James Longhurst
@jameslonghurst.bsky.social
4.5K followers 1K following 5.1K posts
college professor in the U.S. Midwest (all views mine); author of "Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the American Road" / "Las Batallas de la Bici." Shop intern, historian of urban and environmental policy, gravel grinder.
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jameslonghurst.bsky.social
Oh hey, many new followers because of the bike community starter pack. Hello, I'm James Longhurst, a historian of urban and environmental policy. I wrote about the history of bike policy in the United States a few years ago; available from @uwapress.bsky.social

uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...
Bike Battles
Americans have been riding bikes for more than a century now. So why are most American cities still so ill-prepared to handle cyclists? James Longhurst, a hi...
uwapress.uw.edu
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
I haven't looked actively, but I've been thinking about trying to find out if such a book exists.
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
I agree this seems pivotal. I would happily read a carefully researched and detailed history of the timeline of the blocking of garland's nomination. Does that exist yet, or is someone working on it?
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
tonight on @pbs.org @pbswisconsin.bsky.social "From Rails to Trails," based on Peter Harnik's book of the same name. This history of the movement includes some coverage of the Elroy-Sparta's claim to fame as the first rail-trail conversion! #bike #bikesky 🗃️

pbswisconsin.org/watch/from-r...
Watch From Rails to Trails on PBS Wisconsin
The story of a 60-year struggle to convert abandoned railroads into trails for cycling and walking.
pbswisconsin.org
Reposted by James Longhurst
paulisci.bsky.social
A Brief History of Let’s Bring Back The Good Old Days

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jameslonghurst.bsky.social
hey, I've now found through email correspondence that this #virginia #bikecentennial public history project exists. Is there anything else like this in any other states? 🗃️

bike76-va.vt.domains/home/pedal-c...
PEDAL: Call for Proposals – Bikecentennial Route 76 in Virginia
bike76-va.vt.domains
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
it's giving secret treaties/color books precipitating the Great War
Reposted by James Longhurst
mondomascots.bsky.social
Sagappa Joe, the mascot of Sagami Women’s University, is a kappa who lives in the pond in the school garden, despite not being able to swim. He is renowned for his shapely buttocks.
Reposted by James Longhurst
adelitaforcongress.bsky.social
Speaker Johnson, you ready to swear me in?
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
disqualifying question from any assistant dean at any J school
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
More like Scott Cruiser amiright
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
full fenders are the bomb. full fenders with a beaver tail are the atomic bomb
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
that poster for "The Thing" must have been on the wall at the first video store we went to as a family, and it is absolutely BURNED into my brain how it was hung on the wood paneling, I can see it now
Reposted by James Longhurst
infinitescream.bsky.social
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Reposted by James Longhurst
oupress.bsky.social
Out Now! "Projecting America: The Epic Western and National Mythmaking in 1920s Hollywood" by Patrick Adamson. www.oupress.com/978080619607...
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
The passenger-side wheels of those first two parked sedans are too far forward on their chassis, or the driver’s side are too far back. One or the other? Both? Either way it’s bugging me.
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
Wearing an Apple Watch, but the angled parking is filled with 4-door sedans from the 60s/70s: some blend of a 1963 Chevy Impala / Plymouth Charger with double headlights in the first space, then nothing but 4-door sedans thereafter. No SUVs or trucks in sight. Not the USA of the Apple Watch era.
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
academic monographs often have that sort of thing if you know how to dig through the footnotes. epic shade.
Reposted by James Longhurst
markharris.bsky.social
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a pioneering trans activist from the Stonewall era on and a woman who lived an extraordinary life, has died. She was one tough customer. I have always loved this quote from her and if you've ever tried to ascertain the truth about a moment in history, you may relate to it.
“If you ask me something I’m gonna tell you the truth, you know. And it has to do with my perception of things, not theirs or what someone else has said. They aren’t me. They weren’t in my skin at that time. They didn’t perceive anything that I perceived. And yeah, I’m older and yeah, memory adds stuff or takes away stuff. Well, that’s just what it fuckin’ does. I’m still here and fuck you.”
	--From New York City Trans Oral History Project Interview with Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, excerpted in The Stonewall Reader
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
I wrote about “American Flyers” a decade ago, in time for its 30th anniversary. I guess that means that this year is the 40th anniversary (!)

bikebattles.net/2015/12/amer...
American Flyers – Bike Battles
bikebattles.net
jameslonghurst.bsky.social
… with typewriters, mimeographs, manual typesetting, the US mail, a WATS line, charter buses, work-study students, index cards, spit and gumption.

It’s not about the bike, it’s about the organizing.