Week 6
As soon I begin my walk, all other noises become masked beneath the raging winds and the rustling of drying leaves on the autumn trees. Starting my walk, I decided to head towards a trail that is closer to the lake. There weren’t many people out today, which is unsurprising since the days only seem to be getting colder. The only people that seemed to be out were the ones who were obligated to walk their dogs. As I walked towards my desired path, surprisingly I walked by a happy couple swinging arms and chatting away about their days. Getting closer to the trees and the lake, I notice the crunching of leaves under my feet becoming more prominent. Upon my arrival onto my path, I hear a dog bark in the distance, and the crunching of leaves beneath me turned into to the shifting of pebble and rock. Walking along, I felt the wind wisp around me much more aggressively than before. Finding a rock that seems fit for a king, I sit down and begin observing. I pull out my pen and my post it notes and I immediately begin doodling the woman jogging across the lake. Along with the soft murmurs of the water, I hear my pen scraping ink onto the post-it. After doodling the woman, I waited around for a while to see if anyone else will catch my attention. After coming to the conclusion that no else wants to come by the water when it’s already cold out, I decided to walk to another place to sit and observe. I walked to a bench that was a 5-minute walk away from my original observation point. This time, the bench was by an old building. I saw two people near the building having a photoshoot. I was close enough to hear their voices, though I couldn’t make out the words they were saying. I decided to doodle them next. After completing my masterpiece, it was time to walk back to my car. Walking back, all I heard was distant barking muffled by the harsh winds and clashing leaves.
Henri Lefebvre wrote, “there are no neutral places in the city; that the different threads of power find their way into every crack of the metropolis, constructing a cartography of exclusions and barriers.” Dumke’s article discusses this by showing how the wealth inequality and segregation that exists in Chicago is gaslighted by the actions of those in power, specifically Lori Lightfoot, that causes the divide to become even greater. Posner talks about how Chicago parks, a public space which anyone is free to enter and use, have become unsafe due to an increase in racial violence and in turn, an increase in policing. Stafford’s article touches on this subject by investigating the concept of how the social gaps in Chicago has created divide in the use of public spaces, saying that people often address the violence they see on the news as something happens over there (on the south side) and not over here (on the north side) despite both areas being a part of the same city.
