Walking Journal

• Cars driving around
• Homeless man sitting on the sidewalk
• Business man on the phone waiting for the train
• DePaul Student reading a book
• Construction cones blocking the sidewalk
• Raindrops falling from buildings
• Man wearing blue ripped jeans with headphones in

Experience Collection:

1. Friday, September 7 I took the the train to go meet my mom for lunch at her work. I walked towards the fullerton station at around 11:00. At the time it was cloudy, gloomy, and still wet from the night befores rain shower. I had my headphones in and everything around me felt a shade darker. There was no real distinct smell overpowering the fresh air. As I approached the station I reached into my wallet and grabbed my plastic ventra card. The ding from getting my card approved was familiar. Then I got on the red line train.
2. Friday, September 7 I took the red line all the way down to Howard. Then I got on the purple line at around 11:40 to meet my mom at the Davis stop so we could figure out where we could for lunch. On the purple line I saw a huge difference in scenery. There was much more green whenever I looked outside. A gust of wind hit me as soon as I walked outside of the Davis Station. Waiting for my mom I saw myself on the reflection of the CTA bus window with a few raindrops falling down it like tears.

Object Collection:

Friday, September 7 After I met up with my mom at the Davis Station we decided to go to a restaurant close by. We got to the Farmhouse restaurant at around 12:00. Farmhouse is a farm to table restaurant serving very fresh and healthy food. I ordered their cheese curds as an appetizer. It was golden brown and very greasy. It had two sauces that came with it. A very light horseradish and some sort of tomato sauce. It was the best cheese curds I have ever had.

Friday, September 7 After lunch my mom wanted to drop off some stuff that I had left at home accidentally. We walked over to the car and she gave me a brown bag with my Whey Protein powder. The brown bag was very light and the Whey Protein bag was black, silver, red, and gold colored.

Question: In “The Solitary Stroller and the City,” Solnit writes, “Cities are forever spawning lists” (p. 202). Why do walking, lists, and cities seem to go together?

Walking, lists, and cities all go together perfectly because each one fuels the other. When you walk you see a countless number of things. From expensive cars driving on the streets to garbage piled up on the sidewalk. In the city new things seem to pop up everyday. The city is always in constant motion which forces you to be in constant movement. The city is always giving you a never ending list of fresh things to see and do. There is so much chemistry in these three things making it very easy to get lost in the moment. Walking in the city is very calming and meditative while creating lists about the things you discover will help you remember what happened during the walk. In are Discover class we walk then make lists about the things we saw, touched, heard, and smelled all throughout different parts of the city. Not only to help us remember what we did, but also to keep are mind actively thinking about that day.