Beautiful Views in Lincoln Park
Two experiences
-Bridge
In order to get to the lake, I had to cross a bridge that overlooked Lake Shore Drive and had an awesome view of the Chicago Skyline. It was an amazing experience to see Chicago in this way. While the view of the city at the top of the Hancock is amazing, it makes you feel disconnected from the city. However, the view from the bridge gave you a wide landscape view, but also made you feel like you were a part of the city. I’m enjoying finding different perspectives of the city as it helps me to better understand and feel immersed in my new home.
-Ledge
My second memorable experience from my walk was walking along the North Avenue beach. This gave me a different perspective of the city from my prior experience on the bridge. As I was walking along the ledge, I was able to see many buildings much closer.
Two objects
The two objects I collected were sand and a coffee that I stopped for along the way. Both show important parts of my walk, the coffee gave me energy to continue and the sand symbolizes my love for the beach. I’ve always loved the sand for its grainy, soft texture, and found myself drawn to it every time I go to a beach or lake.
Reading Journal
In Turnbull’s article, “Handheld Time Machines,” he often includes some variation on the sentence, “They disregard me.” What is the significance of this phrase? What is the meaning of “disregard” and “regard?” How does “disregarding” relate to Solnit’s descriptions of the solitary urban walker?
Although it is a relatively common word, I have never seen ‘disregard’ repeated so many times within one piece of writing. As a result, I decided to search for a definition, since reading and thinking about this word has made it lose some meaning. Vocabulary.com defines disregard as a ‘willful lack of care and attention.’ This definition and Turnbull’s article depict this idea of being disregarded as an intentional and personal attack done by the person who is performing the ‘disregarding.’ However, I feel that as an avid walker, I also disregard many things or people whom I see on my walk and feel normal about doing so. I don’t believe the woman running on the treadmill or the man with the spectacular beard meant to neglect or be rude to the narrator, instead they viewed him as a solitary walker -not to be bothered. The urban environments of Chicago and Bristol, England are fast paced, busy cities and the people within them are also leading busy lives. By writing down timestamps and detailed descriptions of our surroundings, we are able to get away from our fast moving lives, as Turnbull demonstrates (193).
