Walking Up
11:45 am — My girlfriend, Sydni, and I leave the University Center wondering where we should walk. Sydni’s staying with me in the city for the weekend, so I asked her what she wanted to see on her first trip to the big city. She says that she wants to go to the beach and see the lake. The lake is only a short walk from the University Center where I stay, and given that this walk is supposed to be a 3-mile hike, I suggest we start walking north and slowly drift east towards the water. She clears the plan and we go on our way, heading north on State Street.
11:51 am — We start our trip both a little groggy, her needing a fresh coffee, and me needing a quick breakfast. I suggest the Dunkin Doughnuts I’ve noticed on my way to my loop classes every day. Dunkin being my girlfriend’s coffee of choice — I guess I shouldn’t have even asked. I felt like walking into the store was like walking through a portal because we go from the extremely noisy street to a nearly empty and extremely quiet, almost safe feeling space. I note that this place would make an amazing study location because it’s right next to my residence and it’s surprisingly calm and isolated from the many distractions outside. Bringing me back to Earth, the Dunkin employee asks us for our order and ends up giving us a free doughnut. I’m a little taken aback, it was still early in the day and I assume they still have a lot of customers, so this small act really started our day off in the right direction. We thank the lady for her generosity, collect Sydni’s coffee, and continue heading north on State. I feel like it’s a little rare to see that kind of generosity in the city, but maybe I just haven’t been here long enough to see it.
11:59 am — Right after scarfing down my doughnut, I point out a poster that I’ve noticed over the past couple of days. I think it’s hilarious that someone has the passion and commitment to take the time to take up these posters around the area. It’s almost like some kind of public service announcement warning you about this dangerous man. But I find the funniest part to be imagining the person who’s running around in the night, putting these signs up in hopes that they will catch someone’s eye and tarnish this stranger’s reputation. I don’t know whether he did or did not do what this sign claims he did but either way I think this is so bizarre that it’s comical. In a text by Kathleen Rooney, she states that “the city is not your enemy. The city is nobody’s enemy. It is something that rewards respect and grace and careful attention” (Rooney). At first, I thought of this poster as an attack on this stranger’s image and reputation, and I could easily blame the city for not doing something such as taking down the poster. But as I think about this poster as well as Rooney’s quote, I can see that this is merely information being presented from one individual to another and it just so happens that it’s facilitated by this lamppost which is an extension of the city. I agree that the city is nobody’s enemy, instead, it’s just a tool that we live in and can leave our imprint on. And once people leave their imprint, it’s up to the careful attention of an observer to notice the history and legacy of such imprint.
12:18 pm — We’ve walked up State to the Chicago Theater where Sydni rummages in my backpack to get water as I take a picture of the massive “Chicago” sign hanging off the building. I notice a lot of people taking pictures of their friends standing in front of the sign almost as if just standing here is some accomplishment. It’s definitely a big and flashy sign, though there are similar signs in downtown Aurora, where I grew up, and all around the city. It reminds me of Solnit’s, “Paris or Botanizing on the Asphalt,” where they talk about how “everything-houses, churches, bridges, walls-is the same sandy gray so that the city seems like a single construction of inconceivable complexity, a sort of coral reef of high culture” (Solnit 254). Although the sign is massive, colorful, and attracted my attention, it did not do so until I was merely a block away. There are so many things in the city that want to catch your attention that this big sign almost feels at home in the city. From the concert going on to my right, to the construction on my left, there are just so many exciting things to notice, that this big sign just blends in with the rest of it. Solnit talks about a coral reef of high culture and inconceivable complexity, and that is exactly what I see when I walk through this portion of Chicago. The buildings are all so unique that none of them stand out because they mesh into this reef of diverse design choices, materials, and history.
12:24 pm — We’ve walked to the Chicago River now. I figure this is where we should start to shimmy our way east toward the lake so that Sydni can see the lake water up close. We turn right and take East Wacker Drive, but not before noticing the massive Trump Tower in front of us. I think that this is one of the best-looking skyscrapers I’ve seen so far in the city. The beveled edges make it look smooth and satisfying compared to the other harsh rectangular buildings. After marveling at the shiny building for a moment, we continued our journey north over the DuSable Bridge on Michigan Avenue. The water in the Chicago River is a harshly dark blue, almost looking like a deep trench. Despite this, I see people kayaking upstream. It looks like something that I should look into.
12:45 pm — After walking on Michigan Avenue for a while, we walk by a castle-looking structure. I’ve seen this structure before, and it’s clear that it’s important to Chicago’s history given the massive area dedicated to it, but I’ve never known what it was. I researched the structure after my walk and found out that it was not a castle, but instead an extremely old water tower built in 1869. After digging a little deeper, I found that this water tower was one of the few structures to survive the Chicago fire of 1871. Furthermore, It wasn’t purely aesthetic, it was initially used to pump water nearly two miles from Lake Michigan to this location so that people would not drink the dirty water coming from the Chicago River (Britannica).
1:00 pm — We’ve reached water. After continuing north on Michigan Avenue, we crossed underneath Lakeshore Drive, through a spider-infested tunnel, and wound up on Oak Street Beach. This beach is extremely crowded and we don’t feel like filling our shoes with sand, so we decided to continue walking north towards a pier which turned out to be North Avenue Beach. However, before reaching that point, we noticed water splashing up and creating periodic waves of water that could make a cool gif. Sydni’s socks got a little wet but we think it was worth it for the shot.
1:22 pm — After reaching the tip of the pier, we settled down to relax after our long walk. I filmed a sweeping shot capturing the silhouette of the skyscrapers as the sun started to drift towards them, casting massive shadows down on the coastlines. It’s a little mind-boggling just how much is crammed into the city and how we had just walked through so much of it in the short time that we had. I can’t even envision how far away and small the University Center would look if I could see it from here.
1:26 pm — Sydni decides to jump in the shallow water and hunt for shells and her splashing of water inspired me to record a sound snippet of the waves washing up against the concrete beneath me. The water in this little area was very calm and protected from the thrashing waves outside of the barrier that I sat on. The little waves that do make their way to us are likely from the jet skis jumping around in the distance. I ask Sydni to be still while I record the silent sound of the waves to use in my post. I also have to wait for people to stop walking by because of the noise their shoes make on the pavement. I look up and accidentally make eye contact with a runner and look away quickly. I’ve always struggled with eye contact because it makes me feel uncomfortable even with people I’m very familiar with. This reminds me of Turnbull’s walking story where they “accidentally make eye contact with a good-looking girl as she walks by. She pushes her red hair behind one ear and looks away. In all other respects, she disregards me. She was probably disregarding me anyways” (Turnbull). I like to remember this because I need to remember that these speech-less interactions are only momentary and just as I do, they probably disregard the interaction anyways.
1:30 pm — Before wrapping up the walk and heading home, I snapped this picture to remind myself of just how far we had walked and by extension, just how much we had seen, experienced, and discovered. This walk made me feel great. I got to spend a relaxing day with my girlfriend and explore a part of the city that I was unfamiliar with. Though we did have some Chick-fil-A on the way home that made us both sick. (1648 Words)
