Glideology

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contents foreword Orion Ussner Kidder

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comic between panes of glass

09 contributors

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notes and acknowledgements

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afterword Mark Kingwell

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*

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for everyone who’s had the pleasure to roam and glide-and for those yet to do so . .

*

this journey is for you.

keep on truckin’ phrase altered after robert crumb (1968) zap comix.

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it seems like we’re stuck here. i can use this sign to flag someone for help. i see someone approaching-

hello!

take part in glideology daily routes from home to work or school and local trips are in need of a reset!

notice the growing number of e-bike delivery couriers, seasonal rollerbladers, skateboarders, and e-scooters. in most districts, they aren’t allowed on sidewalks or streets-so they technically don’t exist(?).

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darn itthis electric battery.

‘the pleasure of knowing the landscape by gliding over it.’

-Rebecca Solnit

maybe einstein did come up with the theory of relativity while out riding his bicycle . .

it’s difficult disentangling the circulation knots found with cars, pedestrian, and emerging micro-vehicle paths that try so hard to coexist.

it helps to have a wanderlust,* a state of being where you wish to better understand your surroundings; one needs to experience space with one’s own body in the landscape, not cocooned and distanced from it.

there are many glideologists. homer, henry thoreau, rachel carson, jane jacobs, peter wohlleben, richard long, rebecca solnit, david byrne, margaret atwood, tristan gooley, marc augÉ, jane goodall . .

notereflected reality

* the books- wanderlust: a history of walking, and a field guide to getting lost, both by rebecca solnit, foster a greater sense of the environment gained by exploration and immersion. penguin books (2001).

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MMNNit’s time TO GO FOR A pizza slice!!

WHAT DO YOU think ABOUT THAT, froggie?

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. . ONCE AGAIN, BULLFROG, I HAVE FOUND YOU! MY iNCREDiBLE SPEED HAS LED ME TO your lair!

THAT EAGLE iS AFTER ME AGAiN. THiS GAME is GETTiNG TOO REAL.

LOOK AT ME GO, FROGGiEwoohoo, A NEW HiGH SCORE! these RETRO CONSOLEs BRiNG yOU BACK TO THE 70S AND 80SUNTETHERED tO WiFi. i tHiNK the ‘C’ BATTERiES ARE sTARTiNG tO drain.

NOW that WE’RE QUiTE A FEW GENERATiONS ALONG and well TRAiNED TO REPLACE AND RECHARGE all OUR DEViCES WITH BATTERiES. uh, WHERE WiLL WE put ALL THESE CHARGiNG STATiONS?

™ and © after coleco industries (1982) tabletop frogger video game.

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yescreeping vines are beautiful.

’tish this twisted branch would make a perfect chew treat for ulot! can you free it and grow it? sigh

yes, yes!

Puleeeease?

..very well.

But help him cross the street with it.

yesss of course, oh yes, I willthank you ’tish!

hmn, it seems to be a bit large for A chew toy.

™ and © the addams family, television sitcom, filmways television and MGM television (1964-66).

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Nonsense!

Recall that Truck tire he found back in ’06?

Grrrr! ulot the glorious goldendoodle Grips his Mtt superbike. watch him crank that throttle and feel his speed-Varoom!

it’s Getting Late. i’m going back Home.

Are You staying?

Suit yourself.

Be sure to give ulot a walk before you get back.

O-kay? goodbye, uncle.

Nyeeeah!

Maybe a While morewe might Go chasing cars.

hear that, ulot? We’re going for a walk!

Bye ’tish!

a walk?

™ and © the addams family, television sitcom, filmways television and MGM television (1964-66). much to my surprise, halfway through the making of this comic, the series wednesday addams premiered on netflix. glad to see these characters getting new stories-crossing my fingers they have an episode focus on active transportation or a scooter..

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ok froggie! those are our options to travel as gliders what do you think?

the walls themselves murmur a low, constant road - can you hear it??. . .

<i hear it, too. . >

take this exit - i think there’s a gas station nearby!

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i know of a way to take back the land for us!

<yess . . it’s becoming clear - all humans, they want our intervention. . nature will reset the land and make it right. animal kind’s pace will become dominant once again! . . every city will become trapped in a giant animal crossing! i can see it in my waking dream. i’ll make it so that. .

. . all the intersections’ lights will time-out as red together, to create the crossing my kind yearns for . .>

™ and © after coleco industries

tabletop frogger video game (1982)

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Collectively

We’re linked . . by a language and our desire to move forward to various destinations and goals.

connected

what we build Should feel as right as it did when we first rode our bike.

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travel by bike requires negotiating around challenging obstacleshighway offramps, multilane suburban left turn lanes. it sounds like a video game challenge instead of a safe street.

imagine the nearimpossibility of commuting from Building ‘a’ to building ‘b’ by bike or any other form of active transportation. the landscape is hostile. never mind the quaint idea of letting a child go ‘exploring’ like christopher robin might do in the hundred acre woods*-cities have to do better.

™ and © after stories and characters created by a. a. milne and e. h.

shepard (1926). This is an actual cloverleaf near residential areas. the two buildings are invented. the dangerous streets are real.

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‘ . .and that’s what a computer is to me. it’s the most remarkable tool that we’ve Ever come up with-and it’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds!’

-steve jobs, 1990*

see, see what jobs meant! maximum efficiency has been achieved but what does this mean?

things have leaned too far into blistering speedwe must find a balance. this is the great inevitability!

. . watch the mystery of nature unfold before your very eyes!

whoa. this sounds like a cult so it’s time to get out of here! umm, anyone else wondering how there’s a giant floating hand that talks?

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* this excerpt was from a film memory and imagination by michael lawrence (https://youtube.com/watch?v=ob_gx50za6c&pp=0gcjcr4bo7vqn5t).

too much, right?

wait!

Did you feel that! is this an earthquake?! something big is about to take place . .

Oh mysomething’s starting! . . the earth is

rumbling!

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And so, frog and dog continue with smaller scale-plans (poor dog!) . .

<Shhh!

Not so loud, dog! Okay? >

Woof woof!!

<to commandeer this classic example of Road tyranny, we’ll have to use the Cobalt drill to get past this wheel lock.>

<Ok, I’ll hold the wheel steady While you core out the lock. slooowlygood-Watch the dashboard . .>

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