Monica and Wendy Crossing One of Many Cattle Guards ~ Texas Hill Country Ride
Culture of Activity Newsletter
Vol. 1 No. 5
Welcome Everyone!
Thanks so much for joining us.
We’re delighted to have you along for the ride.
Active Towns Original Content
Giving Thanks: Before we highlight our recent content, there’s no better time in the year, than now, to express our gratitude to all of you for following along and interacting with the Active Towns Initiative.
Also, we extend a huge heartfelt Thank You out to our generous donors and sponsors, as well as to our amazing Board of Directors: Denise Knutson, Neal Henderson, Christie Wood, Pam Schuckies, Andy Jost, Rob Wood and Eddie Herd and to our Advisory Panel: Victor Dover, Preston Tyree and Laura Dierenfield.
Our Most Recent Films
Austin, TX
We actually have three new films to share with you. Two of which are fun shorties shot on a iPhone 6, but we’ll get to those later.
The third film is proving to be one of our more popular productions: Episode 31 – Austin, TX: Hancock Bridge Cycle Track In this episode we were on hand to witness the ribbon cutting and celebration of a new cycle track on the morning of November 18, 2016. This facility was installed at the request of community members desiring to have a safer route for students attending Highland Park Elementary school. The end result is a fantastic bit of infrastructure serving the entire community, all ages and abilities. The south side of the bridge now features a sidewalk and protected two-way cycle track, which is ideal for the kids traveling to and from school. Also, the north side of the bridge has a protected bike lane for those people riding on to points further west.
As for the shorties… Episode 30 – Austin, TX: Just a Little B-Cycle Ride is fun little tour on Austin’s B-Cycle bike share bikes of some of the recently completed infrastructure, including two new cycle tracks and the lake side boardwalk.
and Episode 32 – Texas Hill Country Ride is pretty much a joy ride in the country-side and is literally in the Hill Country about an hour west of Austin, where the narrow, quiet, low speed roads make riding a bike a true pleasure. Of course, the hills and occasional water crossings make the experience a bit challenging, yet still a “kick in the pants”.
A Flashback Film
In the spirit of gratitude, we’ve chosen Episode 19: A Duzer of a Profile as our flashback film, because as you’ll learn, Mr. Ryan Van Duzer is such an incredibly giving individual and a passionate ambassador for active living and the creation of Active Towns. Here’s a link to his YouTube Page
Other Interesting Content
Black Friday Activity #1:
Literally. Go outside and get active. Last year, in face of the ridiculousness of consumerism gone berserk with stores getting an early start on Black Friday by opening on Thanksgiving Day, REI, which is a national active lifestyle retailer (member oriented co-op) made the decision to not only go the other direction by staying closed on Turkey Day, but actually closing their stores on Black Friday. This in itself made a huge statement, but they went even further by making the day a paid vacation for their employees and encouraged them to go outside to play. And since recreating outside is a core value of the co-op they also invited their members and the rest of the nation to join their employees as they #optoutside. Click on the link to learn more.
Black Friday Activity #2:
If you are planning to participate in the Black Friday ritual of shopping, after or before you #optoutside, of course, please read this article by our good friend Jayme Moye – essentially the deal is this, shop at Patagonia and they will donate 100% of sales, both in store and online, to grassroots environmental groups.
Black Friday Activity #3:
When you are out and about, hopefully opting outside or if you must, shopping at Patagonia, keep your eye out for and snap a photo of ridiculously massive parking lots that are mysteriously void of parked cars on this supposed busiest shopping day of the year. It’s all part of Strong Towns‘ fourth annual Black Friday Parking exercise. Want a little context? Well Saturday Night Live did a fun skit that helps illustrate the issue.
Potential Content Profile: Let us know if you see any interesting, relevant articles, research or blog posts – just drop John an email at: john@activetowns.org
Final Thoughts
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Purpose
The primary goals of this periodic email are to keep our subscribers up to speed on recent Active Towns original content and review relevant curated content created by others.
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