The Art of Walking Chicago
What is a walk? One of the main themes of our course, it directed most of our assignments and invited us to rethink our previous notions of what we believed walking to be. For weeks before the start of class, I would sit and watch my class schedule, as if by looking away, it would all disappear when it suddenly occurred to me, after staring and staring, and staring, what did I sign up for? Walking Chicago? A class around something I had always seen as a means to an end… Walking between desired destinations, between the car and a grocery store, or up the driveway of a friend’s house. Although all mundane activities, I think I was able to change my perspective and find the romance and beauty in just walking.
9.12- The First Solitary Walk
Even while I write this essay, I still remember my recovery from Immersion Week. Spanning the duration of a typical marathon, I distinctly remember the feeling of aching soreness and dread as I came home while knowing I had to go on another walk. As I began to prepare my coursework for the other classes I was enrolled in, the idea of leaving my house, although dramatic, was seared into the back of my mind. It was the Tuesday before class I had finally decided to bestir myself off the floor and take my walk. But in contrast, the first thing I noticed was the air. It was crisp and light; although it may sound strange, I think if you closed your eyes, you could smell the sunshine. Along with the day, my walk continued. I began to pick up on some of the neighborhood traditions, with trash cans lining the street, and seasonal decorations beginning to appear on porches: comparisons of the week before started to come to mind. The space between buildings and other strollers began to decrease. I remember how I had to raise my head further in order to grasp the view of the sky. Solnit mentions this kind of phenomenon in her writing “The Solitary Stroller and the City”, as she makes the comparison between archipelagos and villages. She states that are like islands in the way that cities are like continents. From week to week, I watched this comparison ring true. For every ten travelers I saw in Chicago, I saw a car parked in a driveway at home. For the yards of distance between each home, I saw every day, I saw mere inches between the cars parked on campus. I was reminded of how the buildings became neighboring giants and how the streets became increasingly busy, and it seemed as though when the physical space began to close, the possibilities became endless.
9.19- A (Random) Walk
I have to admit, I thought this week’s prompt was a bit strange. The premise? Download an app onto your phone. Set an intention with said app and allow it to generate a location meant to fulfill that intention. Go walk. Document your experience. Even for someone with tarot cards permanently etched onto me, I could not help but hold a small amount of suspicion. It might be helpful to have my intention in mind to understand my perspective of my journey, as simple as it could be, my intention was to find something to write about or something colorful to document. After processing my request with the universe, the app selected my destination to be a church school nearby. Nevertheless, I set out and something strange did begin to happen. It was like I had forgotten I was fulfilling an assignment as colors with all sorts of vibrancies made their way into my view. Plum-colored trees, yellow flowers and I found myself actively searching for things to document, to see if my wishes had come true. At some point in the course, we were reminded that when you visit a place, there are many unknown “spirits” inhabiting your destination. It was the notion that all places people are drawn to are “haunted”. This concept became visually clear to me as I regarded the animal footprints embedded in the sidewalk, the ‘for-sale’ signs displayed across the street and the leftover toys spread out in the yards next door. Sometimes I think about how if I had not taken a walk that day, would I have been there to regard all these ordinary phenomena throughout my neighborhood? I will admit I did not see anything life-changing that day but I think that I found fascination in the daily occurrences of the lives existing around me. So, despite my suspicions about the app, I think that my intention was fulfilled and some part of me must have believed in it in order for it to work the way it did.
10.04- Wandering in Logan Square
For this week’s walk, I had recruited a friend to accompany me on my journey to Logan Square. Instead of dreading the trip out of my house, I found myself researching places to visit and walk to while in Logan Square. Opening ‘Maps’ countless times and opening the websites following the locations. Once we arrived, compared to the weeks following this walk, I found myself excited and anticipating the possibilities ahead. Instead of putting my intention into an app, it was as if the universe had heard my intent to find a journey, and there it was. While I realize that my putting my intent out into the universe may not have directly caused a farmers’ market and vintage sale to appear in Logan Square, but I could not have helped but think about my existence there that day: to be there at that place at that exact time under the guise of fulfilling an intention to write could not have been coincidental. Inspired by Turnbull’s work with his field notes, I wanted to “immerse myself in the detail of the city” and I think I fulfilled exactly that. I took about a hundred photos as we passed a number of bustling cafes and bars, listened to the ringing of doorbells as visitors made their way into shops, and watched the sun go down as we adventured out. As Leo Hollis wrote in his heading caption in “Cities belong to us”, it reads “Reclaiming the streets through civic participation does more than change the city: it creates citizens” and I found that this exactly applies to Logan Square. Unknown to me previously, Logan Square has a reputation for being dangerous and unsafe at times, but through the participation of citizens in their larger public events, this can help the people of Logan Square feel like they belong. When people feel as though they belong, it becomes clear how a space could improve, through the action of citizens. Although my friend and I only existed temporarily within Logan Square that day, our attendance in the community that day allowed us to participate in the development of that community.
Conclusion
As the need for my walks for the course came to an end, I arrived back at the same question. What is a walk? While looking for the answer to this question, I searched the weeks prior for evidence of a looming question. Can I still say that walking is just a means to an end? Can I still say that walking is just traversing between two destinations? In an article we read in the weeks prior to this, we concluded that walking is a way of being in common with others; that it is a way to exist with others. Walking is a way to lead you to an experience you can share with those around you, whether it is to wander to the same restaurant or bookstore; or to witness the same strange exchange between others across the street. The best part about all this?I was reminded of all the times I had taken walks around the city with friends, how I would wander around parks with my family, and then I found myself in a melancholy state; one where I would miss having an excuse to make walking a small adventure. Even in my commutes to the city or my returns from other places, I find myself searching for things to notice or to regard. Looking for things to document on my social media or stories to tell my friends and family. My final conclusion: walking is a way to practice the art of observing.
(1415).
Bloom, Mina. “At Least 19 Armed Robberies Hit Logan Square Area in 2 Days, Police Say.” Block Club Chicago, 8 Aug. 2023, blockclubchicago.org/2023/08/08/at-least-19-armed-robberies-hit-logan-square-area-in-2-days-police-say/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2023.
Hollis, Leo. “Cities Belong to Us.” Edited by Marina Benjamin, Aeon, 18 June 2013, aeon.co/essays/cities-thrive-when-public-space-is-open-to-all.
Solnit, Rebecca. Wanderlust: A History of Walking. Granta, 2000.
Turnbull, Giles. “Handheld Time Machines.” The Morning News, 13 Oct. 2011, themorningnews.org/article/handheld-time-machines. Accessed 25 Oct. 2023.
