On Monday, her wanderings led her to a standoff between Baltimore police and high-school students from Coppin Academy.

Police had gathered outside the Mondawmin Mall, which is adjacent to the school and earlier in the day had been the site of looting following the funeral of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who died in police custody on April 19.

Drabinski watched as students crossed the mall parking lot to board busses that would take them home. Some kids started taking selfies with the cops and goofing around, she says, and the situation escalated.  Drabinski backed away as police donned riot gear and moved to break up the crowd. “The cops were so heavily armed, it’s scary to think about what they were going to do, and I didn’t want to be in the way,” she said. 

She managed to grab one shot of the chaos with her iPhone but didn’t fully understand its significance until she arrived home and learned of the extent of the riots. “Taking the picture and writing about it helped me understand the difference between what was going on in the news and what I saw. It helped me understand how escalation can happen,” she said.

Drabinski, who teaches gender and women’s studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, rides daily because she believes it gives her a better sense of a community—its achievements, problems, and shifting moods. So she was not surprised by Baltimore’s riots. “One of the things that I’ve learned from riding a bike around the city all the time is that you can see the things that people are organizing about. Ride your bike and keep your eyes open; you’ll see a lot more.”