5 years ago!

I met Nathan 5 years ago as we were learning to drive.  He and two women are the only 3 bus drivers remaining from our 2019 class of 11 cadets.  Check out our class photo https://www.blindspot.city/2019/02/public-servants.html

The memories of driving came flooding back yesterday while Nathan and I talked about how fast the last 5 years have flown by.  He is enjoying driving and has found a rhythm that is tenable.  He credited WSTA's policy change to max 10 hours of driving per day for helping reduce driver strain. He said before that there were too many accidents and too many drivers getting burn out chasing over time pay.

It was a joy to catch up with him and remember how important public transit is to our community.  I am grateful riding the bus is an option for me. 

Mathematics and Social Justice

It get to speak to Dr. Abbey Bourdon's Wake Forest University class Mathematics and Social Justice. I will talk about the mathematics used in the local struggle for social justice in public transportation. I look forward to interacting with her students.   

In advance of the class they are to watch Bus Stop Jobs. There are plenty of updates since we made it in 2018. Britany is now married and driving.  Mika is training new bus drivers.  Our family has deeper connections with Mika since I got to drive with her at WSTA. This picture was taken yesterday and you can see the love!

For class I hope to cover the math in Route Ride Per Hour Ratio and the WSTA Prominent Transit Corridors Report. 

If time permits I hope to discuss A Step Up and Who is Driving?.  

I will make them aware of public data available at https://www.transit.dot.gov/ntd incase they get inspired to analyze a transit system.  

Bikes!

I have been spending a lot of time, energy and love on bikes.  I first felt the Lord's love and transcending Grace on a bike.   They are indeed the noblest invention...I recently got an eBike which makes me even more excited about their potential as vehicles.  

Teaching people to ride and helping them access bicycles is a worthy cause.  I think this news article captures that.  Certainly it reflects Scott Sexton's love of bikes https://journalnow.com/news/local/two-things-a-huge-milestone-on-two-wheels-acc-money-makers-and-congratulations-rams/article_7f515c34-b699-11ed-9ec6-d796deb5f3bd.html

Hope Without Borders

 

Hope without Borders

Photography with Graphic Art

Jameson Filston 2021

Waughtown as a neighborhood is affectionately known as little Mexico because of the vibrant Hispanic community that animates its businesses and warms its homes.  For over 20 years, it has been the hub of Hispanic culture in Winston-Salem.  The bus shelter at Broadbay and Waughtown is near iconic businesses like the Disco Rodeo and Tiendas and affordable housing occupied by recent immigrants looking for a brighter future. 

The bus shelter art project entitled “Hope without Borders” illustrates the communities desire for a brighter future as it depicts their jubilant children with butterflies, the internationally recognized symbol of migration.  The immigrants in Waughtown work hard for the hope of a brighter future for their children.  

The children pictured in Hope without Borders live in Waughtown in the tension of being American by birth and Mexican through the pride of upbringing.  They long to see the homeland of their parents and be connected to the prosperity that drew their parents to the United States. 

Creating places through art such as Hope without Borders illuminates the desire we all share to see jubilant children free of worry.  Hope without Borders is a collective art project between adult artists and the children photographed. The project captures the kinetic energy of freedom and the desire to connect with the community. Public transportation shares this value of free movement.  

The group meets Wednesday evening on Peachtree street to play and get to know each other.  Jamo Filston is the primary artist and photographer. He is a Winston-Salem Fellow.   Phillip Summers hosts the  Wednesday gathering and has done extensive research on migration and his neighbors from Guerrero Mexico. Ashlyn Hodges is a Winston-Salem fellow who is interested in social justice and Hispanic populations. 

Melissa's Stories

I hope to hear more and relay what I can from Melissa's experience as a bus rider. There are some sweet stories sprinkled in with the hard times of her being unable to drive. The other day a fellow passenger waiting at the transit center let her know that he and his buddy thought she was beautiful.  He said "he just had to tell her." 

Her stories of riding the bus brighten my day.  

The Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity

has a new Health Equity Certificate Program.  I get to teach a section on public transportation and health. 

Check out my Prezi.

Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action

"Influencing Public Transportation Policy Through Community Engagement and Coalition Building: Process and Preliminary Outcomes" is now available online.  

Please contact me if you would like to access the article but are unable. 

Summers, P., Chao, E., McCoy, P., Perry, J., & Rhodes, S.D. (2020). Influencing Public Transportation Policy Through Community Engagement and Coalition Building: Process and Preliminary Outcomes. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action 14(4), 489-498. doi:10.1353/cpr.2020.0054. 

What a year

One year ago was my last day behind the wheel of a city bus.  It was an emotional day made sweet by singing Christmas carols.  

A lot has happened since and I am grateful for the experience I gained during 2020. 

• Worked with City with Dwellings at the overflow homeless shelter
• Wrote an ebook for Stakeholder Health on public transportation
• Wrote a transit corridor report for CSEM
• Won a bus shelter public art contest
• Case investigation for COVID-19 for the Health Department
• Helped take the US Census as a NRFU
• Arrested at a Black Lives Matter Protest for John Neville
• Returned to WFSM to do project management

Dean Franco can write

His article on our new pedestrian bridges illuminates our city's transportation blind spots.  He eloquently concludes one paragraph with "Now, a multi-million dollar transportation project is completed largely to flatter the city’s vision of itself while continuing to leave the town physically divided by class sequestration and racial segregation."

Read his op-ed at https://triad-city-beat.com/fresh-eyes-creative-corridors-not-creative-not-really-corridors/ 

I shouldn't be surprised that his words are cogent because he is an author and literature professor at Wake Forest University. I am thrilled to know him as a fellow bike rider and hope to see his Humanities Institute flourish.  

Spectrum News

Yesterday I was interviewed by Spectrum News https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/triad/news/2020/08/28/winston-salem-uses-art-to-highlight-public-transportation about Marching for Mobility.