Zander in the wild.

This past Wednesday I helped to introduce Zander to Mountain biking:

It was exhilarating!

He was what you might call a champ. Although biking was admittedly very new for our fearless adventurer, (not to mention mountain biking!!!) Zander took on the new challenge with gusto. After listening carefully to pointers about shifting and braking and how to take on the gnarly descents of Fantasy Island, he realized that it just made more sense to take a crash course at the school of hard knocks. Despite the gash on his knee and blood trickling down his shin Zander the Champ kept on keeping on. 

The old clunker of a bike was no match for Zander's perseverance.

Not the actual bike he rode. Just a good picture.

Nor was the sandy terrain:

If only Westley had a bike.

In the end, we made it out alive and all the better for it. 

Employee Discounts and Motorcycles

Employee discounts and motorcycles are exciting things, but it seems that are somewhat at odds in so far as the former is beginning to make me reconsider the latter. Motorcycles are great! loads of fun to ride, generally really good on gas, the chicks dig it and so do I!  But you can't live in them. In fact you can only put one bike on it at a time! and thats only if you figure out how!!!
And this brings me to the 'former'. I am going to quickly compile soooo much bike stuff!

That and I like to travel so I'm realizing that I should maybe start to think about how I might manage to do both the traveling and bike stuff collecting. I think the answer is something like this, or this:

Although, obviously some of the details are drastically out of place.

But hey, I'll figure that crazyness on my own time. Right now there is more important things to discuss. Last Saturday's bike ride! Even though Derek and I had a blast and that could be considered good enough  I really do need to share it:   "After all, that's the whole point of riding a bike.  Whether you ride alone or with others, it's crucial that everyone have access to details about your  inspirational life-changing recreational pursuits, because of course while plenty of people have bicycles, nobody rides them as interestingly as you do. "

Saturday morning Derek gassed on over here to pick me up and we drove up towards Mt. Lemmon. It was a nice enough drive. It took a small while to figure out where we wanted to be, but we got it worked out and then started leg spinning on up for about four miles of road. Finding Bug Spring we were pretty happy. There were actually TREES!!!

But then HaBing started. It was rough.

It somehow doesn't seem as steep as it was in real life. maybe the camera angle was bad.

But my-omy! the scenery, the trees! the cool air and broad views. It was just ohsogreat.

 And I thought that was cool. Little did I know the best was yet to come. Starting down, the trail quickly demonstrated how great of ride it would be. It was reasonably technical.

 But really allowed for some good speeds too. Nothing like that slow and tricky Tucson Mtn Park trails.

We got to the bottom a bit quicker than I would've liked. Luckily, when I commented on this to Derek he was right there with me. well, at least in so far as he was paying attention. Kindly he offered, and I accepted, to drive me up to the trail head. Which meant all I had to do was a short hike and then just crush on down the mountain the whole way home! Nailing the Bug Spring on round two was even better than the first. I pushed the limits and they pushed back, sending me down for a relatively gentle close up view of the ground. The ensuing road ride home afterwards though was simply tiring. Not fast enough to be invigorating, and not near technical enough to keep me interested. I think I just need to keep the trail bike on the trails.

When doors are open...

                                                                                                                              and up!
                                                                                                                and up
When doors are open, see where they go! In this particular case it led up
and kept going up the U of A stadium. It was great fun to go biking up the big empty switch back ramps. Finally I got to the top level and realized that there was some construction happening at the far end so I simply had to go over to it, jump the fence and see what was what. It was pretty cool stuff. Regular old construction site stuff, but still cool. the best part being some scaffolding that was great to climb and led to a pretty cool view. Well I guess the view wasn't all that spectacular. it was just fun being up there.

My little trespassing adventure happened earlier this week while I was waiting for a call from someone who I was interested in buying a motorcycle from. He never got back to me.  :-(  

But, speaking of going in open doors. It was the night after, I was just hanging out on U of A campus again waiting for this motorcycle guy to call me, (because he said he would, but never did!) and a random dude named Alex comes up to me and tells me that I'm invited to a prayer meeting/ worship time in modern languages. And so I say; "hm, sounds interesting.. what kind of 'modern languages'?" Alex then points down the sidewalk with a slightly confused look and says "it takes place in the auditorium of the Modern Languages building. Its just right down there." 

So, after realizing that the motorcycle guy was standing me up I decided to check it out! It was interesting. One thing I learned is that prayer is way more powerful if it has some background beats. And honestly, I'm not being entirely factious here (only mostly); it kinda felt like in the movies where we can tell the couple is about fall in love or that things are just going to somehow work out. It really can't be denied that the guitar strings really can tug at the heart strings. its powerful stuff. and so is prayer. but somehow, despite its affect on me I also couldn't help but think about the vastly different levels of power music and prayer are on. And if that wasn't enough to dwell on for a bit, after the worship time it was time for the group to hear what God was saying through the members there about things that were going on for others in the room. Quite a long line grew. Many people reported that "God was saying through them that in the room that evening someone was having knee issues, specifically with their right knee and that God wanted to heal that knee tonight!" Several others heard God saying that there was someone who had had a troubled relationship with their father as a child and that God wanted to show them that God the father was better than that. 

It was quite the experience and it made me quite curious. I simply didn't know what to think. Certainly many or at several of those people were just saying something to say something, but I also believe that there were likely many who felt convicted about what they had to say. I'm generally pretty cynical about this stuff, but I'm also very curious and I wish I'd been able to really ask people about it and somehow simply receive straight forward, honest answers. But alas, until then I'll just consider it 'interesting'.

In other news, here is a beautiful sunset:

The Imgur Edition

My whole day today was about bikes and lots of biking. First I biked ~8 miles to work where I started my new job today!!!! Then I learned about selling bikes, and the mission statements and values of Performance Bikes. Then I built a bike for them. Then I realized I was late for my other bike job because I got carried away having too much fun at my new bike job! So I biked very very fast across town (~10 miles) and at one point even drafted off a school bus. It was grand! Then I made it back to my bike padawan and we worked on adjusting hubs and truing wheels. Sometimes I think I'm a bad teacher, but comparison helps.

Its not a shed!

I've moved! Thanks to Jon for helping me do so. Like the title implies, the new place is not a shed. But sadly, its honestly only just a bit better. These past several months have really made me realize how great it is to have great people to live with. I don't think I realized before how blessed I've been over the years. I have gotten to live with some great people. We've had good times and have grown to be good friends through it. Now I just wish I could move back in with any of you!
When I went to move in to my new place I had to call Zach to wake him up. Walking in Jon and I are assaulted by a mess of a place. The first time I went to visit it was a mess but they (Zach and Bailey) had promised to get it all cleaned up and that that it was normally cleaner. Well... Its a mess. The biggest problem is that they don't have a vacuum cleaner. and they do have a cat. And thats just the beginning of it! That is just the superficial stuff that affects me. More significantly, this past week Bailey found out that she's pregnant. She's 19. Zach is 18. When I first met him I thought he was at least 20. She's getting an abortion this friday and they've broken up. even though they are still living together... I think my fear of relationship-y drama is going to be inevitable.
But hey, maybe I just need to help them find a vacuum cleaner, kindly encourage Zach to be more responsible and do the dishes and maybe mediate a conversation or two! This first two days I've been pretty negative about the whole thing. I guess coming home Saturday night to Zach sitting there in the middle of the dump of a living room smoking weed doesn't help. But still, its true that I wont be home much. Last night I had dinner with the YAV's (Young Adult Volunteers) and helped some of them with their bike problems, Saturday I spent at the Menno Mansion and watched Space Jam for Jon's birthday, and this coming week I'll be starting my new job at Performance Bikes! (which I should probably say a word or two about soon) but the point is, I wont be home much! Maybe I'll just deal with it. Also, I'm going to get a motorcycle, probably this one, so that'll help with being able to go visit people and generally just be out of the house.

Whew, well now that that's all out, maybe I can start refocusing my attention on HAVING A NEW JOB!!! That really should be the headline here. They are working on filing paper work now and I'm hoping to get a call soon saying that I can go in some morning this week to get started! I'm going to be really busy soon but I'm going to keep in mind that its all for good things! Its for summer travel, its for a motorcycle, its for Brazil 2014.

On the up and up!

The big new is... I have a job interview! Which is great! except that all of a sudden I begin to think about all the exciting things that I'm going to do next!!!
First I'm going to get a motorcycle!
Then I'm going to work like mad for a year! make a bunch of money and go to Brazil!!! As you all should know, the World Cup is being held there from June 12 to July 13 and I plan on being there. I dont know how I'm going to do that yet... maybe I can get Lucas to bring the good Ol Hippie Van and we can drive it a couple of miles, break down and then bus the rest of the way. Or maybe I'll bike! or maybe public transportation! the possibilities are endless! but it will happen. and I am super excited.

In other news, I'm going to be moving tomorrow. The Shed Life  is now behind me. I am moving on. The new place is going to have a pool and two roommates. They are a dating couple. I'm hoping that relationship drama isn't an issue. Originally I was only just a bit concerned. But then, just this past week the news came that Bailey is PREGNANT! WHAT?!?! yep. So we'll see what that means, but I think drama will be inevitable. www.tucson.craigslist.com/roo will still be one of my favorite websites.

And in closing, my good buddy David Rudy stopped by for bit! David is a skilled singer and has the honor of singing on Hesston's Choir. They just so happened to stop by Shalom Mennonite for some singing. It was very good stuff. It was extra cool to see David here because he and his brother were integral part of my Nov '12 travels. Also this one.
At one point a soloist sang this song. Its a good one.

Lunafest!

Tuesday night I went to Lunafest with Kat and Carrie. Lunafest is a film festival 'by, for, about women'. It was totally awesome. There were nine short films, all really well made. Some of my favorites:
Whakatiki - A Spirit Rising - Was really powerful, and magically touched on so many powerful themes without explicitly addressing them that I was just blown away. There were themes of body image, family, freedom of the spirit, and it all came together in about 12 minutes.
Chalk - This one was also largely wordless. It was kinda weird to watch a young girl go through the process of having her first period, but it was still a very good video. It followed the story of two young girl gymnasts who are at a competition or something. They are clearly close friends, but then they start to fall apart. There is a boy, the one friend doesn't make the cut, and there is the whole thing with the period. In the end though they come back together and its quite touching.
Flawed - Was another very good one. It was funny, but yet still quite serious in how it dealt with the topic of plastic surgery and how we view ourselves. In the end though I thought the message was a bit shallow; basically your big nose is a part of you and makes you who you are. 'Why try to be ordinary when you can be extraordinary!' was, I think, a line from the end of it. I wasn't convinced. It seemed very much like a grownup trying to make the awkward kid in middle-school feel less awkward even though its the other kids, not the grown up, that has any say in the matter.
And then there was Lunch Date which was just funny and sweet. About a girl who gets dumped when her boyfriend sends his 14 year old brother to pass on the message. There's not so much to say about it except that it was a lot of fun.

As a follow up to my last blog. The hymn sing was great! I think hymns are pretty much the best. Such great poetry, but even better because they are put to such great music. And even better still when sung by a group of people who really enjoy it.

Also, Ben, I'm sorry to report that I have no good mountain biking pictures because I did not end up going mountain biking this weekend. It proved to be just a bit too much of a chore. Mountain biking for me requires switching my tires (not a huge deal, but still a pain) taking my rack off (which I guess I wouldn't have to do...) and then biking at least 45 minutes to the trail head (which is definately doable, it just didn't happen this weekend.)
So I went road biking instead! I biked on over to a park with Kat and Emma, they went running, but I didnt feel like running in biking shoes so I sat by the lake and listened to the Dianne Rehm show on the topic of the legality of the torture of terror suspects. It was very interesting. Evidently the rulings handed down from the military/ secret courts were often thrown out by other federal courts because the courts or the processes themselves were ruled unconstitutional.

Sitting by water is nice.

This park had lots of kids running around and made for good people watching. 

In other news, we got a whole bunch of donations from a recycling center. Its good that we're getting stuff. Our meager shop needs more bike things, but this is some of the stuff that was donated:

We salvaged a couple parts from it!

I don't think the brakes worked very well...

The Other America

from the color of the faces in sunday's songs

to the hatred they raised all the youngsters on

once upon a time in this country long ago

she knew there was something wrong

because the song said yellow, red, black, and white

everyone precious in the path of christ

but what about the daughter of the woman cleaning their house

wasnt she a child they were singing about

and if Jesus loves us black or white skin

why didn't her white mother invite them in?

when did it become a room for no blacks to step in?

how did she already know not to ask the question

left lasting impressions

adolescence's comforts gone

she never thought things would ever change

but she always knew there was something wrong

Last night I watched a documentary about Anne Braden. Its a good one. It seems the history of that time and of those issues too often gets brushed over. Or maybe I'm just not a history major. Even so there are lessons here for everyone and for all times that I wish I would've studied more and that I wish I knew more about. We do live in a society where something is wrong. Although it may not be codified in Jim Crow laws or to the same extent that it was in the past, white supremacy is still rampant in our institutions, culture and demographics. 

This American Life (the radio show, not the abstract idea of a US citizen's journey from birth to death) recently did an incredibly powerful two part series on a highschool in Chicago. Although the show's main emphasis was on gun violence and how this group of people dealt with it, I was struck by brokenness of the whole system. Then, hearing Anne Braden's personal life story and testimony I was struck by the reality that, no matter how far removed you or I may feel from those students at Harper High we are still apart of the same society. We are under the same government and the leaders that I help elect make policies that more often than not hinder rather than help kids like Devonte. 

Throughout the Anne Braden documentary the issue of economic justice for all is touched upon in various ways. It seems to me that poverty and wealth are defining issues of any era. In the 50's and 60's it may have been more explicitly tied to race but even now the trends from the past continue. Race aside I still agree with Anne in that there is something wrong. When highschool kids have to put up with their friends being shot by their peers and when the highschools that are supposed to be helping those kids find ways out of that violent system are looking forward to their funding being cut, I say there is something wrong! 

Anne Braden got it right. We must ask the tough questions, seek out what where we are being unjust and join the 'other America'. The other America that is not ok with failing schools, with discrimination, or with policies that make keep people down.

That said, I also have to add a confession. This blog is, after all, about the life and times of Tyler Groff. The above simply covers what happened last night, the documentary I watched, a radio program I listened to and some of my musings on the subjects covered therein. Its easy to call out the injustices around me. To a certain extent its kinda fun to get all fired up, to try and pull at your heart strings the same way the story of Harper High and Anne Braden did to mine. But thats only half of what this blog is about. The other half is about what I'm doing and so I feel I need to add that even I am not living up to my own hopes of what people might do. I wish I knew my country's history better. I wish I had a clearer idea of what to do from here. I wish I had the drive and passion to work justice and a better life for all. 

Instead I get overwhelmed by annoying neighbor dogs or crappy weather; I get the travel bug or the biking bug; In short I'm selfish. And I guess, thats not really what I'm wishing against. I wouldn't think to wish that I didn't love mountain biking, or that I won't get a job at a high end bike shop. I don't expect myself to not get depressed about lousy weather or living in a shed. I just wish that I could go beyond that.

But for now I guess I'll just keep working on it. I'll go biking, or maybe hiking tomorrow and I'll be sure to get some good desert pictures no matter what I do. There's a hymn sing tomorrow night that'll be sure to lift my spirits even if it doesn't do a damn thing for the neglected or the poor.