Motorcycle Enlightenment

Anonymous Biker Chick

From the Chronicle of Higher Education, no less, we read:

"... I tried to imagine what it would have been like to come to work the week after publishing my chick-biker story, had I used my real name. I imagined myself swapping stories of motorcycle accidents and bruises with my colleagues in the hallway. But after that, I also saw students Googling my name and reading the article . . . forever. I saw myself censoring myself as a writer to produce an impersonal work that could appear in a set of ranked Google results well through the end of the Mayan calendar...."

From scooter rebellion to full-blown, biker-babe, this academic chronicles the risky road through graduate school. Her time spent cruising on her motorcycle is enlightening but not alltogether risk free.

As a graduate student, the motorcycle gave her a feeling of power at a time when she had none.

"... That illusion was repeatedly deconstructed (I told you she was an academic), until I had to think about the nature of risk."

Where does your risk lie? How far will you go to live on the edge? And why?