History In The Streets, Blisters On The Feet
The sound of an untuned harmonica, gasoline and the smell of history wafted through the streets. A white straw wrapper breezed past me in the wind, interrupting my first few steps off the Grand/State subway station. As I knelt down to do my duty as a good samaritan for once and eliminate rather than contribute to the litter, I picked up the straw wrap and a man with a tent and a harmonica greeted me. Our conversation involved asking each other the basic details of our lives, and after I told him I am a Texas girl who had enough of the heat and was looking to city stroll in this life of mine, he gave me some helpful advice on navigating through the history filled streets of Chicago. What this kind stranger, or newly acquainted friend of mine I should say enlightened me with, is that Chicago is full of individuals wanting to help each other succeed. The way that Terrence shared these thoughts with me was by stating “It doesn’t matter where you are from, what you look like, or what designer the bottom of your shoe says. In Chicago, it’s a scale. Everyone balances on the scale like like like, LIKE a Libra! The horoscope. In Chicago, everyone is aiming to help each other out. That is why it is the best city in the world to live in, I could never live anywhere else.”
It’s around 8:45 P.M, on Tuesday, September 26. The air, for the first time since I have been here, is chilly! A big shock to me that moving from a place where the weather is 104 degrees every day, to somewhere where the temperatures are supposed to be excruciatingly cold, is that while I have been here these past few weeks, summer has seemed to extended its stay. So being able to walk for 3 hours at an exciting part of the night, in a perfectly comfortable cool breezy temperature, opened my eyes to many things I never would have seen if I would have tried to go for my walk anytime before the sun had set. I would have been sweaty, exhausted, and overall- unmotivated to notice the hell out of things. I pace my steps and notice that I am at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and another street I am unfamiliar with. My tendency to be an awful map reader shines brighter than ever, and I have to ask multiple kind Chicagoans to point me the right way. As I walk, I pass by a hotel with the name of Dana Hotel and Spa. The hotel is located on the corner of a street, with an Italian restaurant that smells of fresh tomato sauce and oven baked bread on the intersecting corner. Being the curious cat that I am, I walked inside the lobby and admired the calm, light lilac colored room, macaroons on display and expensive furniture.
I continued on my trek and passed by Eataly, to get my fix of the finest of Italian extravagance. Eataly, being a large market with multiple restaurants, wine tasting options, and grocery goods, was the perfect place for me to rest my tired legs and sit down to eat a delicious chocolate and white mocha cannoli. The table next to me had very loud conversation, and with the App Noisy Planet, I interestingly found out that the blonde haired woman with a bone to pick towards the petite yet macho looking man’s conversation measured at 60 decibels. As I enjoyed myself eavesdropping to their conversation, I for some reason happened to take account of their posture. The woman was sitting with both elbows on the table using her hands to gesture frequently, and then man was sitting slouched in his chair with his hand holding his hair up, taking the punishment his significant other was laying on him. I put the listening in on their discussion to a halt to avoid overly creepy contact, and continued on to the street North.
I walked and saw across the street directly from where I was standing, two colorful dogs painted to look as guard dogs outside of some sort of residence. I wanted to stay on track with my walk so I avoided exploring the inside of the residence, but as I passed it I noticed two specific stores that spoke to me- begging me to go back in the future and discover what is passed both doors. First, I saw a restaurant by the name of “Lao Sze Chuan” a oriental themed restaurant and bar. The outside building and near entrance was so intricately glamorous. The brick walls on the outside were painted black, giving the building a mysterious personality. However, the red inside with satin pillows and silky textures provided an inviting atmosphere. The hostess behind the dark, mahogany wood table with an elevator behind her wore a silk black kimono, and chopsticks. Everything about the vibe at this restaurant was calling my name and was exceptionality boujee. To continue my embarkment, I peered out of the restaurant and walked past many expensive trendy clothing shops and boutiques.
As I passed by Swarovski crystals, I noticed a smiling African American woman posing by the crystal exhibit the store had set up to peek interest, holding her arms out to take a selfie. With the Southern hospitality in me, I smiled at her and she asked me if I would take a couple of glamour shots for her on her phone. I was more than happy to. She posed in front of the intricate crystal display and I snapped away pictures for her to post, and after talking to her and feeling her boost of confidence and radiant energy transform on to me, I thought to myself that that small experience and memory I had shared with her would never have been able to be possible if I would not have been walking. The walking on the streets makes me feel like I see and experience things that make memories and great stories every time I leave campus. As I was just explaining to my friend the other day, I feel that everytime I leave campus with a mission to go somewhere or do to something, and most importantly take my time to walk there, to find where I am going- it is an experience I never regret.
Topping off my walk I decided I wanted to see what all the hype about the Trump hotel/tower was about. As I was on the way there, I saw a tree enclosure with something very special next to the trees- mushrooms! I find it so fascinating when I see mushrooms grow anywhere in the city. It made me think such random, obscure thoughts like what type of bacteria was on the concrete/mulch to where an abundance of mushrooms would grow right next to a Walgreens and Kiehl’s skin care store. One of the mushrooms was very large, with beautiful colors to it- yellow and orange. A lady in a red pea coat crouched down to admire what we both discovered and snapped some pictures on her digital camera. I concluded that it was good luck that I ran into a rare sight.
Passing by the Trump hotel was a peculiar experience to say the least. The controversy that the hotel radiated and the love and hate from the masses of people who uttered his name felt historical- almost like a memory I can tell my grandchildren. I noticed different groups of people walking past the hotel, some saying hateful comments and others chanting “MAGA!” flamboyantly. Overall, the adventure of the entirety of the walk left me feeling like I had left a piece of myself in Chicago and taken a piece of Chicago with me.
