it may not be clear, so let me be explicit: i actually don't even have a driver's license.

i don't mean to say that it was suspended or whatever. what i mean to say is that i never learned how to drive.

there was a complex of factors underlying this. a part of it was that my dad was really insistent on it, and i was at the age where i was pushing back against parental control. my dad was neither an educated person nor an intelligent one. he didn't understand why i was spending so much time doing homework, instead of trying to get a driver's license and go after girls. so, a big part of it was a fuck you to his macho attitude and the broader society that he spoke for and represented.

i'll have you know that i never learned how to ice skate, either - which in canada is unusual. it's even more unusual, considering that my father was drafted into the ontario hockey league, which is one of the top junior leagues in the country.

but, a bigger part of it was that i was a strong climate activist as a teenager and felt a strong moral imperative to avoid fossil fuels as much as possible. i never bothered to learn how to drive because i never had any intent of driving.

today, i'm 36 years old, and i've never driven a car, despite ample opportunity to do so.

i've told myself in the past that i'd revisit this if there were ever serious opportunities for electric vehicles, but i've actually changed my mind since then. the environmental impact of the automobile industry is not merely limited to carbon emissions. i think that it would be very hard to find me a vehicle that i would feel comfortable enough using for me to finally learn how to operate it.