The first book I put together was a collection of essays, Our Own Day Here, which comprise explorations of urban life in all of its aspects, from the poetry of the day-to-day to more formal questions of sustainable architecture, planning, and transportation. For years I edited Bicycle Fixation, focussed one on particular aspect of transportation, and I co-edited Sustainable City News, which covered everything else: economics, the politics of food, public space, housing, and more. Both still linger on, though SCN in a reduced form, but I am happy to say that someone in the mainstream was listening to us, as many of the issues we raised have become part of daily discourse.
I wrote many of the essays in my collection for one of these publications, and others for journals such as Cycling Mobility, Momentum, or Terrain. Most of them are pretty nearly impossible to find anymore except in Our Own Day Here.
When the book came out, Los Angeles community activist Joseph Bray-Ali, owner of a neighborhood bike shop that was a center of political action as well, interviewed me for a local podcast called Bike Talk. I have dug up the recording and present it to you here, so you can feel a little better about perhaps ordering the book itself–where at least you won’t have to hear my whiny tones!
Rick Risemberg
Crow Tree Books 