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Culture Series: District of Cats
September 12 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Free
Event Details:
Every year, dozens of cyclists periodically meet up for “alleycats”: unsanctioned scavenger hunts-turned-races sprung by daring local bike couriers onto DC streets. They make for an eclectic, if temporary, community: male, female, nonbinary, queer; old and young; a jumble of races and ethnicities; athletes in spandex and those riding in street clothes. Careening between local landmarks and mini-games that constitute a race, riders compete hard even as they guard each others’ backs while weaving through rush hour car traffic. Once exclusive to the bike messenger community, alleycats have attracted a broader range of cyclists as couriering has become a threatened way of life.
Since their introduction in the 1990s, how has the bike messenger community—and the alleycats they throw—adapted to the social and economic shifts within the District? In an evening conversation with just the right amount of audience participation, the co-curators of the DC Oral History project “District of Cats” will sit with three legends of the DC bike messenger scene to get their thoughts on these and other questions, and a bike’s-eye view of the District as a whole.
ASL Interpretation will be provided.
Host: HumanitiesDC
Date: September 12, 2024 • 7PM
Location: Busboys and Poets, 625 Monroe Street NE 20017
Event fee: Free
Registration Event link
For More Information
Contact: Jimmy Watkins
Website: humanitiesdc.org
Email: jwatkins@humanitiesdc.org
Phone: 202.770.3077 Ext. 806
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