bicycle art festival that Molly reviewed a few weeks ago!

Finally, for the altruistic reader we have compiled a short Wishlist of in-kind donations that we would be eternally grateful to receive:

+ lightweight sleeping bags, lightweight tents, lightweight camping stoves
+ frequent flyer miles (for getting troupe members from the East coast to the West)
+ used bike trailers (the child-pulling kind)
+ bike lights (especially dynamo lights that generate energy from the motion of the wheel!)

And of course, come tour time, we will be looking for backyards to camp in, couches to sleep on, and kitchens to cook in!  and maybe showers…