Tag: riding the bus

by jad

Pantograph

“Third proposal.” By number two, I suppress a groan, my muscles aching from the unforgiving pew and long hours.  “Third proposal: Welcome our gifts and our limitations too.” There’d been a death in our building. Across the hall, a neglected toothache took a troubled life away. No judgement. “God welcomes everything in us; in our turn, we can accept ourselves just as we are. That is the beginning of a healing that is so necessary for us all.” That morning, the bus was crawling up Pill Hill, like it did every morning. There was a stop for the Good Vibes hat, … Continue reading “Pantograph” →

by jad

Riders’ Rights: Registered!

In July of 2015, @farajchadi and I started something in Lebanon that we called @BusMapProject. We wanted to ask a simple question: “Do you know that there are buses in this country?” For four years, we came up with new ways of asking that same question; making friends, building alliances, pushing forward, falling behind—but always, always supported by so many companions along the way. We’ve finally managed to register our NGO in the National Gazette, after several attempts. This means that we can finally build a sustainable platform for our rider-led transit advocacy. We almost stopped believing that this would … Continue reading “Riders’ Rights: Registered!” →

by jad

Union: Yes!

If parliamentary procedure can be fun, then tonight was that. Wrote up, put forward and got approved on my very first Robert’s Rules-style resolution for anything ever at the Seattle Transit Riders Union members meeting this eve. Stoked to be finally connecting these dots stretched out across a decade’s worth of stuff and nonsense.

by jad

New Year’s Morning, 2019

“Vibratory atmospheric atoms of the life-principle…Look at the silly men…Where go? What for?—sleep. But this foolish gang was bending on-ward…The rhythm and the IT of our final excited joy in talking and living to the blank tranced end of all innumerable riotous angelic particulars that had been lurking in our souls all our lives…What’s your road, man?” Jack Kerouac, On The Road I start this New Year with lines taken out of pages 152 through 251 of Jack Kerouac’s ‘On The Road.’ I’d scribbled these into the upper-right corner of a page that was otherwise taken up by an anarchist … Continue reading “New Year’s Morning, 2019” →

by jad

Bus Map Project: “Shared Transport is a Shared Responsibility”

2018 has been very busy for Bus Map Project, a grassroots pro-transit initiative I co-founded in 2015, and it’s already almost May! It’s time for a catch-up post; we have a lot to tell you… On January 6th, we held our very first #BusCommunity event in Hamra and had a lively discussion with friends and peers from YallaBus, H2 Eco Design and others from our network of collaborators and supporters. Later that month, we did a mini-collective map action in Tripoli, to familiarize ourselves with the city and plan for more mapping in North Lebanon. This was followed by our … Continue reading “Bus Map Project: “Shared Transport is a Shared Responsibility”” →