Note: This is not the picture I took with my cell phone. This is a picture from a google image search for the phrase “bike theft.” It is very similar to the picture I did take with my cell phone. The problem is that when I tried to send the picture from my cell phone to my email, I got all these complicated option things. I didn’t know what the heck to input for the mailbox name, server, etc. So, I took the easy way out. I used google to find a similar picture. My story is easy to verify. I took the picture on campus, so you can find it if you want. On the Hutchinson Hall side of Wellman Hall, there is a place to park your bikes near the stairs leading to the lower level entrance. Search around and you’ll eventually come across something very similar to the picture above.
I came across this bike tire when I was taking my usual path from Hart Hall to the ARC. I actually noticed it last week, but I didn’t know it was going to help me out until today. The first time I saw it, I paused to take a look at it because it was such a strange sight, but I kept on walking. However, when I stumbled across it today, I immediately knew what I had to do. I pulled out my cell phone and took a picture of it. Taking the picture wasn’t that hard, but I was a little worried that the picture would be too dark because the tire was in the shade. I checked that it was light enough and I continued on my way to the ARC.
In the picture are the remnants of a bike after a bike theft has occurred. Only the front wheel of the bike is remaining, and it is locked securely to a bike stand. I don’t ride a bike anymore, but I used to ride a bike to elementary school, and my dad would always tell me to lock the body of the bike to the bike stand. If I locked the front tire of the bike to the bike stand, then a potential bike thief could unscrew the screws connecting the front tire to the rest of the bike, and run off with the rest of the bike. Apparently, the owner of this bike didn’t lock the body of the bike to the bike stand, and the end result is a stolen bike.
4 comments:
Arlen: I like that in this post you not only describe how you borrowed a familiar picture from Google images, but also that you hint at the difficulties of camera phone image transferring. This is an effective placement of a narrative within a narrative; you thus get your reader to think about the multileveled aspects of digital imaging.
Upon a second reading, I found this sentence curious: "Search around and you’ll eventually come across something very similar to the picture above." You seem to be suggesting that this image reflects an entirely generic, reproducible situation—as if the remains of stolen bikes are *already* 'images', as it were. Do you see what I mean?
When I looked at this picture I was reminded when my roommate's bike got stolen when we were living at the dorms in the Tercero area. He had his bike locked with a chain and lock and it was stolen in broad day light. I would expect for thief to steal a bike during the night where there are less people around, but for a person to steal a bike in broad day light is pretty gutsy if you ask me
I thought this was so ironic. During my BIS 1C (plant biology class) my TA was telling everyone to make sure to lock their bikes because there has been an increase in bike theft recently, even during broad daylight. Afterwards when I was walking out of the science lab building I noticed that my bike seat had been stolen (this is the second time it has happened). When I finally got home by taking the bus, I was reading people’s blogs and I noticed how your image was just a picture of a tire locked to a bike rack. Your image immediately reminded me of how someone stole my bike seat. It’s interesting how you have come across this bike tire before and then decided to take a photo of it. I know what you mean when you said, “Search around and you’ll eventually come across something very similar to the picture above.” That is because this is not the first tire I have seen without it's frame, especially in Davis.
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