Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

I avoid confrontation. If I see a situation brewing where confrontation is definitely part of the equation, I'll find a way to slink away, not have to become part of the mix. Yesterday, though, I actively confronted another person.  Funny Delightful Son came home for the weekend, and we went computer shopping for him. His laptop gave up the ghost, so he was on the hunt for a replacement. After doing some online research, he decided to head to Wally World where the kind of computer he was searching for was listed online as being on sale. When we arrived at the technology department, he found the computer. Right below it was the sale tag. FDS said he was going to play around with the computer for a bit, so I wandered off to the bike accessories aisle to see if I could find some bungee nets to use on a couple of my panniers. I found what I was looking for then returned to FDS who had that look on his face, the look of things not going as planned. Apparently while he was che...

Today I was talking with one of my classes about the assignment I had just given, which entails the students having to go out into the community and find an example of visual rhetoric. An idea I offered, to give the students a starting place, is the new signs just put up around my home, signs with a bicycle and the message "Share the Road." This prompted one student to say, "The city should take down all those signs." Some other students chimed in, saying cyclists shouldn't be allowed on the streets. Another student then said, "They should have to use the sidewalk." This exchange took all of maybe 15 seconds, and to say the least, I was stunned at the vehemence with which the words were spoken. In my cycling endorphin-induced, euphoric world, everyone loves cycling, and by default, cyclers. I didn't comment after the students' proclamations. Rather, I continued giving examples, none of which elicited the kind of response the Share the Road sign...