Maybe I'll just hang out at the bus stop

Bus stop in Denmark with a curved design and the graffiti
only adds to the conversation topic

This may seem more like a R post, but I think it's pretty cool anyway. When I visited R in Chicago, we went to a bus stop with a fancy bench and discussed how if the bus stop is boring no one notices it, why would you talk about a boring bench?  Then we talked about LA designer Julie Kim's experiment to give people a conversation starter and thus make people happier while they interact at bus stops.  She put a coffee table with flowers and a newspaper at the bus stop and filmed as people sat at the bus stop to see if they would interact more, thus added an element to public transit that she felt it was lacking.  

The train station near R's house.

This experiment allowed people to talk about the bus stop and thus interact with each other.  I wonder if some of these bus stops encourage people to talk while waiting for public transit as well.  Some of them were designed as for a competition and others seem to have been colored by children.  That also reminded me of Chicago, I'm beginning to see why R feels so at home there with all the quirky public transit.  The train station near her house was also painted with murals and hopefully encouraged interaction between riders.

I have frequently suggested that BART stations should become cultural centers, allowing them to be tourist attractions and increase ridership, especially on the weekends.  Each stop could be decorated to represent a different culture (preferably one that represented the community near the stop, similar to the stop in Chicago shown above).  I would go as far as to suggest that at times when there is not high commuter ridership sales stands could be open in the stations to sell local products.

S

Twins!

In class yesterday (my last! first day of class hopefully) we were asked to introduce ourselves and say something unusual about ourselves. I couldn't think of anything too exciting to say, so I mentioned that I am a twin. The usual barrage of jokes came up with it, as expected, and I played along until it moved onto the next person in line to introduce themselves. Then this morning I discovered that Slate Magazine is publishing on twins today! So I am going to talk about twins too!

Us out partying one night.. a little sweaty,
but it is one of the pictures that we look
the most alike in that I could find.

And the pictures are all of me and S... aww, aren't we sooo cute!

First, I want you all to think about conjoined twins, and imagine how crazy it must be to have to live your whole life without ever losing sight of a person, ever. And, in these twins' case, never escaping them even in your mind. There are also the twins that only have two legs between the two of them. Here's a video about the Hensel twins who are now old enough to have crushes but share one body... One controls the right side and the other controls the left side just so that they don't argue any more. The video talks about one of them having a crush on someone.. but the idea of a relationship with just one of them would be difficult. I admit that I always felt that people thought it was weird to date either S or me in high school because we were twins.. but can you imagine if we were conjoined?!  So, basically my life really isn't that difficult.

A little bit of a crazy picture, she doesn't actually hate me...
I don't think anyway...

As Slate starts to cover twins they make note that this is a special feature thing, mostly because recent studies have come out saying the number of twins has risen in the last twenty years. ... scary. The idea that twin incidents have gone up does not come as a surprise to me, with InVitro Fertilization (IVF) and other reproductive methods, including hormone pills, etc. more women are increasing the likelihood of twin births, and I think it is a great thing! But I do know a lot of twins who might not agree with me that it is great. S and I are best friends, and we are each others' "other half". I actually identified with this person very well as she said she was looking for a best friend who could share her unusual side with her without taking anything away from it. Her article also talks about the obsession with multiple births that has been around since multiple births have been around. Her mention of the quintuplets that were put into a circus and then abused by their parents makes me cry inside, and reminds me of the connection I felt with Jewish twins from the Holocaust when I read Children of the Flames about Dr. Mengele, a Nazi camp director who did experiments on twins that were brought in. The guilt the healthy twin would feel as the other twin was experimented on was something I know I would have felt if I were in that position, and I often tell people that the worst thing that COULD happen in my life would be S dying. Yet, I am happy to not be in the same city as her, only because we don't need anyone else when we are together.

We really do have a connection, and it goes beyond our
amazing dance skills!

Also, while I don't think that us being twins has anything to do with our parents divorce, I do think that this article is interesting. It talks about how parents of twins tend to have a higher divorce rate than those without twins. It is a slight number, but it makes me think that raising twins is different than raising other children. I always say that if I have kids, I would want twins because I don't want just one kid but I wouldn't want to do pregnancy twice. However, I also think that perhaps I wouldn't know how to raise a child who was not a twin. I have never experienced not being a twin, so maybe I couldn't relate to someone who was not a twin, and would not know how to deal with things that come up in their lives because it is so different than the way mine went.

anyway, enjoy the twin crazies, and the pictures of S and me, and just think of how crazy it is that more people are having multiple births and imagine what it would be like if all of America were a land of twins.. and then thank whoever you want to thank that it is NOT a land of twins. Because then we would all be crazy!

And I think being a twin makes me a happy person, I always
know that I have someone who will not judge me for my
dorkiness

R

Weird Habits

So, S and I never like to drink WITH our food. Usually at a restaurant I will drink 3 or 4 glasses of water before we get our food served, and then I won't touch my glass again until I'm totally done eating. I'm not sure why, but I do remember once, way back in middle school days, being told it is bad for digestion to eat and drink at the same time. For some reason in 6th grade time I was extremely easily influenced. I am scared of deer attacking me because of a story I heard then about a deer attacking someone and how their hooves are particularly good for bashing people with (aah) and so many other things. But it is weird that a story way back in my life would still affect my life so much.



And of course, I love to see an article about something that I do, just so I know I'm not totally crazy!

R

Fun in the Subway

Lately there has been a big push for making life more fun or exciting. This article addresses one of those things, and I think it is amazing! How awesome would it be to ride a slide into the subway, in your suit!... Although.. when it's raining I wonder if that just turns into a waterfall, hmmm...

And in China they added punching bags in busy subway stations so that you can take out your commuting aggression!  I love these ideas, though I think the slide needs to be raised on the bottom so it's easier to get off of, and they should provide tape so you don't hurt your knuckles when punching the wall!

Let's make life more fun!

R

More Biking News

I just read this article about how biking parents are the most badass bikers out there. And you know what? I kinda agree. I just got a basket for my bike, but I only need ONE basket to carry all of my stuff, and as a parent you would need a lot more than that. But I love the idea that there are children growing up in the US that do not ride in cars everywhere, and that will grow up thinking that biking is normal, and acceptable, and GOOD! I think that more people need to teach their kids that this is normal, and acceptable. I do like the comment in the article though about how it IS normal, just not in America. I ask you, why not?! It obviously can be, we just have to be dedicated and motivated to do it. And, I think, we have to consider weather in a lot of places, in Chicago, it could be difficult to bike with a 2 year old when it is freezing out. But there is always a way!

On another note, I'm totally joining the Copenhagen Movement, I might even start biking with heels just to make it less intimidating for others, and more fun for me!

R