How Many Times Can I Type “Juxtaposition” In One Paragraph?

Georgia Reese

September 26, 2022

My first thought when planning my walk for this week was, “where can I take my walk that will be entertaining and somewhere I have never been before.” Despite just moving to Chicago, all of the walks that I have done for this class so far have been in places I have been before such as Lincoln Park and Boystown/Lakeview. So in order to figure out somewhere new, I asked one of my friends who grew up in Chicago where I should go for this walk. My friend recommended Lincoln Square, she said there was a lot to see and described it as a “German-esque” area. I have never been there before and it seemed interesting so on Sunday the 25th I got on the brown line and made my way to Lincoln Square.

My favorite part of this entire walk, ironically, was the train ride to Lincoln Square. I have rarely ever been on the L by myself and this long train ride was very new and peaceful to me. I listened to Steve Lacy and stared at some writing etched into the side of the train. It took me almost the entire train ride to realize it said “China,” in all capitals.

5:43pm

Once I was off of the L, my walk began. The weather was somewhat chilly, but I have made it a goal of mine not to complain about the cold right now, as I have been told many times that it will get way worse in this “Windy City.” I got there in the late afternoon, so the sun was almost about to start setting and the sky was nice and golden.

5:52pm

As I was making my way to Lincoln Square, I passed by a McDonald’s with some beautiful public art right out front. The artwork looked so pretty with the trees and the setting sun casting a beautiful light through the leaves onto the art. But as I was walking, I could not help but overhear two men having a very loud conversation while eating their McDonald's. One man screamed something along the lines of, “I am not gay! I swear!” And the other man replied, “Well I sure hope not.” The small bit of the conversation that I heard was mildly entertaining and took me back to some conversations I had freshman year of high school.

6:04pm

The more I walked, the more unique, small shops I began to see. Unfortunately, because of my ill timing, almost every shop that I was drawn to was closing up for the day just as I arrived. It did lead to some interesting stares from the employees as I took pictures of the shops while they were cleaning and doing their closing tasks for the day. My favorite shops that I saw, but could not explore were a crystal shop, a flower shop, and a macaroon bar. I am excited to revisit them next weekend when my friends and I come to Lincoln Square for Apple Fest.

6:15pm

As I was walking, I began to worry that I had made a wrong turn somewhere and gotten lost once again. The Lincoln Square that I was in did not look like the pictures on Google. But as I kept going, I saw a very big art mural that said Lincoln Square, and my worries were eased. The mural depicted a woman singing into an old fashioned microphone next to a few buildings. It was very colorful and definitely caught my eye. After some research I found out it is by the artist Jason Watts and according to his website jwattsart.com, the mural symbolizes a new chapter for Lincoln Square and a new chapter in Watts’ artistic journey.

6:23pm

During my walk I found myself feeling very bored. I was reminded of the discussion that we had earlier this quarter about boredom on streets that do not have a constant stream of something new to look at. I picked one street to continually walk down and on this street there were not a lot of shops to see, unlike a place like Wicker Park, where there is a new shop every two seconds. The main ambiance was the sound of cars and there were not a lot of people.

6:34pm

My video is of me walking on an unfinished sidewalk with my 70$ Ugg boots. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the unfinished messiness of the sidewalk, and the obscenely expensive, but nice boots coming together to make a minute long recap of my walk. I chose to capture this moment of my walk because I have a fond love for the juxtapositions in life. Juxtaposition has been my favorite word since I had it on a spelling test in the fourth grade, and I am constantly trying to find the juxtapositions all around me.

6:40pm

At this moment, I crossed the street and started to head back to the L. The sun was setting and I did not want to be by myself in an unknown place at night, again. This feeling reminded me of the Sylvia Plath quote in the Solnit reading: “Being born a woman is my awful tragedy.” The feeling of being afraid to be alone while walking solely because I am a young woman, and young women are extremely targeted. All I had on me was a tiny knife for protection and even though it does ease my worries, I know deep down that a small knife would not be enough if I was truly attacked.

6:42pm

On my way back, I saw a taco place that I swear I could smell from across the street. It smelled so good and it was open and ready for me to spend all of my money on tacos. But I need to learn self control and although it looked so good and I was so hungry, I am also so broke. So I kept walking with zero tacos and a plan to just get McDonalds instead to satisfy my hunger.

6:49pm

One of my favorite sightings from my walk was a quote etched into the ground that I saw on my way back. It stated, “Zoe + Art = ❤.” I thought it was really cute and it made me wonder if Art was a person or just a hobby. Either way, I enjoyed the passion and the fact that the small quote scratched into the concrete could count as art too depending on who appreciates it. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of the quote because I had walked past it too fast and did not want to randomly turn around because I felt it would make me look suspicious. The quote from the Cadogan article sums up the feeling, “I would forget something at home but not immediately turn around if someone was behind me, because I discovered that a sudden backtrack could cause alarm.” I wish I had taken a photo, but as a black person, I honestly am constantly aware of the things that I do in public and how some people look at me and my black friends or family when we act what they deem as “suspicious.”

6:52pm

By this time I had bought my McDonald’s and made it back to the L. It was a lot more chilly and the sun was almost setting. Reflecting on my walk and the discoveries I made, I felt myself intrigued to compare this visit to Lincoln Square with my next visit to Lincoln Square with my friends next weekend.