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Amy Yates
Restless after a year as a physio and aerobics instructor, I have left my home and taken off to pursue more of my passions for travelling, surfing, yoga, and to see for myself more of the natural beauty of this earth.
Far from my home down-under, a week before I was due to take a job in London, I met up with some amazing people offering a fantastic opportunity for adventure. Never needing to be asked twice to partake in something athletic, my departure ticket now leaves from Cancun and my stay here has been extended by 5 months.
On a trip around the world, I believe in the importance of allowing time for new, miscellaneous interests to develop. Only since joining biketomexico have I discovered the important plight of small time farmers and how vital and precious their existance is on the global scale. For me the ride will be an incredible opportunity to learn, see, and do more than I had ever hoped in North America.
I hope that my skills may come in handy for weary, saddle sore cyclists at the end of the days!
Carolyn Ross
After four years of struggling through a B.A. at McGill, Carolyn wants to validate the idea that travelling is just as educational as academia (probably even more). Cycling to Mexico with fifteen strangers seems like the greatest way to prove this to herself. She is spiritual, musical, loves to bike and feels a strong pull to act as some sort of catalyst for positive change. Farming, yoga, eating good food and finding the beauty in everyone she meets are among her favorite pastimes. A typical libra, she is undecided about her future path, but remains open to the extraordinary.
Geneva Guerin
often known to ask strangers in line at the grocery store if they really need that bag??? geneva balances her life among work, coordinating and conducting a sustainability assessment of concordia university - of which she is a recent graduate in political science; anarchist soccer games every sunday in the park; and highly intellectually-masturbatory discussions on french postmodern theory over cheap beer at montreal's coolest nook in the wall.
in the next year geneva plans on learning how to speak spanish and has lofty ambitions of learning piano in order to be able to play the 3rd movement of beethovan's moonlight sonata - the way glenn gould plays it :)
she is deeply committed to sustainability, a respect for diversity and all life, and can't wait to ride her bike through eugene oregon, home of soy delicious chocolat-peanut butter non-dairy ice cream!!
Jean-Marc Abela
Storytelling. This has become my main focus in life. It is the best word I can find to describe what I’m passionate about. To share stories with people. Stories that connect with individuals, stories that seek out truth.
In High School I fell in love with movies, the motion camera and directing. By grade twelve I knew my career would be in filmmaking. But first I chose to study marketing in college, disappointed with the school I moved to Toronto in the fall of ’99 to begin my career. I did not to go to film school, instead I purchased a computer and a digital video camera... I haven’t stopped learning since!
2003 has been an amazing year for me. I’ve worked on 3 documentaries to date. I also wrote and directed a short dramatic video. But the year isn’t halfway over yet; "Free the People - Feed the Earth" is simply the best project I could take on right now. These issues are number ONE priority to me and I am very thankful to have been given this beautiful opportunity to share this story with people.
Love, Respect, Peace.
Jean-Marc Abela
Julie-Ann
I was born and raised in Mission, a town just beyond the last suburb of Vancouver. I think being from British Columbia can give almost anyone a natural love of mountains, forests, the sea and fresh air. My passion is pottery which has led to an interest in building with cob. Among a long list of interests, I like dancing (especially swing), dessert, and watching the sun set.
I just graduated last month from UBC with a degree in groundwater and soil science. I am working in the hydro-geology lab for the summer and am looking forward to the long bike ride in August.
Living and learning abroad has taught me not only about the need for social justice but also the interconnectedness between all people. I have a "mother" in Ghana, who lives in a village without running water or electricity. I have a "sister" in Cambodia who works long hours 6 days a week in a garment factory for $60 a month. I have "children" in Mexico who sell flowers all night to make a living. Despite their situation, my international family meets life smiling and laughing. They have affected me deeply and I keep them in mind in every thing that I do.
I am an optimist and believe the world is beautiful place, that people are good and that random acts of kindness go along way.
Kristen
i am 20, living on the east coast, and learning as a student and a member of a collective, alternative business. Disenchanted with international development studies at dalhousie, i enrolled at the university of havana for the fall to study sustainable agriculture, and was determined to get there with out burning any fuel but my own- and this trip came up at the right time. right now i'm putting faith in my curiosity to guide me- so far so good.
right now i'm curiously exploring what's in between- between the production and consuption, the seeds and the plate, between the kids and the suits and ties, what lies between me and the geographical places that are drawing me, between the decisions and the impacts, and how we can bridge the impacts back to guide the decisions.
Lindsay Telfer
Lindsay, as a child growing up in South-western Ontario could always be found climbing the nearest tree. It was inevitable from the start that she would wish the stay in the trees for the remainder of her life. Lindsay went on to leave the cornfields surrounding Stratford Ontario and went on to the big city of Toronto where she completed both her undergrad degree in Sociology and Geography and her Masters in Environmental Studies, with a focus on Community Food Systems. Lindsay is currently working as the National Director of the Sierra Youth Coalition where she is experiencing one of the most challenging and rewarding years of her life and meeting some of the most extraordinary and committed activists. Everyday she is reminded that we are making a difference!
Melissa Garcia Lamarca
Having lived in way too many places over the 23 years of her life, Melissa now calls Montreal home. She worked in Argentina for 6 months after finishing an undergrad in geography and economics, and, after experiencing the amazing insanity of the economic crisis in December 2001, came back to Montreal to learn more about creating grassroots, community change. Melissa has been working like mad on the Sustainable Concordia Project for the past year, which has been a super amazing endevour and has only served to fuel her passion for sustainability, and studying a graduate diploma in community economic development in her spare time....She is SO psyched to be biking to Mexico (where she lived for 5 years when she was younger) with so many crazy cool people that she’ll be skipping out on the last portion of her course, to continue to act on the social change she’s been studying. Melissa can’t wait for a puppetmaking workshop she’s taking in a few weeks, where she hopes to make a wicked puppet to wear on her back when we bike through communities on the way down the west coast. Yay!
Ossman Cruz
I was born in Nicaragua during the dictatorship of the 70?s, grew up during the struggle of the 80?s, and I finally landed in Canada 14 years ago. My academic background is in social sciences, Hispanic literature with a minor in classical archaeology and I am presently studying community economic development at Concordia University. My interest in Latin America is my greatest motivation. I?ve done some projects in rural and social development in Nicaragua and other stuff. There is many more to say but the stories will unfold as we go on the road.
Rosa Kouri
At the moment I'm a crass, leathered, and buff creature of the bush. I alternate this identity with my winter self - the smooth, suave (right. . ..), economics and poli sci student at McGill. I take absolutely no credit for who I am. I am the product of two amazing individuals: my parents gave birth to me in Mozambique, where they were doing development work with CUSO in the early eighties. Since then, they have carried me along in every protest, demonstration, and litigation they have been involved in. In fact, my dad was so excited about this trip he wanted to be the biodiesel busdriver until he remembered he was running for city council. So there's me, born so left I have two left feet and no right hand, raised partly around the world but mostly barefoot in my backyard in good old Saskatchewan. I can't decide if I'm a hippie, a nerd, an artist, a redneck or a wild one. In lieu of making a decision, I usually alternate selves as conditions require - it's working out not bad. I want to understand society, our institutions, why we do the crazy things we do. Can't we just be nicer? to ourselves, the creatures around us, our environment? I can't get enough of this planet, which is partly why I need to spend at least one third of my year outdoors (the wilderness out here is well. . . wild). I also can't get enough of people and ideas, which is why I'm putting myself through this hateful degree (can't you tell I just love McGill?). I'll be done in two years time, and after that? who knows, you can't get lost if you don't know where you're going. . .
Silvi
My name is Silvi Wool. I believe in creating the good energy. For me this is music, and many other changing things. Since the spring I have been consciously involved in the peace movement here in Vancouver. This has been a catalyst in my own spiritual growth and has helped me manifest the reality in which I now live. Now the time has come for me to run away on a bicycle caravan to spread love down the West Coast.
As for the past, I have been going to high school for 4 years, but that is not where my heart lies. What has kept me sane is summers visiting my big sister in NYC and making puppet shows with her.
Sofian Benaissa
Recently escaped from the con u. theatre department. Feeling a dearth of ethical work choices, I find myself planting trees in northern ontario this summer. I`m a father and I`m queer, a vegan, an anarchist, a first generation immigrant son of an algerian muslim and a french catholic, and a white man in north america, in no particular order. My daughter`s name is Asha.
Trying to maintain the balance - fighting for change and working for cash, stimulating mind and body, tolerating ambiguity. Obsessive about respect for the earth and political engagement, privelege and perspective. I dream big and utopic: autonomous communities and an economy of labor, in balance with the larger world.
This summer`s about my body for me, it`s about educating myself and broadening my awareness, it`s about spanish . . . I`ve got big plans for the years to come, but I don`t want to jinx them so I`ll keep my silence.
Stefan Verna
At 36 nothing seems more appropriate then to criss cross the Left coast singing songs of freedom. LiFe speaks throught he things we create, this carvavan has the potential of being a beautiful thing. Moving the body & mind is at the center of eveything i do or don't do....My mantra for the trip is to listen to the sounds of the earth, to the folks we visit, to my fellow caravaners and most important to the sound of my breath. Proctecting the organic beauty of this earth is the highest calling i know of; this caravan is my way of saying thank you planet for the life you have given me.
Steve DeCaprio
Steve, you have spent a long time playing in that punk band, huh. Yeah cool. So they still don`t understand why you dress in black all the time. Maybe it`s because you`re an anarchist or something. Anyway, those kids really appreciated your entusiasm to bicycle across country with them to fight globalization. Soooo… I guess you`ve been doing quite a bit before this working toward social justice. You worked with the October 22nd Coaltion to Stop Police Brutality, protested against the war, and hung out with all those other anarchist kids back in Oakland and stuff. Oh and the punk kids. Your homebrew was really good too. Maybe your rudimentary understanding of Spanish will come in handy. Maybe you`ll have an opportunity to work on your French and Chinese during your trip with the kids. Hmmmm what do you think we should tell people about in your “bio”?… I guess the fact that you are from Florida originally could be important. I don`t know.
Youri Cormier
Bio, bio... 23 years, that should take at least 23 paragraphs, ok, and I’ll send you the baby pictures in attachment later.
In brief, rather, my name is Youri Cormier, I was born and raised in Quebec City and have been living in Montreal since ’99. I just graduated (in May) with a double major Bcomm in international business and from the school of community and public (multidisciplinary poli-sci), which is an odd but exciting match to say the least. I’m one of those rare business students who actually wants nothing to do with the capitalist order of things. But it’s really interesting to study it in and out from that kind of a critical perspective.
My favourite things to do in the world are probably writing, reading and arguing. I love poetry and philosophy. In the last few years, I’ve been a member of the debating society and have written all kinds of propagan... mmm, I mean, interesting essays, for student newspapers on campus.
I’ve also been involved with student politics here at Concordia (acting as a student rep on university bodies, including the ever-so-enjoyable board of plutocratic governors), which is how I met Melissa and Geneva. Oh, and while i’m talking Concordia politics, please don’t believe everything you hear about the Concordia Student Union on Global Television... ARGH...
I really don’t know what comes next, there are two options I’m hoping will work out, either going to do an MA in Holland in International Relations and Diplomacy or working on sustainability projects in the third world with the IISD. If those things don’t happen, expect to find me just heading south with no clear destination after Cancun or something like that. If I make it far enough, I’ll recruit penguins for the WTO: birdbrains in tuxedos, they’ll fit right in.
Anyway, I can’t wait to get pedalling.