At the beginning of summer this year I did something stupid. I biked from Philadelphia, where I had just wrapped up my third year of school, to the Jersey shore. At the time I didn’t think it was that stupid. I was in good shape, had been running a lot, and it seemed like a fun challenge. My friend, Noah, who was getting ready to lead a Bike & Build trip, had done the ride before and he assured me it would be a piece of cake.
What Noah and I didn’t take into consideration is that I had never ridden a bike for more than a few miles. I bought my bike when I got to school and use it mostly to get around the city, occasionally going on longer rides along the Schuykill River. Additionally, Noah’s thighs are about twice the size of mine, pure muscle. So what was a “piece of cake” for him turned into a nightmare for me.
The ride started off great. We had a big breakfast together, left the city with relative ease, and were on our way. But about ten miles in the rolling hills – whose existence Noah had not warned me of – began to take their toll on my legs. I was hurting, but as the only girl on a trip with boys I knew would make fun of me forever, I was determined not to voice my pain and become a sissy.
Seventy miles and eight hours later (ok, so we took a lot of breaks, don’t judge!) we arrived. The feeling of accomplishment was exhilarating. The feeling in my crotch was…well, that seems a bit personal for an online bio. For the rest of the weekend, I reveled in the glory of our adventure while waddling around the beach, trying not to jar my aching muscles.
After that trip I knew I wanted to do Bike and Build, and the updates from my two friends doing trips only inspired me more. I started taking better care of my bike and going on longer rides with the Philly Biking Club. Since then I’ve been hooked.
When I’m not biking I spend my time finishing up my final year at the University of Pennsylvania, where I’m studying International Relations with minors in Creative Writing and Spanish. The extracurricular activity that takes up the most of my time is a group that I co-founded called Penn Haven (the happy recipient of a $500 Bike and Build grant from a biker last year!), which is seeking to open a student-run youth homeless shelter near Penn’s campus and create a more activism-oriented environment on-campus when it comes to housing and poverty issues. We are currently continuing to work on raising money for the shelter and planning a protest to end foreclosures in the city in conjunction with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.
My work with Haven has taught me an enormous amount about affordable housing. Last week I presented at a general body meeting about New Urbanism in Philadelphia, which resulted in the demolition of hundreds of low-income housing projects in the 1990s. The city promised to create mixed-income housing developments for those displaced, but the number of homes created falls way short of the homes destroyed. In the meantime, there are hundreds of empty lots and abandoned buildings mar Philly’s streets while thousands are without a home. It’s a situation that needs to change, and every day I become more passionate about making that change happen.
Besides Haven, one of my big passions is Alternate Spring Break. I’ve gone on two trips and led one. Through ASB I’ve learned even more about affordable housing and gotten to meet families in New Orleans, Alabama, and Kentucky and help them obtain the housing that they, like everyone else, deserve. Plus, I’ve learned that building a house is really fun! My experiences on ASB have inspired me to work with the Habitat for Humanity chapter at Penn.
So, that’s me. I also love playing sports (not well, but I try hard), reading, being barefoot, writing poems, dancing in sprinklers, and keeping life exciting.
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