About this project

Here we go again!

Taking the Lane is a series of zines that explore women's experiences and observations about riding bicycles, working in the bike industry, being advocates, and more.

I'm raising funds to print the second issue, which is called Revolutions Every Damn Day, and features five well-written essays by rad women about their diverse experiences with gender and bicycling in places ranging from Portland to China. It also includes a special series of illustrations by the talented Kate Berube (including the one you see above).

The zine has been written and edited and is currently being designed. The cost of printing has gone up since the last issue, reflecting higher paper prices, and is more than I can put in up front. I'm asking you all to help make this final step possible by pre-ordering it here. If you'd like to contribute more than the cost of an issue or two, there are a couple of excellent incentives from local (Portland) businesswomen: greeting cards by illustrator Kate Berube, and a custom cycling cap from Little Package.

Issue #1 was called Sharing the Road with Boys. It's a long, two-part essay, loosely based on a blog post I'd written, and it all came together in one big rush. It was mainly about experiences I'd had that had been upsetting or funny in an eye rolling sort of way, with an attempt at the end to talk about solutions.

The zine was fun to put together and it's gone over well. It got a really nice review in a Seattle paper. Thanks to Kickstarter, I was able to produce it in the first place...and it also paid for itself. Best of all, it sparked some connections with really rad people, and from the sounds of it started some good conversations as well.

Issue #2 is called Revolutions Every Damn Day. It's a compilation of essays by a diverse array of rad women in the bike world. The theme was supposed to be "solutions," and what comes across in the combined essays is a good mix of elbow grease and vision. I'll give some more sneak peeks on what's inside in project updates...

In the meantime, thanks for supporting this zine in particular and independent publishing in general. Your contribution helps create much needed conversations about women and bicycling, or gender and transportation...or public space and equity if you want to look at the big picture.