Chicago through a Mother’s Eye

This weekend I took a very different walk than I normally do. Normally, my walks are solitary and filled with music and strange encounters with various dog breeds and embarrassing moments, but this week I walked with my mom, who came all the way from Alabama, for parents weekend.

I spent the majority of our my walk watching how she reacted to the city. She was impressed by the skyscrapers that I had grown to just walk past without second thought, She was appalled by classrooms that I dreaded, and she had to use google maps to get around while I navigated like pro (until I got lost and pulled out google maps) This walk made me realize that I am no longer a tourist, which is something I already knew, but I was becoming a Chicagoan, I was recommending places to eat, showing her parks, and taking her to my favorite places which made me realize, I have favorite places! Eight months ago, I was wandering campus aimlessly trying to get a glimpse of anything because I couldn’t get a campus tour to now where I disregard most of the extra circular activities that DePaul throws at me.

My Mom’s fascination with Chicago re-ignited the spark I had for wanted to explore Chicago. So much so I got tickets to a show at Second City. The performance was amazing but the best part of the show was the ending, and I don’t mean that in a cutting way. They ended with a beautiful song and while I can’t remember all the lyrics one of them stuck out to me and it was such a touching ending I’ll leave you with it as well. “Yesterdays Over, Today is not over, Tomorrow is so far away”

Krygier and Wood offer a unique perspective to defining and analyzing maps, saying that rather than representations, maps are propositions. By this I think they meant that maps are matters of perspective. Showing two people the same map I can guarantee that both of those people will give you separate recommendations, words of warning, and multitude of advice on what they believe is their city. Now race and gender both, unfortunately, play a larger role in walking than they should. Historically, while walking, especially at night, Women have been the frequent targets of assault. Typically, African Americans have also been targeted by police officers while walking, having committed no crimes. This means the perspective of a map you could get could be skewed based on things people can not believe. It would be impossible for me to speak upon this subject without mention the elephant in the room. I am a white guy from Alabama. I have seen people get treated differently due to the things they can’t change about themselves and I have never experienced anything like that happen to me because the truth is, I can pretty much walk anywhere I want and not have to worry about anything happening to me, so if you showed me a map and asked me where you should go I would say anywhere. However, an African American or a woman would not have that luxury without fear of assault. So race and gender have a lot to do with maps and your perspectives of cities as a whole. (257)