Anna-Lena
02.24
Anna-Lena Kempen
Nickname(s): A-L
Location: house of raging women, lawrenceville
Hobbies: working on my house takes up a lot of my time. since i started working at a comic book store i guess i’d have to say i’ve defaulted on comic books as a hobby. I love to use my sewing machine – repairing worn crotches on so many pairs of jeans, turning t-shirts into dresses, making brand new skirts, halloween costumes, or stuffed animals for my niece. during the warmer part of the year i spend tons of time working on my garden and trying to compost without pissing off my neighbors. i like to paint, even though i’m really slow at it. i love to swim, and like to run even though i suck at it. and obviously i ride bikes – mostly fixed gear around the city and geared for longer rides, tho i’m workin on getting into mountain biking.
Bikes:
black Gary Fisher Presidio steel cyclocross frame
Shimano 105 ten speed drivetrain
Bontrager race cyclocross cranks
Thompson seatpost+stem
red Chris King headset
purple Velocity Deep V rims laced to 105 shimano 10spd hubs crosslaced, tied and saudered by Scooter Wickham
graphics by prior pittsburgh resident Michael Pfaltzgraff
red Schwinn Sprint fixed gear
46t/18t
white Weinmann Ultimate Power rims
orange Motobecane fixed gear
48t/18t
orange Velocity Deep V rims
Drink: tequila and OJ
It’s great to see a woman that’s kinda doing her own thing. I really like the idea of a woman working on her own bike. Keep up the great work. A-L.
Ron! Women have been doing their own thing, including fixing their own bikes, for a long fucking time now!
I don’t know what’s worse. Full-on mysogynistic sexists, or clueless, patronizing fools like Ron who seem to think women ‘doing their own thing’ is some novel idea, just a little thing for him to marvel at.
Cool. keep it up.
Jude and Lee — I think it’s worth keeping in mind that in many communities, it isn’t as common for women to be empowered. I know it can be tempting to view a comment like Ron’s as patronizing, especially when actual misogyny is so common. However, it seems he was trying to honestly express happiness about something that has been uncommon in his own experience. Remember that people have had different life experiences than you and try to meet them halfway! At the very least, it seems more constructive to explain to someone that their way of expressing an idea could be seen as patronizing, rather than swearing at them and comparing them to actual misogynists.