A Neighborhood Designated For Pedestrians
At 6:00 pm on October 8, 2018, my friend who attends Northwestern invited me on a walk around her campus. Prior to my walk, I should tell you that I had chosen, “Window Garden Green” and “Watermelon Smoothie”, as my paint chip colors. As we walked down Clark street in Northwestern’s main campus, we had arrived at my first paint chip sight, which was a salmon colored bike at a bike rack next to a public parking garage. The building had only been designed with brown brick, no variety really. There I had noticed the impeccable style that the students had acquired, not one was dressed in a bum fashion. Also, at this sight, I had seen a female depart from the public parking garage in a metallic purple Maserati; must’ve been more than my own home!
We continue to walk down Clark Street, and on my right, I notice a colossal tower with a clock on the top. The clock did not appear to numbers, but rather lines. The clock had been illuminated with a purple light, I assume to depict the colors of the University.
My friend and I decide to turn left onto Orrington Avenue, where we met the Hilton Orrington building. As we walked down the pavement, I noticed how I had been walking in a pedestrian neighborhood: rather where the sight of pedestrians was more valued than the sight of cars. The pavement was large in width and did not have your regular cement base, no it had acquired a mosaic of bricks. They were spaced out evenly and they were patterned in a light brown and a dark brown; it was done neatly. There were trees, bushes, flowers, and grass. It was not your regular “Nature Band-Aid”. Cars were isolated from the pavement, it was like they weren’t there. While walking down Orrington Avenue, I had realized another paint chip sight. It had been on the Hilton Orrington van. It was your ordinary white van, with a custom design of buildings acquiring mint green windows. While taking the perfect picture I had become disoriented due to the stench of diesel gasoline; what trucks use. A navy-blue pickup truck with a custom made rear window of an American flag, and tires nearly hanging off the end of the axel, had been the culprit. It had zoomed past me and my friends, poisoning us with its dreadful waste. The black fog was so thick, that it had taken 5 minutes to disperse into the air.
After that whole experience, my friend and I decided to turn right onto Church street. There we had found a pole that was strictly for donations, it had been interestingly painted; it was surely contemporary and abstract. On that particular block, there had been many basic places enticing places like Flat top grill and Chipotle; these places had many lights, vines, and nice wooden tables for outside dining.
After walking on that short strip, my friend and I decided to go to the Barnes and Noble on Sherman Avenue. The exterior was marvelous. Though it had covered an entire corner of an intersection, it had illuminated the entire street. The windows were big enough to see every book and thing that they had sold. As I walked in side, I had imagined the place to look a bit different; however, I was immediately deceived, considering the place had looked like any Barnes and Noble. Anyway, I began to walk around the food section (I was hungry), and I had discovered a book on the second floor about soups; it had minestrone, broccoli cheddar, chicken noodle, clam chowder, and more recipes!
At 6:30 pm, my friend and I had walked out of Barnes and Noble and turned right onto Sherman Avenue. The pavement had to be wider than the pavement in Humboldt park. Of course, the pavement had its regular brick mosaic design, this this time with white square borders. The pavement had to be at least 20 feet in width, it was huge! Walking down the block, we enjoyed the large space, and realized the amount of great stores we passed by. There was a Benefit, Francesca’s, Target, LA fitness, and more! When we reached the end of the block we decided to turn left onto the other side of Sherman. On this side, I had seen such an exquisite sight. I was amazed by the design of the pavement. Not only did it include a mosaic of grey colored bricks, but the intended design was strictly made for pedestrians. It was as if I were in Paris, the sidewalk controlled the town. The sidewalk aspired for people to decide their path; it gave you the freedom of walking wherever you wanted. The pavement didn’t decide where you walk, you did. It was extraordinary.
At 6:50 pm, as my friend as I decided to depart due to it getting dark, we found another bicycle in a bike rack that depicted one of my chosen colors. The sound of people chatting and walking filled my ears; this was a place to be.
I have decided that I now have a new favorite block, which is Sherman Avenue.
What is a map? How do Krygier & Wood define a map? How is a map related to the world it depicts? Why do we make maps?
To me a map would be a man-made plan that confirms the presence and location of a certain idea. May it be the places you’d see a dog in a neighborhood, or even the places where you see immense loads of litter on the ground. There is always a specific theme a cartographer makes his map around.
Krygier and Wood define a map in a similar way. They specifically defined it as, “maps are prepositions in graphic form.” Which means that they’re representations of certain subjects. They continue to further their definition by saying that the real world cannot be shown in a map, even if we try our hardest.
A map always has a specific theme, it is always meant to point out something within a particular area. Thus, a map shows you the reality of the world, or rather specific areas, in a different perspective. Usually it’s around a certain subject, considering you can’t map out everything that occurs within a region.
Cartographers make maps to create a generalized “reality” in the places that they go, so viewers can better understand a place; however, that actually diminishes our knowledge considering we actually need to experience it for ourselves.
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