Brainstorming the Final Project
Composition #1 Brainstorm:
The story that I want to tell with my essay is how my perception of walking has changed through the many walks I went on in Chicago. Growing up with overprotective parents, I was always told to walk with someone, aware of the dangers around me. Going on several walks alone throughout this course was a new experience, but I was not scared because my senses were engaged at all times. I was required to pay close attention to my surroundings and collect details from my walk. If anything, I was more aware than any other walks I had been on prior to this course. I wasn’t accustomed to walking alone in the city because I would always be with people when I did. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel as lonely as I thought I would because I learned things about the city I had looked past even though I’d been to those same places several times. Still gaining insight into Chicago, I felt like a tourist on my own land. It was an interesting feeling. This newfound interest in walking and noticing the city has changed my perspective on walking a great deal. The city is not as dangerous as my parents portrayed it to be, it’s a place full of life that I should not be scared to explore alone. Over time, I hope to become a more attentive person while walking and go on more walks alone because the experience has been almost surreal, bringing out sensations in me that I had never felt before.
Composition #2 Brainstorm:
I want the cartouche for my field guide to be a drawing of my back, my front facing towards the city of Chicago. I’ll draw buildings, throwing in some of the sights I saw on my walks throughout the course. The sky above the view will include the title and other necessary writing. For the map, I want to include the map of my walk around Magnificent Mile and Streeterville because that walk had the most influence on my newfound perception of walking. For the pages, I will include photographs of sights that stood out to me but I also want to draw them because art is a hobby of mine and I want to show my discoveries through it. Additionally, I want to make a sensory map of my walk apart from my actual map. I think a sensory map will allow me to creatively describe many of the sensations I experienced throughout all of the walks in this course, not just a singular walk.
Walking + Reading Journal:
How does division in a city negatively impact the city and the people within it? In Lori Lightfoot’s Chicago, Bridges Have Become Barricades, by Mick Dumke, Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordered the Chicago River bridges to be raised up at night, restricting access to the center of the city for many citizens. She ordered the raising of the bridges after an increase in property destruction, thinking it would offer protection to citizens and businesses, but only caused a division that negatively impacted the city. Rather than allowing the city to remain in unity, Lightfoot is protecting one part of the city from another, a division that doesn’t benefit the city’s residents. People use the Chicago bridges as a means of travel from one area in their own city to another. Therefore, there should be no limits on how much of one’s own city they are allowed to explore. On either end of the bridge is a resident of Chicago; they are not a part of one side, but the city as a whole.
