Critical Mass Panic

I am reduced at this point to posting an e-mail I sent...hope you can all make it for a historic Friday. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Mellow Yellow Date: Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 11:03 AM Subject: Bike Power funspill continues to wreak havok on mundane life!! To: brooklynmass@lists.mutualaid. org Hey you. Yeah, you, looking so good on that bike, or unicycle. You on those roller blades, or that long-board. You, loving yourself, your streets, your city, and your community. Its summer! After a week recovering from that epic WNBR, I think I am not the only one ready to roll out together again! Below are some suggestions to maximize your good times in the coming weeks. Spread the word (FB pleez!), spread the love... TUESDAY 6/22 OLD SCHOOL HIP HOP DANCE RIDE! 7pm Tompkins Sq Park Dress funky fresh and ready to bust a move FRIDAY 6/25 DITMAS (HEART) RIDES 7pm Vox Pop (Cortelyou @ Stratford, BKLYN) Relaxed, family-friendly ride reclaiming the beautiful streets of BKLY...

There are many, many, many photos of Saturday's WORLD NAKED BIKE RIDE NYC. Preparing for this event is the reason I have not updated this blog in weeks and weeks. What follows is a "brief" account of the WNBR from one participant's perspective. Would love to hear more, and will post them here as I am able: I had always heard about naked protests. But no one ever really followed up. One thing or another, but talk rarely followed with action. Sure there were exceptions – ACT UP’s Drop the Debt naked DC during the RNC in 2004 being the most recent example. But the body has always been a battleground. And those who revel in it represent a Bachnalian counter voice in struggle against the prohibitive logic of the Comstocks, Carry Nations, Guilianis, and so on. “Capitalism – it needs sadness,” lamented John Jordan in an interview with me a couple of years ago. It needs docile, obedient bodies. Yet, when these bodies reject orders and access their cap...