Welcome to The Pedaling Poet's Blog

I've been spending the past few days in a campus-like area where there are lots of public restrooms. Some are fitted with hands-free automatic faucets, while others have traditional taps with one or two levers to control the water flow. In between these two paradigms of technology is the foot-activated faucet; it seems to strike a perfect balance, combining the touchless hygiene advantage of an automatic with the mechanical simplicity of a manual.

After years of dreaming, months of planning, days of preparing, and hours of recording, I have released my first single! It's my rendition of Good Riddance, composed by Darren Korb in 2018.

Cultures from across the Atlantic may have a more sensible attitude towards drinking.

Santa Barbara's music scene is home to many bands and ensembles, some of which have become local staples over the years. One of the hottest newer bands in town is Magnetize, a powerfully expressive vocal duo whose music speaks to profound yet relatable human emotions and experiences. Their musical style…

In downtown Santa Barbara, on the northern edge of Paseo Nuevo, there is a small restaurant called The Blue Owl. Their food offerings are quite varied, ranging from Vietnamese-inspired fried rice bowls to Californian burritos and vaguely Italian focaccia sandwiches, along with a selection of locally-brewed kombuchas and herbal teas. But this is supposed to be a music event review - why are the venue’s food and drinks so relevant?

I am Zahran Moore, AKA The Pedaling Poet. I started this blog back in December of 2021 as a space to share my thoughts and ideas with the wider world. Planning and building this website was the culmination of an almost yearlong research phase, and I was very proud of…

In today’s social climate, I’m one of the increasingly rare individuals who believes that it’s okay (and arguably natural) to presume a person’s pronouns based on their physical appearance, if none were specified. The majority of humans are still cisgender, and that ratio is unlikely to significantly change. It's also…

The books and films comprising the Harry Potter franchise all take place within a fictionalized but highly realistic depiction of the modern (late 90's to early 2000's) world, with magic and other fantastical elements overlaid atop this familiar and believably real base. As a result, the stories have to do…

Celebrities occupy a strange position within our increasingly digital world: they have a professional reputation and public image to maintain, and yet the internet has enabled them to say almost anything, often without the oversight of a manager or agent. Historically, everything a famous person said to the public was…

As a society, we generally need someone or something to lead and organize us, establish standards of behavior and business, mitigate interpersonal conflicts, administer justice to wrongdoers, and provide the basic necessities of life to individuals who lack any other means of support. In an ideal country, the government (whether…

I live in a small town surrounded by semi-wild landscapes, and there are many natural areas I enjoy spending time in. There are hiking trails in the nearby mountains, beaches at the seaside, and several nature preservation lands just beyond the edge of town. Within the city proper, there are…