Small business ownership (or self-employment, take your pick) offers, if nothing else, convenient means of rendering one's passions a tax write-off. That is, of course, if one's line of work has anything whatever to do with one's passions. Being a worker-owned, ecologically-sustainable "workplace" (as it were) means that our collective romance with liberation and... Well... Bikes, becomes an excuse to withhold money from Uncle Sam. Back in March, we donated over $500 worth of services to the annual fundraising auction held for the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, and this past month, we kicked $200 to Visions in Feminism (and indirectly, Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive).
And this past weekend, we took our first collective road trip to Trexlertown Velo Swap, in eastern Pennsylvania, an an effort to acquire gear on the cheap. Sadly, this was derailed due to poor highway signage in the region (despite our getting up at 6am to make the morning scramble). By the time we found our way there, it was pretty well picked over, but I did manage to score a set of 170mm Dura-Ace track cranks and bottom bracket for about half of what they'd have set me back, otherwise. Devin and Seager settled for soft pretzels from the concession stand.
After a brief stop at Seager's family home in Bucks County, we shot east to Philly, where he and Devin browsed record stores, and where I stuffed my face at Gianna's Grille. Worth noting is the vast improvement in their vegan dessert case. Holy fucking fuck. Boston Creme-style canoli with chocolate shavings and peanut-butter drizzle... Easily one of the best vegan items that's ever found its way into my mouth.
I'd really forgotten what a charming place Philly is. For starters, it seems to have retained a stable working class at its center (whereas that section of the District's population is largely on its eastern periphery), which makes for a really classical urban feel one imagines older US cities to have. Seven years ago, I was in and out of the city every so many months; whether it was helping gut the newly acquired IWW HQ, a stopover on the way to NYC after hearing the Diallo murder verdict, the RNC protests, or the nearly weekly legal strategy meetings or court appearances I had to make, thereafter. And I'd sadly forgotten what a genuinely gorgeous city it is. Perhaps most noteworthy from this recent visit were a series of vaguely cubist murals that have been added to the sides of a number of houses/buildings around South Street. Stunning stuff that I stupidly neglected to photograph.
Next stop, NYC.
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