Meeting followup

Just wanted to follow up on the meeting by taking note that I was one of only a few folks in attendance who are NOT some kind of health worker, and it was disturbing and validating all at the same time to be in a room with upwards of 60 health care professionals who all seem to passionately believe that there is almost nothing worth salvaging in our current system. Among other things we discussed working with the system as it exists, vs. incremental reform, vs. sweeping and immediate reform, and almost everybody agreed that the last option would be by far the best, because the situation really has reached crisis proportions and the longer we wait to fix it, the more it is likely to cost in both dollars and human suffering. In other words, no big surprises and a lot of preaching to the choir.

It'll be interesting to see if anything comes of these meetings. Supposedly the organizers will report our input and stories back to Obama's Transition Team, which will take it all into consideration when they decide on next steps. I'm curious to see what they come up with.

At the meeting I talked with a couple of friends who've started a local Community Action Network, which is a continuation of the movement started during the Obama for America Campaign. I like the idea of working on a small scale and at the local level, and am going to meet with them after the new year to talk about an idea I've had for a small community project having to do with getting the city and the visitor industry to underwrite the distribution of bike lights to people who don't have them, especially restaurant and hotel workers riding home late at night sans lighting – very dangerous. These are shit jobs at high-end tourist spots that don't pay their people enough to have cars; it seems like the least they can do is help them make their bikes a little safer.

Speaking of riding home late at night – my ride home after that meeting tonight was one of the most delightful rides I've taken in awhile. It was foggy all day, and by the time the sun was gone the fog was so heavy and low you could hardly see across the street. There were NO cars on the roads and my lights made a beautiful silver tunnel in the blackness. There was fog dripping off my eyelashes, fog dripping off my fingers, fog dripping off the back of my helmet .... it was so cool and fresh and delicious I just wanted to ride and ride and ride all night long.