Last Year in My 30s

Tomorrow, I’ll be 39 years old.

In celebration of my last year in my 30s, I resisted, imbibed, biked, ate, and conversed.Yesterday was the March for Science. Thousands across the globe marched in support of evidence-based policy in our government and marched against an administration that has been ignoring evidence. Estimates ranged from 2,000-5,000 marchers at the St. Pete march. Patricia Blauvelt compiled a wonderful collection of pictures at the march.

The energy was good. The message was powerful. We can’t stand in the shadows anymore. Science is unbiased, but we must fight for its use in our political arena! Science is not a partisan issue, but we can not afford to say that it isn’t a political one. We must stand up and demand our legislators use evidence when enacting any and all policies. And we must do the same when deciding to bomb folks too. The scientific process can apply to many areas.

The one thing missing from the march: chanting. My posse and I were towards the back of the march. I tried a few times to get march chants going. If anyone joined in, they were timid and not very loud. Others didn’t pick up the chant and carry it. Eventually, I gave up the effort and chatted with my posse instead.

Scientists and science lovers, you’ve got to work on your chanting game.

After the march, I joined the Renegades for Science Pub Crawl. This event was created by a few other renegades and myself to capture folks interested in carrying forward with making science an issue in politics. For a first event, we got a good turnout and some folks crawled with us to the end (and beyond). I’m looking forward to continuing work with my fellow renegades, and working with the new folks I met yesterday. 

Today some friends and I rode bikes and looked at St. Pete’s murals as part of the Tour de Shine Bike Mural tour. This is co-hosted by the St. Pete Bike Co-op. Approximately 40 of us took to the streets of St. Pete for a guided tour of the fantastic St. Pete murals. It was a nice morning for a bike ride. It started getting hot, but it’s not full Florida summer humidity yet, so it wasn’t unbearable.

After the bike ride, we got lunch at Cider Press Cafe, a completely vegan restaurant. I’m not vegan, or even vegetarian, so I was a little skeptical about the flavor of the food. I’ve had delicious vegan food, and yet I’ve had some that’s just a little … off. I ordered the AvoBLT, which is an avocado, (eggplant) bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. Delicious. The eggplant bacon wasn’t completely bacon, but it was delicious nonetheless. The cold corn chowder also had an interesting mix of flavors. My friends enjoyed their dishes just as much as I did. We finished with key lime pie, that was more like cheesecake. A wonderful post-bike ride meal.

I met up with some other friends a little after, and we ended up at Cider Press Cafe again. One of these friends is vegan, so it just made sense to stick around. I munched on guacamole and chips while they ate their more substantial fare. After lunch we went for a walk around Mirror Lake. We stopped by my apartment so they could see it too.

Tomorrow is my actual birthday, and I took off work to recuperate after a busy weekend. I’m looking forward to a relaxing day tomorrow, but also an important appointment. I hope that goes well.

I think I’ve got a pretty good start into my last year in my 30s. I’m feeling very grateful.