Traversing Down Clark Street in Search of Flames and Clouds
My two given colors for this weeks Paint Chip walk exercise were “Black Flame” (a slightly blue shade of black) and Cloudberry (a white tint of pink).
I set out from my apartment at roughly 6:03 PM. Immediately turning right out of my apartment building, I realize that the overhead to a restaurant entrance matches one of my paint chips. The entrance to the restaurant Just Salad roughly matches the Black Flame color. The street is filled with people going about, perhaps leaving work or entering classes.
6:11 PM. I noticed a standing camera pointing at a man holding a microphone at the opposite end of the Clark/Van Buren intersection. I assume it to be a man reporting for some mainstream news channel.
6:13 PM. I noticed an Indian Restaurant to my right on the Clark/Van Buren intersection. I wanted to enter, but apparently the restaurant closed down. Shame.
6:15 PM. I walk across an intersection on Clark and notice someone’s backpack. Her backpack matched the Cloudberry Color.
6:17 PM. I snap a picture of a wall that matches the Black Flame color of Clark street.
6:18 PM. I look through my window to the right inside Columbia College, and notice a chair through the window that matches the Black Flame color.
6:20 PM. Stop 1, Paisan’s Pizzeria
I am currently at Paisan’s Pizzeria on Clark/Polk. Cars are lined up and parked on the sides of the street, filled on both ends. The sky is a cloudy thick ice-blue. People are walking about, some standing stationary close to the buildings. Inside the pizzeria, people are lively, smiling, and chatting amongst one another. The windows are open and the interior has a mostly wooden aesthetic. There are some sports games happening on the television screens.
A girl walks by and says “all these cars and none of ’em have a billion dollars on ’em, what the f***.” I silently laughed at the thought. I would like to steal a billion dollars too.
I find that as I go farther out on Clark street, I find more clusters of people, and more restaurants and other hot spots of activity. It seems that this area, especially around Clark/Polk is a hotspot for activity.
6:27 PM. I reach the Clark/Polk intersection and immediately notice 5 people carrying around bags, all of which to seem to be food from restaurants. I’ll consider coming back here sometime to try out the restaurants in the area.
6:31 PM. While walking down Polk Street, I notice a faded advertisement on the building to the left of me on Federal/Polk. I can’t quite make out what it says. How long was it there for? Why that one of all walls to be so faded?
6:33 PM. I turn right from Polk Street onto Plymouth Street. There’s a sign advertising a fresh farmer’s market. Shame that it was only open until last month.
6:36 PM. I notice a sign on the Plymouth/9th intersection that has a sign that roughly matches the color of the Cloudberry paint chip.
6:41 PM. I walk inside another Indian restaurant nearby, hoping to delight on some curry and naan. I walk right out of the door, seeing that the curries are $17. One day I’ll go there, I suppose.
6:48 PM. Stop 2, Dearborn Park.
There are city buildings on one side of the park, and residential homes on the other. The sky is pitch-black now. Dearborn park has multiple walkways that lead to a circular area, with benches and chess tables surrounding an elevated platform. On that platform, there were two women and a man working out, playing music on a speaker.
I saw about 15 dogs being walked in my time spent here, signaling that this neighborhood is friendly and rather safe. There are people walking in groups and socializing in the park.
There’s this pigeon circulating the bench I’m sitting at. Hoping around all over. Maybe its left wing is clipped. Nice to sit with a Pigeon, though! Not an everyday experience.
I take my leave at around 6:54 PM. I walk up towards Wabash/9th, and turn left onto Wabash. Now that I’ve moved closer to the inner loop, the buildings are more illuminated, casting its trademark ambience over the city.
Stop 3, Insomnia Cookies.
7:06 PM. I notice an Insomnia Cookies store to my left. I walk in immediately knowing I’ve wanted to try it. When I asked the employee what types of desserts they offer, he looked at me straight in the face after a silent moment and responded “diabetes.” That was a moment of blissful laughter. I walked out with a warm double chocolate cookie. It was quite tasty!
Additionally, one of the walls inside matched the cloudberry color.
7:12 PM. I pass by a tattered detour sign that roughly matches the cloudberry color.
People on Wabash have been mostly scattered. Some in groups, some conversing as they walk by, or walking alone, looking for food to grab. As the nights draw earlier day by day, so do the people return to their homes earlier. The streets seem less lively each week. It is almost as if I see the city slowly go into hibernation. Seems as if I’m not quite prepared for the winter ahead.
7:22 PM. Two CTA trains pass by each other on the tracks over Wabash. Sparks light up on the track.
I arrive at my apartment building door at roughly 7:28 PM. I ended up with odd choices of colors, but I was still able to match them. I wonder if there were more instances of these colors I turned a blind eye to. The only way I’ll know is if I walk the same path again.
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150–200 Word Response to a Question
Question: According to Malchik in “March,” why is a community’s walkability “one of the single greatest factors in building social capital” (p. 45)? What is social capital? How do your community’s public infrastructure and public spaces support walkability (or not)? How has your community’s walkability factored in your social capital?
A community’s walkability determines how willing the community is willing to interacting with one another. By walking, you’re making yourself vulnerable to the outdoors, and whoever might see you that you don’t see. The fact that there are people out walking signifies that people are comfortable moving around in that space.
This is the baseline to communication with people, as walking allows for communication with people that one doesn’t have immediate access to- strangers. A community is a silent town of strangers without walking. With walking though, people can become acquainted, and a sense of community is formed when people get to know one another.
Social capital is the presence one person has in a social setting, whether that be wealth, friendships, a relationship, work, or more. Within a community, people give and build social capital while meeting one another. Communities with high aggregate social capital are often more welcoming and intertwined, as they have a sense of community- something more to look forward to with their day.
While my community is walkable, it’s not entirely filled with social capital. There used to be more of it, but people are closed-off, and rarely do people stop on a walk for conversation. It feels cut-off, but seems to be the new normal these days.
The area in my housing complex accommodates walking with upkept sidewalks, sidewalks through the woods in-between, and around the lake behind some houses. There is a rusted gazebo at one house, but it hasn’t been upkept, due to being technically “private property.” Shame.
