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shouldn't do this thing at the mall as part of the Critical Mass
ride. It seems like some people will be uncomfortable.

But it also seems like some people do want to do this.

How is Buy Nothing Day related to Critical Mass?

Both CM and BND are a grass roots attempt to subvert people's
conception of what is expected and what is normal. 

People drive cars because it is expected and normal. It doesn't even
occur to people to not drive cars. We confuse the hell out of them by
showing up on the roads and slowing down their day. Sometimes its fun
and good to confuse the hell out of people.

People overconsume during the holidays because it is expected and
normal. People think they will be perceived as unloving if they do not
buy their children all the hotest toys even if they can't afford
them. It does not occur to people that it would be better to spend
that day off of work spending time relaxing with their family. It does
not occur to people that they don't have to consume so much and
ultimately the whole family will be happier and more relaxed if they
don't overspend. We show up at the mall and tell them this, we tell
them this thing they will never hear on TV and they will never think
of themselves as long as they are at the mall (plenty of people think
of it themselves but they don't go to the mall!). We confuse the hell
out of them by showing up in the heart of consumerist glory, in the
place that they know is _engineered_ to encourage their consumption
and make them feel temporarily happy to consume...and we say "it
doesn't have to be this way".

And there is a more direct bicycling and anti-car tie in. The centers
of consumption and the consumptive drive are _exactly_ what encourages
the car culture and the anti-bike culture. Think of how many cars will
be on the road on Friday, think of how much gas will be burned, think
of how unsafe Friday will be for bicyclists (even more so than usual).

So here is where the decentralized organized coincidence part of CM
comes in. People who dig what I'm saying should come to this Friday's
critical mass with BND related stuff. Bring signs, bring handouts,
bring pig costumes, whatever. And we'll have the BND caucus within the
ride just as _any_ adovocacy group could bring signs and slogans for
their particular cause and throw it into the Mass. 

And then after the ride proper is over I suggest those of us who want
to do something radical should ride up to the Mall and do it. Not as
critical mass just as BND demonstrators. Not neccessarily riding our
bikes through the mall but something. We'll agree on something. Or
maybe we ride the mass past the mall and those of us who want can
break off at that point. We can decide such things based on who shows
up to the mass. We can't turn down the opportunity to mess with the
minds of _so_ many people in one place. This is one of the densest
gatherings of local minds we will see all year. 

So what about all this bike advocacy stuff, should we work on it or not?

This list and this group should absolutely be a springboard for the
formation of a bike advocacy group or groups. It would be awesome to
have a meeting after every ride to share local bike news and to plan
non-CM actions. It would be awesome to have a meeting a week before
the rides to plan different tactics for getting the word out about the
ride itself and to plan some fun activity for the ride itself.

At our summer chat we felt that Critical Mass itself shouldn't
neccessarily take on anything but the rides themselves but I think its
important that Critical Mass can be a springboard for other groups,
activities, and such things. This fits in with my idea that this
friday we do the ride as usual and _then_ those of us who want to go
off and do a BND scene. 

And I do see Critical Mass bringing other issues into a the ride
simply by the organized coincidence factor. If Paul R and I bring a
little radio transmitter and have the Critical Mass Sound System some
time then we are really tieing critical mass into the
micro-radio/pirate-radio movement which I happen to think is also very
related to the philosophy of the mass. We're making multiple
statements. But this doesn't mean we're forcing that statement on
anyone else in the mass. We're just bringing our own personalities to
the event like everyone else. Everyone should do whatever they feel
comfortable doing as long as it doesn't infringe on the comfort of
other riders.

Safety?

Bill is 100% on the mark on this one. We should all try to bring
lights and helmets to this ride and all future winter rides. Also
dress really warm. And make sure your brakes are decent.

Some ideas of things we can do in the future:

Santa Rampage - http://www.bikewinter.org/
Critical Mass Sound System - http://www.vmore.org.au/~damon/cm/cmss.html
Bike Pulled Platforms of Fun - If we can construct a large platform
	that can be pulled by one or two bikes at low speed in a low
	gear (you can pull a _lot_ in a low gear) then we can pull a
	live band down the street with us! or some other equally silly
	thing.
Themed Costumes - Plan in advance and make some good costumes possibly
	combine with street theater acts based on themes for different rides
Publicity Ride - Plan a minimass where we ride from bike rack to bike
	rack and put out _thousands_ of invitations to the next ride.

Keep talking folks. Who's going to be there on Friday with Arun,
Sarah, and Me? What do you think? 


-- 
Zachary C. Miller - @= - http://wolfgang.groogroo.com/
IMSA 1995 - UIUC 2000 - Just Another Leftist Muppet
 Social Justice, Community, Nonviolence, Decentralization, Feminism,
 Sustainability, Responsibility, Diversity, Democracy, Ecology
Take it easy...but take it. - http://www.greens.org