Orange and Yellow At My Every Step

Before walking outside I was observing my two colors, a burnt yellow and orange. I walked outside of my dorm and decided to turn right on Clifton Avenue. I wanted to walk through a neighborhood because I knew that some or more houses would have Halloween decorations that would most likely be orange or yellow. As I walked outside of Munroe I noticed a recently painted curb right by the intersection of Belden Avenue and Clifton Avenue. I could tell it was recently painted because the color on the curb was very pigmented, it had clean lines, and it wasn’t faded.

I stayed walking down on Clifton because there were many trees and I was sure I’d be able to find a leaf that resonated with my orange or yellow color. I walked past the Oscar Mayer School at about 3:50 pm. I could see a bunch of little kids playing basketball. I could hear their sneakers and gym shoes skidding against the concrete and hear their voices yelling out for the basketball. Sure enough I found a leaf that had some similar color to my orange paint chip and it was right in front of the school. This leaf wasn’t fully changed meaning it still had some green which I thought looked very interesting. It reminded me that the leaves don’t just automatically change colors in the fall, it takes time for the leaves to change. This particular leaf also had some purple reddish color to it which I’ve never seen before.

As I walked past the school I found myself walking into the neighborhood that was resigned by the school. I decided to stay walking down Clifton because there was also construction being done to one of the houses and I was sure I’d be able to find an object that was the shade of my paint chips. The house that was having construction done happened to be on the opposite side of where I was walking so I decided to cross the street to get closer to the construction. I was then able to find an orange construction horse. I was taking a picture of my paint chip with the construction horse at 3:54 pm and I could hear loud hammering in the background. When I finished taking the picture I tried to look over at the house to see what they were hammering but I didn’t see anyone so it must’ve been coming from the back side of the house.

While I was walking past the house with construction I noticed multiple cars parked behind one another on Clifton. I felt like I would be able to find a car that had the same colors as my paint chips. As I walked down the sidewalk I noticed a lot more people outside. Most people were on walks with their dogs or walking with their children. I was walking slowly with both paint chips in my eyesight holding them up to see if I could find anything that was a similar color and an older lady wearing a striped black and white shirt and leggings stare at me weirdly. I’m guessing she was looking at me because I was walking very slow and putting anything orange or yellow with my paint chips. She was probably wondering what I was doing and in this moment I started to become more self conscious and aware about how I looked while holding up these paint chips as I walked. At about 4:02 pm I was able to find a car that had orange tinted headlights that was the same shade as my orange paint chip. The car was a deep blue Subaru and was parked a little crooked.

I stayed walking down Clifton Avenue because it seemed to be the “jackpot” for objects that had similar colors to my paint chips. I had to start observing everything a little more because I was struggling to find an object that had the same yellow tone as my paint chip. I was still holding up the yellow paint chip as I walked down the sidewalk even though I felt a little goofy doing this after the older lady stared at me. As I walked I was putting this yellow to all yellow objects I found in my path. Eventually I found a fence that was dividing two houses that had this weird burnt yellow tone, just like my paint chip. It was a wooden fence but it had some sort of coat or finish that made the wood smooth and shiny. I never really liked wooden fences but this one was very pretty with this certain finish and after seeing this I think I’d consider a wooden fence with this exact finish when I get a house.

I only needed one more object for my yellow paint chip and for some reason I was having a hard time finding my last object in this neighborhood so I decided to turn onto Dickens Avenue. I wasn’t really seeing anything that was similar to my paint chip. So I went and turned on Magnolia Avenue because there was a neighborhood with many halloween decorations and there had to be something down this street with the same color. As I walked down Magnolia it was very quiet and I saw no one else. All I could hear was cars driving down the street and the leaves getting caught in the wind. The houses that resided on Magnolia were very rich and modern looking houses. A good amount of them looked very new, had that smooth matte finish, and very expensive looking halloween decorations. Many houses had big and tall blowup monsters like skeletons and witches. While I was observing the houses and their decorations at 4:13 pm I noticed fake red, orange, and yellow leaves with little light up pumpkins with little faces hanging on a tall black fence. Some of these leaves happen to have the same yellow tone as my paint chip.

Reading Question:

When I told my mom I decided I wanted to go to DePaul University she was very excited for me because she also went to DePaul. When she was talking to me about the Lincoln Park campus she didn’t make it a big point to me to “look out” for homeless people or weird strangers. Most of my classes were in the Loop campus so she gave me a long talk about me not walking around staring at my phone and instead being aware of my surroundings, ignoring and walking away from any homeless people or strangers, and making sure I’d always have my alarm and pepper spray on hand.This made me feel nervous and even a little bit scared of always going to the Loop campus. But now that I’ve been to the Loop campus multiple times during the week I don’t feel as “paranoid” as I did my first week of school. I feel like taking this “Walking in Chicago Discover Class” has made me feel more comfortable and confident about exploring public spaces in the city. I’ll still be aware of my surroundings and always stay safe but I’ve become more interested in exploring different parts of the city. (203)