Books

So Mr. Martel has tagged me to answer a few questions regarding my reading habits. Here we go, then. 1. One book that changed your life: I shall take the easy way out and say the Bible. 2. One book that you?ve read more than once: On the Road. Yes, in many ways it is […]

Nine

…our life reminds me of a forest in which there is a graceful clearing and in that opening a house, an orchard and garden, comfortable shades, and flowers, red and yellow in the sun, a pattern made in the light for the light to return to. The forest is mostly dark, its ways to be […]

On Landis, Cycling in General

Floyd Landis, based on the results from the A and B urine samples taken after his dramatic stage 17 win in the Tour de France, has been declared a cheater. He was found to have elevated testosterone levels (nearly three times above the UCI limit), and traces of synthetic testosterone were found. The first charge […]

Turn Left!

Finally, after many starts and fits (due in equal part to weather and other obligations), I made it down to the Oval on Washington Blvd. for the bi-weekly track races. I was genuinely nervous about it–unlike an alleycat, your lack of speed is readily apparent. My goal was to simply not embarrass myself. I had […]

Rub-a-Dub

Today was the Rub-a-Dub alleycat, a scavenger hunt style race that required the racers to find various plaques around the city and do rubbings of them, Indiana Jones-style. I dragged along four first time alleycat-ers–Jen, Doug, and our neighbors Seth and Nikki. My poor performances on scavenger hunt alleycats are well documented, so I was […]

Not Dead Yet

After writing an obituary for this year’s Tour de France, the race has been completely turned on its ear. First, on Tuesday, favorite Floyd Landis cracked in a most spectacular fashion, losing nearly nine minutes to his competitors. How spectacular was it? Nearly everyone in the peleton was shocked at the result. Oscar Pereiro (he […]

Where Have You Gone, Lance Armstrong?

Today was supposed to the Le Tour’s version of judgement day–the 21 switchbacks of L’Alpe D’Huez, each corner named after a victor, loomed over the peleton as it does so many years. This would, finally, separate the wheat from the chaff, and provide a bit of the drama that this year’s race has generally lacked. […]

Fear the Agrarians

Fr. Jape has focused his ire on Anthony Sacramone’s recent tirade against anyone who has the nerve to question unfettered consumerism. What can explain this little rant of Antonio Sanctimonious? He claims to like pollution, video games, cell phones, and other alleged amenities of urban life that look positively base alongside the real and undisputed […]

Le Tour, Week One

The door was wide open. The two pre-race favorites, Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, were left off their respective teams’ rosters thanks to connections with the doctor at the center of a Spanish doping sting. Americans Floyd Landis, George Hincapie, and Levi Leipheimer found themselves starting as favorites to win the general classificiation. After a […]

On Parenthood

I was in the middle of long-ish post on place and localism, when I came across this essay by Emily Yoffe, subtitled Advice columnist wonders what America’s got against parenthood. Yoffe, in her “Dear Prudence” column at Slate, recently advised a young woman to rethink the policy of remaining childless. This touched the collective nerve […]