Walking is cool
How do social issues make themselves known to walkers?
Granted, a walker is more likely than not, not thinking about solving classism or whatnot, pedestrians still observe and learn from their surroundings more so than any other mode of transportation. After walking through Pilsen, I had a broad sense of the injustices the people of Pilsen face. After walking through Uptown, I had a broad sense of the issues those people face, etc.. Most of that community understanding came through murals. Whether it be Duarte's Gulliver in Wonderland, embodying the problems immigrants face, or even the Declaration of Immigration, more literally depicting the injustice people face at the border and once crossing it. Now, murals are obviously not just about issues we see and deal with, but they are a way for a community to come together about a problem they all face.
Seeing firsthand, and now reading about community issues, helps me and others to try and make a better effort to be part of our communities. After the riots and protests in the city after George Floyd’s death, my high school came together to put up a huge mural-like poster that takes up the greater part of one of its walls, they did it because that death was a problem for a large part of the school’s community. I walk by and drive by that poster every day, seeing it as a reminder that we can still be better; There are still a whole lot of problems out there. And that is how I like to think community murals, whether in Uptown or Pilsen or any part of the city, or other cities, serve the people that live there.
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I have a sort of broad layout of the essay so far. I’ve written a brief description of each paragraph and have a general outline and idea of how I want the writing to pan out. My next step is to actually start writing probably, maybe go on a couple more walks of the area just to get the vibe again y’know. I plan on using some photos of the Clark St walk I last wrote about, along with some other stuff I’ll take over the weekend probably.
I don’t really have any quotes from the readings yet because I haven’t really read much of the readings yet, but that’s also in the works to complete the essay. I will be using the Historypin thing a few times in my writing too.
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I have not yet started the field guide.
