Bikes + outdoor poetry = Saturday – Guest post by Kate Milberry

Kate Milberry is a doctoral candidate in SFU’s School of Communication and blogs, amongst others, at Geeks and Global Justice.

Today was a busy day. After entertaining last night, the whole clan cycled (puppy in the side pouch; one kid on the back, one in the trailer, one on his own bike) from East Van to Stanley Park for the Summer Dream Literary Arts Festival . Evelyn Lau was the starring attraction but she went on at noon and we didn’t leave the hood till 12:35pm. Whaddya gonna do? I remember Evelyn Lau from back in The Varsity days; she was all hot and cool because she was a teenage street kid/prostitute and wrote a book about it or whatever. Anyhow, I never read the book but I guess she wowed the CanLit scene and is still kickin’ around today.

The day was restful and because of a six-year-old in tow, our bike caravan went pretty slow, wending our way along the water and deking out pedestrians, baby strollers, old people and other meanderers. The litfest itself was sorta lame, but the kids area was enough for the kids and they were happy to listen to spoken word and the odd song from the shade and comfort of the craft tent. I found the mental break refreshing; I’m in the midst of writing an academic chapter for an edited collection about alternative media in Canada. I’m doing the Internet + activism chapter. Exactly. So I’ve spent most of the month agonizing about the damn thing. It’s going a bit better now – I’m about a third of the way through and have a clearer idea of how it’s going to unfold. But the angst and stomach-in-knots I could do without. Never mind I’m supposed to be writing my dissertation. I feel the knots tighten as I think of my upcoming trip “home” for a couple weeks and then preparing to teach in the fall. The dissertation will write itself, perhaps?

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