Back To Bikes

By Liz Bloomhardt

Published September 24, 2010

Last week the City of Durham issued a press release announcing its recognition as a bicycle friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists. Durham was awarded a bronze-level recognition, the lowest of four levels recognized by LoAB. Chapel Hill also received a bronze-level recognition. Close by Carrboro bested both college towns, achieving a silver rating. Several other North Carolina cities also received awards.

This publication picked up on the story this week, and Tuesday’s edition of Towerview magazine had a one-page spread on just how hip the bicycle commuting trend is for the fall. In true magazine style, the short blurb was accompanied by a shopping list to aid interested trend-followers in getting in on the act.

I hope bicycling is more than a fall trend, but I also applaud all of the publicity this healthy and fun form of transportation is getting!

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Authors Note: Friday truly was all about bikes, at least in the backpages of The Chronicle. In addition to the article abstracted above, two additional columnists also addressed the issue of bikes on Duke’s Campus in Friday’s issue. You can link to the editorial board’s comments here and Professor Thomas Sporn’s comments here.

Water World

By Liz Bloomhardt

Published September 10, 2010

Welp, Earl was a dud, but we sure could’ve used the rain.

All that sunshine and hot weather that was inescapable the last two weeks have been hanging around most of the summer while many students were off saving the world and being interns. Too much sunshine hardly seems like a bad thing until a lack of rain equals drought.

And I hate to say it, but we are experiencing a low-level drought.

Surprised? You probably shouldn’t be.

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