A friend of mine once told me that when he's on an airplane and a stranger asks him what he does for a living he says "I'm a dentist". Now, this guy isn't a dentist, or a pathological liar- he simply doesn't feel like investing the time to explain his rather unique job to a person who would most likely be confused. A dentist is self explanatory and no-one want to know anything more.
When I got my first job in bicycle advocacy I considered the "I'm a Dentist" option. I figured there was no way that the businessman, or vacationer, or fellow 20-something headed home for thanksgiving would understand yet care about what I do. Then I remembered I was sort of young and I might have had to explain how I had become the Doogie Howser of oral health.
So here it is, the "hey, we're about to land so lets chat for the last 5 minutes of the flight" version of what my job as Bicycling Advocate is: I work for a non-profit advocacy organization that works to change law, policy, funding priority and public perception to benefit bicycling.
Now I admit, this usually gets a little bit of a confused look. Over the next few months I'm going to do my best to provide some insightful examples of how this works, what it means, and how it effects businessmen, vacationers, 20 somethings and anyone else I might sit next to on a plane.
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