My Walk Listening to Jennie Savage…
Visual
I saw
-many new parts of Lincoln Park
-kids playing a the park
-tall, beautiful houses
-big, green trees
-pedestrians
-Student Center
-The Quad
-businesses
-dogs
-babies
Auditory
I heard
-quiet residential blocks
-loud noises from the video
-laughing kids
-cars
-music
Visuals mixing with Sounds
Since I was listening to the video as I was walking on a quiet street, yet hearing loud noises, I often found myself startled and confused. I am already a jumpy person, so hearing sounds that did not match with my surroundings produced a bit of sensory overload. This also felt a bit overwhelming since I was already in a new place by myself, hearing noises that did not exist in my environment. However, after a while of flinching, I found humor in the fact that the loud noises from the video startled me countless times.
Getting Lost
It took about 10 minutes to become officially lost. My initial reaction was to panic, but I tried my best to embrace the walk and trust the process. However, the loud noises produced from the video added another layer of difficulty.
Roughly 15 minutes in, I was very tempted to turn around and hopefully head in the direction near home. Yet, I continued on my walk.
Luckily, after about 25 minutes, my surroundings became more familiar. I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and finished my walk by weaving through the DePaul campus.
The Art of Noticing
One benefit of being told where to go is that you don’t have to focus on route decisions and can spend more time focusing on your surroundings. This allowed me to notice small details like messages written on walls, or other pedestrians. Without the idea of a ‘final destination,’ I could solely focus on the journey itself and find joy in it. I noticed nature, especially the trees, and intriguing architecture.
This picture depicts school kids playing after school. This stuck out to me because in the future I hope to become an elementary teacher. In addition, it reminded me of the question I was instructed to ask the city during Immersion week: will I become a good teacher? During that day, I looked all over for signs until we finally walked past a school with many happy kids playing at recess. I hoped this was the city’s way of answering my question. Therefore, every time I see any group of kids playing in the city, I smile and remember that day during Immersion Week.
This building/ house caught my eye due to the beautiful architecture. I love the rounded windows, the balcony detail, and the contrasting colors of the building. In addition, I enjoyed the bright green tree on the right.
I took this picture after finally making it back to campus. After the portion of the walk where I was truly lost, I was nice to see something familiar that reminded me of home.
Reading Journal
In “Paris, or Botanzing the Asphalt,” Rebecca Solnit shares how writer Walter Benjamin distinguishes the differences between finding your way within a city and becoming lost within it (p. 255). Benjamin briefly mentions finding your way and how “it requires ignorance-nothing more” but then continues to explore what it means to become lost (p. 255). As compares being lost in the city to being lost in a forest, he forces the reader to consider how these two places with clear visible differences can be similar. When thinking about a city, one pictures tall buildings, large crowds, and each block looking different from the next. However, when considering a forest, large trees, dirt pathways, and streams come to mind. Despite these two environments having visual differences, they both invoke similar emotions when one is lost within them. In the past, when I’ve allowed myself to become lost within a walk, I started to feel some type of inner-peace, similar to how one feels when walking in a forest. I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders as I embraced unknown streets. I believe that Benjamin wasn’t referring to becoming lost in a frightening way, instead in a way that allows the walker to become swept up by the walk and give their walk the attention it deserves. (207)
