Dallas, TX (*********)

I have been busy. I am very busy.
Busy getting my heart eaten by Spring.
Walking along sidewalks, pelted by flowers from the flowering trees.
The fragrance of Lilac and Honeysuckle blend into a tide of thick air that pushes its way through my chest.
After a light rain, a rainbow escaped the Earth's crust and melted my eyes as I typed by the window.
Dogs don't bark anymore, they speak.
And I can't stop taking pictures.

From Settlement Dallas

Saturday, instead of riding in the bicycle fundraiser that we have been training for, we decided to stay inside to dodge the rain soaked roads. The forecast online said it was to rain a majority of the day, so we stayed in. We were potentially beat down from the Dr. Dog concert the night before, where we brought. the. house. down. At one point my friends' dancing was more entertaining to some of the audience than the activity on stage. My throat was on fire, and I shit you not, my ears are still ringing 3 days later (I hope I don't have to get this looked at). I can only speak for myself, but I was beat down.

We did our own bicycle riding around downtown Dallas looking for the world to reveal certain mysteries to us. Six helicopters were circling the sky and led us to a marching demonstration. Twenty thousand people were reported to have been marching, all of them speaking out against the recent changes in immigration laws in Arizona, and the word that the state of Texas is considering enacting similar laws. I am not here to write about politics, but I will tell you that after we watched people walk by for a few minutes, we walked, with our bikes, along with the demonstrators. We demonstrated.

When Sunday morning came, we were ready to do nothing but finally ride the second half of the bicycle fundraiser. A lot of the other riders, who rode a grueling 85 miles the previous day, must have thought we were pretty good seeing how hard we were riding, and I wasn't exactly telling everyone how I skipped the first day. But we did ride well, finishing 75 miles of hills, torture, and laughs in a damn good time (I think). I cussed at my two buddies quite a bit as I struggled to stay with them. By the end of the ride I was exhausted and I thought I started hallucinating when I saw two nuns crossing the road in front of me. One of the nuns winked at me, talking in what sounded like Latin. The other turned into a dragon and flew away.

From Settlement Dallas