Autumn walks in Bricktown
The action of constantly taking pictures of everything is something I have never been keen on. Taking out the camera, positioning oneself in a certain angle, and attempting to capture the “moment” sounded irrelevant. My favorite way of documenting places, people, and experiences is enjoying the ephemeral moments as much as possible. If I were to take pictures, it would be no more than two. I do not want to fritter away time worrying about the lightning, the blurriness, or the filters in a photo to make it look pretty, even worse, missing out on the moment because I was too concerned about a picture.
Working on this assignment was a challenge. I had to constantly remind myself of noticing the streets I was wandering, pay more attention and ironically, pull out my phone to take a picture. I used the app Dérive, designed for exploring urban areas and large cities. It was helpful since it gave me a handful of peculiar prompts that I followed in the lapse of an hour and a half. In the end, I was able to document my adventure with nice and decent photographs of the new places I discovered.
I started around 3:22 PM in front of Whole Foods Market on Sheffield Avenue. I put on my AirPods and played some music. At that moment, I realized how pretty much every time I go out or do the most common of things. I always do it while listening to music. I concluded that I simply happen to like the same seven songs I listen to every day a lot. I noticed the weather. It was a nice, fresh afternoon. Perfect for walking. I considered myself lucky.
I looked at my first quest. “Walk towards a crowd.” Luckily, there was a group of people coming towards me. They looked like a sports club. I assumed it was either a volleyball or soccer one due to the type of garments everyone was using. I quickly crossed the street and tried to discreetly snap some pictures. At that moment, I felt a lot of anxiousness because it happened so suddenly and so quickly. I felt like I was going to miss the chance to complete the prompt. In the photo, it seems like one of the persons noticed I pointed my phone at them. This made me realize I would not make a skilled personal investigator in the future.
Later on, my next activity was to turn right. I could have turned immediately, but I decided to do so in the alley a couple of steps ahead. Even though it sounds weird, it is my favorite alley. There I found a mural and hanging fairy lights. At first, I did not want to get through it, or any alley at all. I even thought alleys were not supposed to be walked through. There are hardly any alleys where I come from. Eventually, I did and found a liking to the mural painted on one of the walls. It is also a shortcut to one of my preferred restaurants, Chipotle. Maybe that is the real reason why it is my favorite.
Dérive notified me to hop on some sort of public transport and get off some stops later. There was a bus stop as soon as I exited the alley. Up to this day, I still do not know how the buses work. I am only familiar with the train system. I was on Fullerton Avenue. Across the street was the School of Music. My surroundings were busy. Lots of people walking by, as well as cars. Funnily enough, the bus did take some time. I started waiting at 3:28 PM. Minutes later, at 3:38 PM, a flashy van stopped in front of me. It had puppies and cat images on its side that were promoting pet grooming services. It reminded me of my two giant Golden Retrievers back at home. Seeing that van brought many happy memories. I feel lucky that I took of picture of it. Every time I scroll through my gallery, images of my dogs pop into my mind and make me smile.
Fast forward to 3:42 PM and the bus finally arrived. I sat and patiently waited since I did not really have a destination. I felt relaxed when I was there. Maybe it was the combination of the soft music playing and the serenity of the ambiance. I pressed next on the app and did not expect this kind of prompt. “Look for someone wearing red shoes. Take notes and directly afterward, take the first left.” I was surprised since it was pretty specific. I was so focused on coming up with a way to find someone with red shoes that I got disconnected from the environment. If it weren’t for suddenly looking down at the feet of the person sitting next to me, I would have never found out that they were wearing red shoes. Luck was definitely on my side that day.
The bus stopped in Ashland street at 3:53 PM. I got off and for some reason confused the words right and left. I accidentally turned right and kept on walking. There were no pedestrians at all at that moment. It felt somewhat lonely. Even the stores looked empty, almost abandoned. I started walking faster just so I could leave soon. I felt like I was walking through a ghost town for a second. I wonder how it would feel walking through a real one.
My next prompt stated “Find an interesting olfactory experience. Document it.” I did not know where or how to start, but I took a chance and kept walking in a straight line until I found something. I came across a bridge at 4:01 PM and walked underneath it. It emanated this old, rusty smell. The one old metal and iron has. I even got a metallic taste in my mouth, something not pleasant. I decided to write that down and keep ongoing.
“Turn left in two blocks.” This time I did turn left on Wrightwood Avenue. At 4:06 PM I found this large tower. I felt tiny. I have been feeling this way ever since I moved into the city. Sometimes, I like to view the skyscrapers and colossal buildings as sleeping giants that one day will wake up. I also noticed some Halloween decorations at 4:14.PM. I thought it was really cute that people do this. The fact that they get so excited about a certain season and decorate their homes to express their enthusiasm is endearing to me.
I kept walking and admiring the trees around me. They were transitioning from their lively green to their calming orange. I took a boomerang at 4:17 PM.
The next prompt wanted me to find a surveillance camera, smile, and wave at it. My strategy to find one was simple, locate the nearest restaurant or shop. They always have cameras at their entrances. I found one at 4:22 PM and shyly waved. I left quickly because that was a bit embarrassing for the security guard to see.
One minute after that, Dérive asked me to find a cat. It never specified if it had to be a real cat, a drawing, a statue, etc. At 4:24 PM I ran into a lady carrying a tote bag with cat faces in it. This was probably the hardest picture to take. She kept turning around to face me. She probably knew.
I spent two minutes there before I got the instruction to turn right and follow something green. I did as it told me and kept going. There were squares with freshly cut grass on the ground and opted to follow those. I eventually came across a tree wearing a pink ribbon next to a building at 4:34 PM. The building was called “Mary Crane Center.” I thought the ribbon was a nice touch to the overall decoration.
The grass squares stopped right a the end of N Leavitt Street. It was 4:41 PM. I took a turn to the right and walked towards Clybourn Avenue. My feet were already starting to hurt, yet I did not want to stop. I was so close to reaching an hour and a half. My next quest demanded I find a traffic light. I walked down the entire avenue until the end. At 4:50 PM I found it right next to an attractive place with people dancing in it. It looked like some sort of rehearsal. People seemed happy, which made me happy as well.
I looked up my location on the map and found out I was in Bricktown. On my way back, I chose to film a bit of my journey. I was on Ashland Avenue again, yet there were more cars this time and did not make me feel lonely. It was an exhausting but gratifying walk. Maybe next time I will convince my roomate to join me.
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