Cancelled Workshop = Interceptors + Locking Shoes + Volleyball Injuries + Dumpstered Avocados

Angie and i were supposed to don an Honest Seduction workshop in Philly last night.  It got postponed because not enuf people signed up, so instead i took Skye Rios and Luna (also from the “cool school” of Warren Wilson) to Death City.  i told stories of the Galapagos, and we talked about Skye’s NSF grant to fuse hydrogen with Hip Hop.


gravity has no hold on Luna and Skye

We visited the Keep, which is always hoping.  We played a lovely game of volleyball on the Mall.  Part of what makes this incarnation of the game so attractive is the anarchist format with which it is played.  Teams are dynamic, people who dont know each other will ask to step in and play.  People of different ages and genders and abilities all play together, mostly seamlessly.  While scores are kept, most players seem to be there to have a good time, rather than to rack up points.

The bike ride to and from was fun. In part because it felt like a dwarf critical mass action with Feonix and Steve and Luna and Skye and myself riding (complete with tandem) thru the city breezing past the rush hour traffic. It was also exciting because i got to wear Steve’s biking shoes.

At first i shared Feonix’s concerns that these shoes, which lock to the bike pedals would be a disaster, since i might be unable to get my feet out of the pedals, before i could avert an accident.  Instead i had an experience like the first time i learned how to use stilts at a protest training by David Solnit.  The training consists of walking around with stilts on with your hands on the shoulders of others to keep you from falling.  Then quite suddenly after uneasily bumbling around my brain kicked in and said “i know how to do this,” and the helpers step away and it is something you can do.  So it was with the shoes which click into the pedals and i was off to the races.

i played volleyball quite reasonably until i hurt my hand and the Feonix and i went to the sidelines where she checked the work phone.  Steve and Feonix are professional drunk drivers.  The phone has been busy and we jump into responding, Feonix starts to call clients back and by the time we make it back to the keep we have a multi-layered logistical situation on our hands.  Inebriated folks from across town are calling in wanting to be ferried home.  Drivers are dispatched to drive their cars, interceptors are dispatched to rescue drivers and quickly it is clear that the evenings rush is exceeding their capacity.  So i get pressed into being an interceptor.  i am about to drive way out into the burbs and pick up one of our drivers, but then the ride cancels, so i shift to another driver after i drop Steve at one client.


Drivers Incorporated Poster for Bars

After rescuing drivers, changing plans and struggling a bit with city driving, we returned to the perfect small collective house party at the Keep.  There was a feast from the recent huge dumpster bounty, including some decked out housemates and friends who had returned from some sexy formal party.  And with the party in full swing, Steve and i went out for a last interception and a 3 AM dumpster dive.

A long, full, rich day.