Riding Bikes and Raising Social Consciousness Essay example -- Persona

Riding Bikes and Raising Social Consciousness Instructor’s comment: This student invites his readers along for a bicycle ride, immersing us in the sights, smells, sounds, and physical sensations of a phenomenon unique to San Francisco. Along the way he educates us about the political and social significance of the ride—but in such a genial, inclusive way that we may not even realize right away that we’ve been taught a lesson in social consciousness-raising. crit’i cal mass’ n. 2: an amount necessary or sufficient to have a significant effect or to achieve a result. —Random House Webster’s College Dictionary On the last Friday of each month, Tom, an amiable Jesuit Brother who loves cycling, my best friend, Ron, a few awkward freshmen, and I would all meet at school around 5:00 p.m. We would all be dressed differently: me in my jean shorts, a ratty tee shirt, and my purple helmet; everyone else in a combination of blue jeans, sweaters, jackets, and red or white helmets. The colors of our helmets, clothing, and bicycles constituted at least a perfect rainbow. Wasting no time, we would begin our migration, a race against the fog and its pursuing damp chill, to dominate the streets of San Francisco for one night as a unit, a voice, a symbol, and a mass. On this one night of each month, cars become the minority, the police blocking the intersections to allow the steady flow of 1500 cyclists to flow continuously like a giant, fluid serpent, oozing around the skyscrapers. Fueled by whoops, shouts, high-fives, clanging bells, screeching whistles, rattling chains and fenders, and the mesmerizing, silent symphony of blinking red lights, we would pedal all over the city for our own personal reasons and causes, but also for the ... ...Golden Gate Park by the well-maintained Victorian houses of the Castro and Lower Haight. Once on Kennedy Drive in the park, the entire Mass was about half its original size, since many people had split off and gone home along the course of the ride. When we finally got to the Polo Field, everyone laid their bikes down on the damp grass. The sun had already set, but there was just enough light in the sky to give it a dark blue color. The temperature was moderate (in my opinion), but many were putting their jackets and sweaters back on, including Ron and Tom. The freshmen found us almost immediately. They said they had â€Å"had a blast† and managed to stay right at the front with the â€Å"hotshots.† Good for them. I, on the other hand, was glad to stay at the heart of the mass, where we were a part of something important and wonderful. We were a critical mass—a velo de force.