Riverwalk

Walking Journal

On Thursday October 14th, my friends and I walked around River North in Downtown Chicago. The Riverwalk is a huge tourist attraction, Chicago uses public spaces to increase its social capital. Chicago has a theme of Admiration. I am so grateful for Lincoln Park, I get easy access to the Lake Shore, heart wrenchingly beautiful buildings, and there are so many good food options. But in a certain light, if I were rich, I would love to live in a skyscraper in the loop, looking out at the city skyline, it is truly beautiful. Strolling around the Riverwalk, my friends and I just sat on the banks of the river and watched the boats go by. I am excited for St. Patrick’s day when they dye the river green, I have always wanted to go, but being from the suburbs I never got the chance. We got to admire all the expensive restaurants that us broke college students could never afford, but it was a good time. Although we did end up going to this Italian place called “Maggiano’s Little Italy” which was kind of pricey. I ordered Chicken Parmesan, which was delicious and filling, I had to get a box and take it home. It was definitely worth the price.

Reading Journal

Krygier and Wood define maps as affirmations. Maps represent the real world on a smaller scale. Depicting a round world on a flat surface always comes with some distortion, it is mathematically impossible to create an accurate map. After viewing the folded maps projects, my view of Chicago has not changed. Before living in the city, I already knew the south side was more run down than the north. I have heard from many people that you shouldn’t go down south, that it is dangerous. Although a big reason nobody goes down there is because there’s never a reason to go. All of the tourist attractions are up north, and the south side is where all the history is. We make maps to help others travel from one location to another. Maps are political because there is no such thing as a perfect map. Maps are flat representations of our spherical world. A lot of controversy stems from creating geographic borders and boundaries between different areas around the world. This reading relates to previous readings because we all use maps when walking through the city, whether it be Google maps or any other kind of GPS. We can use maps to walk from one destination to another. (207)