Culture in Chicago
Culture is prevalent in all major cities but Chicago takes on culture little differently.
On my most recent walk I went to Melrose Park which is a primarily Hispanic neighborhood to buy some groceries and get some food to bring back to my dorm. As I walked around, I noticed that the storefronts on this street were all written in Spanish and I could hear people talking in Spanish and cars passing by listening to Mexican music and it made me feel almost like I was in Mexico, even the smell of the food outside was reminiscent of when I have visited Mexico. The culture in this small neighborhood was very strong and I was very interested to see all these people interacting with each other and laughing with each other and this walk inspired me to write about culture in Chicago.
I am thinking about writing about the array of cultures in Chicago and talk about the experiences I have had with these cultures. I have always been interested in the culture of cities and the people living in those cities and Chicago is a city that is packed with all types of cultures from across the world and I have been able to interact with the people from those cultures and even tried their food. Embracing culture is important and cities that help people embrace and show off their cultures are good. (234)
Krygier and wood describe maps as a mere representation of a place. Maps don’t actually truly show a city, it only shows its streets and architecture but it’s missing the most important piece which is the people and culture that lies in those places shown on the map. There are different types of maps that gives different propositions of a place, but the map never truly shows the place.
A map can show a straight street that looks tidy but you could go to that area and for all you know It could be the worst street you have ever seen and that basically how maps show places, It’s only a visual idea of what the layout of the city is but depending on what map you are looking at you are never really looking at that city.
Something interesting that Krygier and Wood wrote about were the conflict maps. There was a picture shown of Kashmir and one of the maps Kashmir as a part of Pakistan, but the second map made by an Indian showed that Kashmir was a part of north India. there are different realities in maps and people tend to look at the maps that benefit and appeal to them.
Maps show the history of cites, for example if there is a wide road that was recently built that meant that there was a lot of traffic going though that city and in turn the city decided to build wider roads to help with the traffic flow.
This was actually one of the most interesting articles I have read in a while and it gave me a completely new mindset when thinking about maps and how they aren’t what you think they are. (288)
