Thoughts on the train

This week I decided to let my mind wander. Get lost and navigate through a see of ideas and thoughts. This type of activity can be relaxing, even therapeutic at times. After the last few weeks, midterms and big projects have drained almost my entire self, leaving little to no space for daydreaming or thinking freely. When I do, I like to write little bullet points in my Notes App that might not make much sense if someone else reads it for the first time but are important to me.

I went back to Chinatown. There was no particular reason, just wanting to change the atmosphere around me for one that is much more busy, lively, and different. While I was on the train listening to music, ideas started to flow. It might have been a random wave of inspiration, or the music, or nothing.

These topics are interesting to me. I would like to dig deeper and learn more about them. They became even more fascinating during my visit, I looked at a map to locate the main gateway. It is something I have been looking forward to visiting yet found it hard to find. Once I did, I felt proud of myself. The place was decorated, I had forgotten the recent marathon passed through Chinatown. There were still many tourists left. Chinatown was packed that Friday morning.

While walking, I noticed how one word could define the place. Diversity. People from all backgrounds and origins were around me. The fact that the marathon was recent, had brought even more. I recently learned about the meaning of the word “sonder”, and I think I was experiencing it.

I decided I want to write about it, learn from it, talk about it to others and experience it again. In new neighborhoods and with new people.

According to Krygier and Wood, they are too abstract to be portrayals or simple images, and neither are they representations. Maps are propositions in graphic form because it affirms the existence of a place and the individuals that form part of it. A map is created or can be created by taking a concept, attaching it to a mark, and pinning it down. It is far more complex and not as related to the place it depicts, at least not as we think it is.

My understanding of Chicago has changed, or in other words, expanded. In my previous Composition and Rhetoric class I learned how Chicago is one the most racially segregated cities and suffers from frequent inequities. This podcast has allowed me too better analyze my perceptions and comprehend how assumptions about places and people can hurt and damage others.

Given that in the podcast, it is mentioned that if you fold a physical map, literally, you can pretty much see the division in the city. This really struck me. Maps can tell us what we don’t see with our naked eye sometimes. It also reminded me of the previous walks and readings that were done some weeks ago, specially the one about gentrification. I also remembered the texts mentioning the walkability of a place. I connected it to this podcast because the lady stated that the assumptions people make of southern neighborhoods affects the individuals that walk through it. I thought it was really interesting to see how the dots connected in this section.

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