People then didn't know any better.
I've heard that phrase all-too-often whenever there's talk about the past in the USA and Europe, about the horrific treatment and exclusion of women and ethnic minorities and the participation or inaction of white men - or white society in general - in that oppression. The excuse implies that white people - particularly white men - heard and saw only messages of their supremacy, living in a vacuum that never allowed dissenting voices and so, therefore, they didn't know any better than to be white supremacists, abusers, fascists, whatever. We hear it about our own parents, grandparents and great-grandparents in particular.
For so long, I believed it.
But in the last 10 years, I've read and seen more material from specific times when, supposedly, dissenting voices weren't widely known and alternative viewpoints weren't expressed. As I've read, I've learned that, particularly in the last 250 years, most definitely, people DID know better.
Let's take American slave narratives, for instance: these interviews with formerly enslaved Americans from the 1700s and 1800s are readily and easily available online from a variety of sources - and were widely available in newspapers during those times as well. Take the case of Oney "Ona" Judge, enslaved under George Washington and his wife: with the aid of Philadelphia's free black community, Judge liberated herself in 1796 and lived as a fugitive slave in New Hampshire for the rest of her life. She was twice interviewed by abolitionist newspapers in the mid-1840s. Washington wanted her abducted and brought back to him, but the plan was abandoned when a local official warned that news of an abduction could cause a riot on the docks by supporters of abolition.
So, at a time when people supposedly didn't know any better, Ona was one of many slaves having her story told in publications in the 1700s, and there were so many vocal supporters of abolition that a local official feared that they would RIOT if Ona was abducted and returned to the man who, we've all been told, was the most respected and adored man in our country.
Look at the editorials in newspapers in the 1800s: the evils of slavery are regularly talked about. People were regularly hearing those messages, all over the USA, via newspapers and lectures and pulpits. They either listened to those voices or they deliberately, purposely ignored them.
People then didn't know any better.
I've been told repeatedly that, before the USA got involved officially in World War II, Americans had no idea that Nazis were that bad. I was told the USA government turned away Jewish refugees because Americans just didn't understand what was happening under the Nazis. But one day a few years ago, TCM showed four movies, back to back, all released before 1943 and all strongly stating the horrors of Nazism - and this was before the depth of the Holocaust was widely known. I watched them all and then decided to try to find and watch every English-language anti-fascist movies released before 1943. I'm now up to 14 titles. The first I've found is in 1939. These aren't obscure films: these are mainstream movies that feature the biggest stars of the day, including Edward G. Robinson, George Sanders, Margaret Sullavan, Jimmy Stewart, Joan Bennett, Joel McCrea, Paulette Goddard, Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, of course, Charlie Chaplin. Millions of Americans saw those movies and, therefore, WERE WARNED ABOUT NAZIS.
People then didn't know any better.
The movie Hidden Figures was a revelation for me. This wasn't about just one or two black women working within the space program. This was about a room FULL of black women working out mathematical problems and crunching data for the space program. How many white men saw these black American women working, benefitted from their mathmatical and analytical knowledge and skills, and still joined their local White Citizens League or remained quiet during the Civil Rights movement?
People then didn't know any better.
Recently, a Playboy interview from 1971 with John Wayne resurfaced where Wayne said he believed in white supremacy. It shocked a lot of people, which, in turn, shocked me - I've always known John Wayne was an extreme right-winger, his views were widely reported at the time and have never been a secret. But let's be clear: John Wayne wasn't the way he was because he was born in 1907. He wasn't that way because he was 30 in 1937. He wasn't that way because he was 64 in 1971. He wasn't that way because of when he was born nor because of when or where he lived. He was that way because of the CHOICES HE MADE ABOUT WHAT TO BELIEVE. There were people all around him in the 1930s and 40s and 50s and 60s who didn't think like him and didn't vote like him and were talking about and marching about civil rights. He saw them, he heard them and he CHOSE to oppose them. His racism and sexism didn't come from the time or place he lived in - it came from WHO HE WAS.
And, yet, I heard the excuses. And when I pushed back, I was told, "So, the majority of white people in the early to mid 20th century weren't racist and supportive of racist laws or at the very least complicit in racism through their silence?" That statement implies we should assume that anyone born in certain times was a racist because, you know, People then didn't know any better.
Your birthdate doesn't give you a pass to be a racist nor a misogynist - at least not in the USA. Not now, now 50 years ago, not 100 years ago, not 200 years ago.
And don't even get me started on the fact that Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelly (Frankenstein), wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, published in 1792, arguing that women are not naturally inferior to men and that both men and women should be treated as rational beings, with equal access to education. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was an immediate success and well received upon its publication, reviewed favorably by the Analytical Review, the General Magazine, the Literary Magazine, New York Magazine and the Monthly Review. And she was NOT the only person saying such in 1792. Or 1892. And don't even get me started on how more feminist archeology is turning common assumptions about who was making tools, who was hunting and who was leading in primitive and ancient societies on its head - those common, sexist assumptions are recent, not thousands of years old.
People then didn't know any better.
Fuck that.
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Lone Rider by Elspeth Beard: pioneering motorcycle traveler
I just finished Lone Rider by Elspeth Beard. She's one of the first women to ride a motorcycle all around the world, doing so back in 1982 - 1984 and, when she finished this incredible two-year journey, she found that NO ONE CARED. No, really, no one cared: not her family, not neighbors, not friends, not motorcycle magazines, not travel magazines, not anyone. No book deal, no glowing article in the newspaper upon her return, not even an invitation by the local library back home in England to come down and do a presentation. She didn't write her book until 30 years later - it came out in 2017. I'm so glad she did write it. I really enjoyed reading it. But I remain overwhelmed at how underwhelmed everyone was back in the day about her amazing achievement. I also greatly identify with that experience of an incredible achievement or life-changing event being met with blank stares and a shrug from the people you wanted most to care about it (other than yourself).
In short, Elspeth Beard should be as famous as Ted Simon and her book should be as famous as Long Way 'Round.
Beard made this trip at a time when very few women were traveling long distances by motorcycle, even within their own countries. The out-and-out hostility she gets from daring to travel this way in the 1980s, even here in the USA, is jaw-dropping - and something I have never experienced now as a motorcycle traveler or solo traveler sans bike (and I'm so glad). The amount of sexual harassment and attempted sexual assaults she experiences in every country, including the USA, Australia, and all over India, is something that few world travelers, whether motorcyclists or humanitarians, will talk about, even though it remains a reality to this day - and it's something I have experienced as well. When I've asked travelers about it, most will say "it's not that bad" or "I know how to avoid it." I'm not sure why the denial. Fear of being defined as a victim rather than a traveler? Fear of being seen as weak? As a world traveler myself, including a humanitarian worker, I can tell you: sexual harassment is real, often happens when you least expect it and happens with disturbing regularity. I bring it up with travelers because I like tips on what to look out for and advice on how to handle certain situations, and I hope I have some helpful advice to share as well. It was refreshing to see a traveler be so open about it - and never letting it stop her from doggedly pushing on.
I admit to almost giving up on the book in the first 80 pages because I couldn't believe how she treated her ride in the USA: just something to get through as quickly as possible. The USA is an amazing country to tour by motorcycle, and was in the 1980s - it's not something new - but you would never know it by reading Beard's book. In those early pages, she also talked more about her failed relationship than anything good she might have been experiencing as a motorcycle rider, and I thought, if the entire book is this way, I'm not going to be able to get through it. The first 80 pages just weren't at all a book about an adventure motorcycle rider. But after she gets to Australia and works to get enough money to continue her travels, the book improves drastically - at least for me.
I do wish she'd talked more about how she chose her routes, how she chose where to stay, etc. - the only thing she says on this regard is that she has a Lonely Planet guide for one of the countries she's in. (FYI even in this day and age of the Internet, I'm a huge fan of those guidebooks and have frequently used them myself). She also rarely talks about how she secured her bike for the night - this is a big concern for most motorcycle travelers, and it would have been nice to have heard her advice on the subject.
The book is more about the challenges Beard faces (accidents, breakdowns, bureaucracy, extortion attempts) than the sights she sees, and there are times when I was thinking, Why are you doing this? What about any of this is enjoyable? Are you ever happy? I don't travel for endless, overwhelming challenges, though it is rather awesome to do something you've never done before or face a challenge you never expected - as long as you successfully meet the challenge. I travel to see amazing places and meet interesting people and be somewhere different than what I know every day, and I like reading travel books to get ideas of places to see when I travel. Her book is rather light in terms of describing awe-inspiring moments (an exception is her account of trekking through the Himalayas) or places you might want to visit if you are in the same places she was. But, still, I really enjoyed reading how she problem-solved, I deeply admire her persistence, and I am inspired by her determination. I don't want to spoil anything in the book - part of the enjoyment is reading about the challenges that come up and how she addressed them, over and over and over. But I will say that the challenges are intense, beyond the capabilities of most motorcycle riders I've ever known - and beyond what I could deal with. I really cannot gush enough about how Beard handles a myriad of dire circumstances. She doesn't seem to think it's any big deal that she keeps overcoming these challenges, nor that she built her own panniers or that she constantly repaired her own bike on the fly - I read those accounts and thought, geesh, you are Wonder Woman on a motorcycle and you don't know it. I'm not sure her book will inspire many people to take up motorcycle travel - the constant difficulties she experienced make it sound like a fight to survive every day, and it's not like that for all travelers now - at least it doesn't have to be. But she's not exaggerating: in the 1980s, this is what she experienced, and her abilities to overcome those challenges are nothing short of amazing.
Also, I am not a fan of bare bones budget travel, and I could never sleep and eat in the conditions Beard did for weeks and weeks at a time. I love camping, including rough camping - but I don't want to do it because I can't afford a safe place and I'll be in a place where there's a very likely chance local people will walk up in the night and mess with my bike, or me. I love budget hotels, even when I have money for something more fancy, but not if they are crawling with roaches or pockmarked with peepholes. I don't want to be on the verge of starvation while traveling because I can't afford a decent meal. So, again, as you read her book, know that this is how she traveled, but you don't have to travel this way in order to see the world - even by motorcycle, though you are going to need more money that she had if you don't want to regularly experience the conditions she did.
I have no mechanical abilities and can only just-barely-assist in changing a tire - I could never do it myself. I can't fix wiring or an oil leak or build my own panniers. Beard did all this - and more. That's why Elspeth Beard was able to ride across India - and it's why I can't and won't. And that's okay! I fancy myself a motorcycle adventure rider - but nothing on the level of Elspeth Beard. I've ridden more than 40,000 miles / more than 63,000 km, the vast majority of it done touring, but just in the USA and Canada (I'm planning on seeing Baja, California, Mexico next year). I've never done the kind of riding Beard has done in severely under-developed countries, nor could I, and I know that and am okay with it. And I bring this up for anyone who wants to be an adventure motorcycle rider and is just getting started, because you might read the book and think, oh, no, I can't do that, therefore, I'm not going to travel around by motorcycle. Times have changed and you don't have to ride in the conditions Beard did to see some amazing, even remote places and experience the thrill of adventure motorcycle riding. I could never manage to ride across India - but I did ride up the Cassiar Highway to the Yukon, I've ridden gravel and dirt roads to remote ghost towns few have heard of, I've camped rough in beautiful, remote places throughout North America. I think I could manage some Eastern European countries on my own bike - I loved my long trip there on the back of my husband's bike back in 2008. Just know as you read Beard's book that this is extreme motorcycle touring, and if you haven't ridden since you were 16 like Beard, and know you could never do many of these roads, that's okay - you still have options for amazing, exotic, challenging adventure motorcycle travel.
Despite my complaint about it while reading the first 80 pages, I ended up really liking that she shared so much about her intimate relationships - I've found most people are not emotionless drones, even motorcycle travelers, though it's very difficult to get world travelers, with or without motorcycles, to open up about this at times. I found it refreshing to hear a traveler talk about love on the road - and the aftermath. It's something to consider if you are going to invest in a lot of time away from home.
And note: I will never have legs long enough to be able to take a photo on my bike so I can look as cool as Elspeth Beard.
One thing I've wondered: is Dave Calderwood, who was then editor of Bike magazine, still alive and still an asshole, or dead, or alive and profoundly apologetic for being an asshole? When Beard was looking for sponsorship and advice for her trip, she wrote his magazine, among others, and he wrote a mocking letter with the sole intent of humiliating her. You can read the letter here.
I hope Elspeth Beard finally gets the recognition and admiration she deserves. And I'm so grateful she shared her adventure at last. I would very much like to be as tenacious as she is.
So, if Elspeth Beard isn't the first woman to go around the world on her own motorcycle, who is? It's probably Anne France Dautheville, French journalist and writer. In 1973 at the age of 28, she rode around the world on a Kawasaki 125. Both of her books, in French only, are out of print (I will totally buy into a crowdfunding effort to translate them into English and publish them!).
One more thing: Beard visited Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia during her travels and mentioned an NGO working in this area addressing the huge problem of Indonesians abducting baby orangutans and then wanting to get rid of them when they grow older and are so much harder to care for. Her account of this visit is a good example of transire benefaciendo: "to travel along while doing good" - she didn't attempt to work at the NGO as a volunteer (which would have been illegal), but she did elevate its work through her book, even many years later. And that's how I know about it - and now you do too.
In short, Elspeth Beard should be as famous as Ted Simon and her book should be as famous as Long Way 'Round.
Beard made this trip at a time when very few women were traveling long distances by motorcycle, even within their own countries. The out-and-out hostility she gets from daring to travel this way in the 1980s, even here in the USA, is jaw-dropping - and something I have never experienced now as a motorcycle traveler or solo traveler sans bike (and I'm so glad). The amount of sexual harassment and attempted sexual assaults she experiences in every country, including the USA, Australia, and all over India, is something that few world travelers, whether motorcyclists or humanitarians, will talk about, even though it remains a reality to this day - and it's something I have experienced as well. When I've asked travelers about it, most will say "it's not that bad" or "I know how to avoid it." I'm not sure why the denial. Fear of being defined as a victim rather than a traveler? Fear of being seen as weak? As a world traveler myself, including a humanitarian worker, I can tell you: sexual harassment is real, often happens when you least expect it and happens with disturbing regularity. I bring it up with travelers because I like tips on what to look out for and advice on how to handle certain situations, and I hope I have some helpful advice to share as well. It was refreshing to see a traveler be so open about it - and never letting it stop her from doggedly pushing on.I admit to almost giving up on the book in the first 80 pages because I couldn't believe how she treated her ride in the USA: just something to get through as quickly as possible. The USA is an amazing country to tour by motorcycle, and was in the 1980s - it's not something new - but you would never know it by reading Beard's book. In those early pages, she also talked more about her failed relationship than anything good she might have been experiencing as a motorcycle rider, and I thought, if the entire book is this way, I'm not going to be able to get through it. The first 80 pages just weren't at all a book about an adventure motorcycle rider. But after she gets to Australia and works to get enough money to continue her travels, the book improves drastically - at least for me.
I do wish she'd talked more about how she chose her routes, how she chose where to stay, etc. - the only thing she says on this regard is that she has a Lonely Planet guide for one of the countries she's in. (FYI even in this day and age of the Internet, I'm a huge fan of those guidebooks and have frequently used them myself). She also rarely talks about how she secured her bike for the night - this is a big concern for most motorcycle travelers, and it would have been nice to have heard her advice on the subject.
The book is more about the challenges Beard faces (accidents, breakdowns, bureaucracy, extortion attempts) than the sights she sees, and there are times when I was thinking, Why are you doing this? What about any of this is enjoyable? Are you ever happy? I don't travel for endless, overwhelming challenges, though it is rather awesome to do something you've never done before or face a challenge you never expected - as long as you successfully meet the challenge. I travel to see amazing places and meet interesting people and be somewhere different than what I know every day, and I like reading travel books to get ideas of places to see when I travel. Her book is rather light in terms of describing awe-inspiring moments (an exception is her account of trekking through the Himalayas) or places you might want to visit if you are in the same places she was. But, still, I really enjoyed reading how she problem-solved, I deeply admire her persistence, and I am inspired by her determination. I don't want to spoil anything in the book - part of the enjoyment is reading about the challenges that come up and how she addressed them, over and over and over. But I will say that the challenges are intense, beyond the capabilities of most motorcycle riders I've ever known - and beyond what I could deal with. I really cannot gush enough about how Beard handles a myriad of dire circumstances. She doesn't seem to think it's any big deal that she keeps overcoming these challenges, nor that she built her own panniers or that she constantly repaired her own bike on the fly - I read those accounts and thought, geesh, you are Wonder Woman on a motorcycle and you don't know it. I'm not sure her book will inspire many people to take up motorcycle travel - the constant difficulties she experienced make it sound like a fight to survive every day, and it's not like that for all travelers now - at least it doesn't have to be. But she's not exaggerating: in the 1980s, this is what she experienced, and her abilities to overcome those challenges are nothing short of amazing.
Also, I am not a fan of bare bones budget travel, and I could never sleep and eat in the conditions Beard did for weeks and weeks at a time. I love camping, including rough camping - but I don't want to do it because I can't afford a safe place and I'll be in a place where there's a very likely chance local people will walk up in the night and mess with my bike, or me. I love budget hotels, even when I have money for something more fancy, but not if they are crawling with roaches or pockmarked with peepholes. I don't want to be on the verge of starvation while traveling because I can't afford a decent meal. So, again, as you read her book, know that this is how she traveled, but you don't have to travel this way in order to see the world - even by motorcycle, though you are going to need more money that she had if you don't want to regularly experience the conditions she did.
I have no mechanical abilities and can only just-barely-assist in changing a tire - I could never do it myself. I can't fix wiring or an oil leak or build my own panniers. Beard did all this - and more. That's why Elspeth Beard was able to ride across India - and it's why I can't and won't. And that's okay! I fancy myself a motorcycle adventure rider - but nothing on the level of Elspeth Beard. I've ridden more than 40,000 miles / more than 63,000 km, the vast majority of it done touring, but just in the USA and Canada (I'm planning on seeing Baja, California, Mexico next year). I've never done the kind of riding Beard has done in severely under-developed countries, nor could I, and I know that and am okay with it. And I bring this up for anyone who wants to be an adventure motorcycle rider and is just getting started, because you might read the book and think, oh, no, I can't do that, therefore, I'm not going to travel around by motorcycle. Times have changed and you don't have to ride in the conditions Beard did to see some amazing, even remote places and experience the thrill of adventure motorcycle riding. I could never manage to ride across India - but I did ride up the Cassiar Highway to the Yukon, I've ridden gravel and dirt roads to remote ghost towns few have heard of, I've camped rough in beautiful, remote places throughout North America. I think I could manage some Eastern European countries on my own bike - I loved my long trip there on the back of my husband's bike back in 2008. Just know as you read Beard's book that this is extreme motorcycle touring, and if you haven't ridden since you were 16 like Beard, and know you could never do many of these roads, that's okay - you still have options for amazing, exotic, challenging adventure motorcycle travel.
Despite my complaint about it while reading the first 80 pages, I ended up really liking that she shared so much about her intimate relationships - I've found most people are not emotionless drones, even motorcycle travelers, though it's very difficult to get world travelers, with or without motorcycles, to open up about this at times. I found it refreshing to hear a traveler talk about love on the road - and the aftermath. It's something to consider if you are going to invest in a lot of time away from home.
And note: I will never have legs long enough to be able to take a photo on my bike so I can look as cool as Elspeth Beard.
One thing I've wondered: is Dave Calderwood, who was then editor of Bike magazine, still alive and still an asshole, or dead, or alive and profoundly apologetic for being an asshole? When Beard was looking for sponsorship and advice for her trip, she wrote his magazine, among others, and he wrote a mocking letter with the sole intent of humiliating her. You can read the letter here.
I hope Elspeth Beard finally gets the recognition and admiration she deserves. And I'm so grateful she shared her adventure at last. I would very much like to be as tenacious as she is.
So, if Elspeth Beard isn't the first woman to go around the world on her own motorcycle, who is? It's probably Anne France Dautheville, French journalist and writer. In 1973 at the age of 28, she rode around the world on a Kawasaki 125. Both of her books, in French only, are out of print (I will totally buy into a crowdfunding effort to translate them into English and publish them!).
One more thing: Beard visited Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia during her travels and mentioned an NGO working in this area addressing the huge problem of Indonesians abducting baby orangutans and then wanting to get rid of them when they grow older and are so much harder to care for. Her account of this visit is a good example of transire benefaciendo: "to travel along while doing good" - she didn't attempt to work at the NGO as a volunteer (which would have been illegal), but she did elevate its work through her book, even many years later. And that's how I know about it - and now you do too.
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
TriMet driver has a meltdown, refuses to drive
What would you have done?
What do you think I should do now?
On Tuesday, February 5 (today), I caught Bus 57 from Forest Grove towards Beaverton Transit Center. I got on the bus at 1:44 p.m. I do not know the bus number.
During the ride, as we were traveling, the bus driver said, in a loud voice, "You need to turn the audio off on your device! Turn it off, not just down." The passengers, most of whom were near the back of the bus, including myself, stared at each other. I didn't hear anything and it looked like no one else did either. There weren't even people talking.
After a few minutes, and another stop, the driver made the comment again. Again, the passengers looked at each other. Some double checked their phones and other devices to make sure they were off - I know I did.
The driver then pulled over, I believe at SW Tualatin Valley Hwy & 209th E, Hillsboro (Stop ID 5637), and said, "We'll continue when whoever it is decides to turn off his audio device." He shut down the bus, got off, walked down the sidewalk and began vaping.
The passengers all stared at each other. I didn't want to sit there forever, so I got up and walked nearer the front of the bus, up near two guys who were closest to the driver. One was, indeed, playing a video game on his device and it was making noise. Because he was in the front of all other passengers, we couldn't hear the sounds his phone was making - hence why we had all looked at each other in confusion when the driver was getting mad. I realized the guy probably didn't speak English and asked, in Spanish, if he spoke English. He said no. So I told him, in very poor Spanish, that the driver did not like the noises from his phone and he needed to turn the sound off. He was deeply apologetic. Then I went to the front of the bus, got off, and told the driver that the guy making the noise didn't speak English, he didn't know he was causing problems, he had turned his phone off now. The driver did immediately stop vaping and get back on the bus, and we continued on the way.
I was going to let this go, however, by the time we go to the stop I needed to get to, to take the bus to Aloha Community Library, I could not cross the four lanes of traffic in time to catch the bus I needed - it pulled away without me. The next bus wouldn't come for 30 minutes so, to make my meeting, I had to call a Lyft and pay $5.
I think Trimet should reimburse me $5. I should not have had to handle this problem on behalf of the driver so we could continue on our way, PLUS, I'm out $5. And, yes, I wrote them and complained.
So, what do YOU think?
What do you think I should do now?
On Tuesday, February 5 (today), I caught Bus 57 from Forest Grove towards Beaverton Transit Center. I got on the bus at 1:44 p.m. I do not know the bus number.
During the ride, as we were traveling, the bus driver said, in a loud voice, "You need to turn the audio off on your device! Turn it off, not just down." The passengers, most of whom were near the back of the bus, including myself, stared at each other. I didn't hear anything and it looked like no one else did either. There weren't even people talking.
After a few minutes, and another stop, the driver made the comment again. Again, the passengers looked at each other. Some double checked their phones and other devices to make sure they were off - I know I did.
The driver then pulled over, I believe at SW Tualatin Valley Hwy & 209th E, Hillsboro (Stop ID 5637), and said, "We'll continue when whoever it is decides to turn off his audio device." He shut down the bus, got off, walked down the sidewalk and began vaping.
The passengers all stared at each other. I didn't want to sit there forever, so I got up and walked nearer the front of the bus, up near two guys who were closest to the driver. One was, indeed, playing a video game on his device and it was making noise. Because he was in the front of all other passengers, we couldn't hear the sounds his phone was making - hence why we had all looked at each other in confusion when the driver was getting mad. I realized the guy probably didn't speak English and asked, in Spanish, if he spoke English. He said no. So I told him, in very poor Spanish, that the driver did not like the noises from his phone and he needed to turn the sound off. He was deeply apologetic. Then I went to the front of the bus, got off, and told the driver that the guy making the noise didn't speak English, he didn't know he was causing problems, he had turned his phone off now. The driver did immediately stop vaping and get back on the bus, and we continued on the way.
I was going to let this go, however, by the time we go to the stop I needed to get to, to take the bus to Aloha Community Library, I could not cross the four lanes of traffic in time to catch the bus I needed - it pulled away without me. The next bus wouldn't come for 30 minutes so, to make my meeting, I had to call a Lyft and pay $5.
I think Trimet should reimburse me $5. I should not have had to handle this problem on behalf of the driver so we could continue on our way, PLUS, I'm out $5. And, yes, I wrote them and complained.
So, what do YOU think?
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