Working on Discovering Chicago

Reading Response:

I wonder why more murals aren’t commissioned by the city or towns. Similar to how parks and public spaces are built and maintained for the community to use and enjoy, I feel like most of the time, murals foster feelings of community and give a generally positivity aura to an area. I understand that most things in this world revolve around capitalism, but it feels like commissioning murals from and for communities in cities all over the world would benefit the public. If we are willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money on refurbishing historic buildings that may never even reopen, then why can’t an indescribably small portion of that go back to the community? Commissioning murals would not only leave a positive impact on public spaces, but it would also bring money back to communities that are fighting gentrification. Which in turn would help sustain the fight to end capitalistic takeover. (152)

Essay:

What steps have you completed for your walking Chicago essay?

I have been collecting pictures of places that I travel through often in the Loop and Lincoln Park. I’ve also written out all of the pictures that I still need to collect and have already gone on one walk to get some of them. I’ve found one quote to use in my essay and want to get the others before I start working on my essay so I can make a good outline. I’ve also decided that I’m going to talk about murals using a map of murals from the Sun Times for my Chicago resource because that part of immersion week really caught my attention and I think that I can incorporate it into the essay well. All in all, things are going well, just procrastinating to start work on the essay itself.

What are your next steps? What steps do you need to take to complete your essay?

I need to collect another two quotations. I also need to decide where and how those quotes are going to be used in the essay. Finally, I need to just write it out instead of continuing to buff out my outline.

What photographs will you include in your essay? Do you need to take more photographs while walking to best illustrate your essay? Where do you need to walk to take these photographs?

So far, I’m going to be using these pictures for these purposes:

Left Picture: This is a picture of the Pink Line at Western Ave. This location has a lot of significance to me because I get off the Metra from Aurora here and use the Pink Line to minimize the amount of walking I have to do when carrying heavy things. At first, the task was exhausting and felt like a ton of work because it was stressful, but as I did it more and more, I slowed down and started to enjoy being observant during these times when I was just waiting. ‎‎‎‎‎‎ Right Picture: This is a picture of Union Station at Jackson St. This location has significance to me because this is where the train starts and stops the rest of the time when I don’t get off at Western Ave and take the Pink Line. I can incorporate these because not only do they have a lot of personal value, but they also played a big role in me getting over my initial anxiety about traversing the city.

Left Picture: This is a picture that I took of one of the murals in Pilsen during Immersion Week. In my essay, I’m going to talk about the Pilsen murals and their fight against gentrification. Middle Picture: This is a picture that I took while walking through Lincoln Park. The houses here are very nice and have a lot of beautiful decorations like this rusty metal cow. I want to talk about how I feel guilty finding so much pleasure in the decoration of these areas despite knowing that this land doesn’t really belong to these people who have made it their own. Right Picture: This is a picture I took while standing over the northern part of the Chicago River. This is really close to Lincoln Park if not on the border of it. There’s a massive empty lot here with a little shack tucked away. I want to use this to talk about the little mysteries you can uncover just by observantly walking as well as ponder why these abandoned plots of land have not been used to help those in need.

Right now I don’t think I need to take any more pictures, but if I’m struggling to incorporate them with my essay I could always take more.

Which readings seem most relevant to your essay? Why? Include at least one quotation that you plan to use in your essay in your Medium post: Provide context for the quotation, and explain the significance of the quotation: What is the meaning of this quotation? How does this meaning support or connect to the question, theme, or proposition of your essay?

I believe that Rooney’s reading is the most relevant to my essay. My essay is going to start by talking about my anxiety and how it caused me to have a rocky transition into the city. But by the end of these couple of months, I am much more confident and aware of the misleading information about the city. “The city is dangerous and cannot be trusted is something you are told all the time because somebody benefits by having you think that” (Rooney). I fully agree with this statement because although I wasn’t necessarily scared of people in the city, I have heard a lot of bad things that haven’t been true. Additionally, I feel like there is a group of people who benefit from telling you that the city is dangerous. For example, I believe that news broadcasts focus on crime because fear sells. I also think that they can get away with targeting the city because it is a jungle of diversity that most people haven’t actually experienced and humans inherently hear the unknown. I think I can nicely incorporate this quote with my experience of being told worrying things about the city and seeing for myself that they aren’t true.

Which Chicago resource will you use to strengthen your research? Why?

I’m going to be using this interactive map of Chicago’s murals (link) to strengthen my research. I believe that murals can have a significant impact on communities and want to speak on supporting their creation and protection. I’m unsure of how exactly I will use the map, but I could look at the concentration of murals in certain areas as opposed to others.

Field Guide:

What steps have you completed for your field guide?

I’ve inked out the cover page of my field guide. I’ve also written out the content of each page on Google Docs so I can copy it to the pages. I’ve created a list and started to collect pictures of frequent locations for the flipbook.

What are your next steps? What steps do you need to take to complete your field guide?

My next step for the field guide would be to color the front cover. I also have to copy the content I’ve written onto the pages and I have to print the pictures to accompany them. I still need a few pictures so I need to take those before printing them and putting them in the flip book. Finally, I have to draw a map of my frequented areas between the Loop and Lincoln Park.

Where do you need to walk to complete your field guide?

I need to walk to the Planetarium and North Pond Nature Sanctuary to take pictures.

What is the proposition or story of your field guide? How are you inviting readers to experience your Chicago?

There are a lot of places to learn and familiarize yourself with when attending DePaul. A lot of them are specific places that I travel to a lot whether it be out of necessity or desire. Some of the places are ones such as Union Statoin which takes me to and from my home in Aurora almost every weekend. Other places are like the steps to the water outside the planetarium where I’ll go to relax and breathe. I feel like it could be extremely helpful to anyone else with an anxiety disorder or anyone who is struggling with the transition for that matter.

Draft: