Stalking Strangers
After my Tuesday classes ended yesterday, I opened d2l to see what I needed to get done for today, and there it said: walking + reading 9.20. So, as one does, I picked the first person I saw and began my walk, starting near the Wingstop on Fullerton, heading East.
Quite quickly matters became a bit tricky as ‘my’ stranger entered the CTA terminal. Well, with an entire evening’s time on my hands, I decide to make my walk for this week whatever happens once we get off the train. My stranger took the Red Line South to Wilson, where I went about my walk anew. My stranger, sights seemingly focused on some destination, picked up the pace quite a bit as they went East towards the lake. Within the first block, we pass by a local skate shop surrounded by kids and adults alike, all united by common interest. By the time I walked down the next few blocks, a lot of those same people got to a skate park I was passing by. It felt nice to see such a community at work, all through mere coincidence that I decided to follow someone down the train. The buildings on Wilson reminded me a lot of Uptown, a lot of the buildings had intricate stonework on the corners and near windows. Then, once I got back home and looked up where I went, I realized we were literally in Uptown, so quite a keen observation from me if I say so myself.
Surprisingly, once we reached the shore, the location became a very familiar sight for me, Montrose Beach. Growing up, Montrose Beach was a common hangout for me as it was one of the best areas to play beach volleyball, a sport that I do not play competitively anymore, but still follow on a casual basis. Seeing this beach for the first time in probably three or even four years brought a flood of memories, but alas I kept following my stranger, who took a turn North along the shore. This part of the walk I found quite refreshing, although there was a slight drizzle, given the breeze and cooler temperature it felt very refreshing to walk up the beach here. I would almost argue it was calming, despite the hordes of seagulls and their close relatives of loud birds all around us. Mere minutes later, we arrived at my stranger’s destination, Foster Beach. Right on the edge of Foster Beach, my stranger joined a group of street musicians who were setting up their rather unique combination of instruments: one man with maracas, another with a saxophone, the third with a set of Home Depot bucket drums, and my stranger arriving with a speaker.
Since it was around 30–40 minutes of following my stranger, I decided to call it a day for my walk, but I did go up to this group to ask about what they play. My stranger it ends up, has quite a promising collection of lyrics and showed me his Soundcloud to take a look. His goal is to shift rap music into something further away from what he feels is currently drug and violence-centric. All his songs seemed to focus on enjoying life and making the most of the time we have here. I found it quite inspiring and asked why he was so dedicated to spreading this message through music, he said his older brother was also a musician, was heavily involved in drugs, and got killed as a result of a night out. I expressed my sorrow and told him it was awesome to see what he was doing. Soon after I started heading back to the station, satisfied with my day’s achievements.
I honestly forgot to take pictures of the day lol
