[*BCM*] News!

[Lee Peters]

I may have mentioned in my write-up the vibe of the newbies at the 
ride.  I believe that Thursday's ride was convened by the Black Tea 
Society.  There were many people that didn't know where we were going, 
or even much about the city.  They even used lingo that we never use on 
our normal rides.  "Mass up" was a slogan used to get everyone together.

Does this bother me as a Boston Masser who rides nearly every month for 
the pure purpose of riding in a safe place among a group of other like 
minded people?  Heck no.

For the outsiders to join/co-opt/organize proves the universality of the 
idea: "Critical Mass".  "Critical Mass" may have changed its definition 
to a word like "demonstration" only with bikes.  It is an idea that 
works like infrastructure, forever generic.  If you want it to have a 
clear message, then organize it into one.  If you want to stop at 
traffic lights, then get others to follow you in that endeavor.  (It 
probably won't work though). 

If I go on another do-gooder's ride like 'Bikes not Bombs', I see a 
group of totally different people.  This bother's me, but I won't give 
up my chance to ride through the city in a safe place. It says that some 
people just can't get into any militancy.   Now, if a pro-war group took 
over the ride, well then I will have to reconsider.  There seems to be 
enough consensus, however, to have a constant number of bikes at these 
rides.  This may be due to its generic quality.

This rambling was meant in the nice way.
L