The Journey of Discovering My New Home
During the eight weeks I have lived in Chicago it has completely changed my life. The people, neighborhoods, and the atmosphere entirely shifted my complexion of the city. During immersion week I was able to notice the juxtaposition of the small habits I did back at home to being here. Although I am slowly discovering more of the city independently, I am also discovering who I am and who I want to become. Reflecting upon what makes Chicago, Chicago I have learned and am still learning so many things. As the days go by, I’m able to feel more comfortable despite the stereotypes of the city.
The culture between walking in the suburbs compared to the city is completely different. Walking for my enjoyment or to complete errands was foreign to me. Back at my hometown I always felt embarrassed to walk around. The only people you would see were elders and young families on the sidewalks of Rochester Hills, Michigan. I always thought it would be embarrassing if my friends saw me walking along the side of the road but moving to Chicago I have hopes to run into my friends. The difference in mindsets from two different locations just on how you move and get from point a to b is massive. In Rochester everything felt far. The store feels like it’s miles away from my home, even though it was just less than a mile away. Everything was spaced out and it was way more common to get around with a car. It was almost expected that you get around everywhere in a car, never walking. I’ve only walked to the grocery store once in my whole entire life of living in Michigan but living in Chicago for around 2 months I’ve walked to the grocery store more than ten times. I didn’t realize how much I would walk and how much I would rely on it more than any other transportation moving to Chicago. The structure of a city is designed to be able to get places easily by walking. The sidewalks of Chicago are surrounded by contemporary style skyscrapers. In the Solitary Stroller and The City by Solnit, she compares the rural to the city. Solnit articulates, “The history of both urban and rural walking is a history of freedom and of the definition of pleasure. But rural walking has found a moral imperative in the love of nature that has allowed it to defend and open up the countryside. Urban walking has always been a shadier business, easily turning into soliciting, cruising, promenading. shopping, rioting, protesting. skulking. loitering. and other activities that, however enjoyable, hardly have the high moral tone of nature appreciation.” (Solnit, 184). Solnit’s use of negative and impactful words when describing the urban areas was my perspective of Chicago before officially moving. I do still have the same perspective of the city but became more open-minded with viewing the city. I try to romanticize the city I call home now. As a woman though, I cannot be romanticizing the city 24/7. I must be on surveillance and trust my gut when I am walking anywhere. I have felt more comfortable with Chicago after immersion week, but my paranoia of my safety is still high. Solnit also mentions the sexualization of women in Solitary Stroller and The City. Solnit states, “Even the English language is rife with words and phrases that sexualize women’s walking. Among the terms for prostitutes are streetwalkers, women of the streets, women on the town, and public women.” (Solnit, 300). Solnit talks about the words women have been possessed with just by the sexualization women have. I’ve always been aware of my surroundings and even when I am with other people and my family, I have still been approached and catcalled walking around. No matter where I am I pay close attention to my surroundings to feel better about my safety.
Discovering the different neighborhoods of Chicago that I never knew existed really opened my eyes to the diversity and culture of the city. Walking through the murals and taking a glimpse of all the vendors outside, perked up my interest in the history of Pilsen. In the Encyclopedia of Chicago, it reveals that Pilsen was a community of Irish and Germans in the 1840s, but during World War I when labor shortages became more present two dozen immigrant groups settled in Pilsen. One of them being Mexicans, the neighborhood then became a predominantly Mexican community by the 1950s and 1960s. Since the ethnic shift, the culture of Pilsen also began to shift. Seeing the culture being powerfully expressed in Pilsen is something I’ve never seen in Michigan. I wonder why certain towns with higher rates of specific ethnicity groups in Michigan don’t openly express their culture. Being slightly out of downtown Chicago was a different atmosphere. You’re not surrounded by the busyness and modern sleek buildings. Seeing the murals that represent the community made me appreciate being able to explore it during immersion week. It showed me the actual community and beauty of the neighborhood. Being surrounded by different races and ethnicities also shows the continual act of racism. DePaul University being located north of Chicago I’m able to notice the difference in economic status and the underprivileged. Walking through Humboldt Park and Pilsen during immersion week I was able to notice that it wasn’t being manicured like the Loop. As I noticed the maintenance of the neighborhoods farther west of the city, I also noticed the gentrification that is growing in these areas. Reading the article Privilege, policing, and living while black in Chicago’s white north side, they state, “Due to the south side having a long history of redlining and housing discrimination, the city has become one of the most segregated places in the US — and thus the violence has been largely isolated.” Being exposed to see the difference changed my perspective of those neighborhoods that become so stereotyped. Observing the segregation between neighborhoods firsthand really shows that they are not largely funded by the government and don’t have access to medical centers and education centers. The helplessness of these neighborhoods brings out so many stereotypes and defines Chicago as a dangerous city.
One thing I really enjoy that I feel sets Chicago apart from other cities are the communicative spaces. The parks and public art of the city really brings Chicago together and increase the social capital. Even though Chicago’s walkability plays a role in social capital, it’s sometimes hard to create those connections and interactions since everyone seems to be in their own world. Having all the parks in each neighborhood brings the community together. Since walking to those parks from your house is a short journey, the walkability makes it more common to go to parks. Millennium Park serves both as a communicative space and public art. Gallagher Zagacki Martin describes Millennium Park in The Rhetoric of Communicative Spaces — Communication Matter as, “Millennium Park experienced by visitors is a collection of powerful, large-scale art located within a series of spacious, open plazas and surrounded on two sides by some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers and on a third side by the expanse of Lake Michigan” (Martin, 7). The location of Millennium Park gives you a glimpse of being surrounded by tall skyscrapers, but also the nature of the lake and plants. Millennium Park creates so much interaction and brings pride to many Chicagoans.
Here is a montage of one of the Chicago strolls I went on.
https://youtube.com/shorts/0J0JFMZmoxQ
Slideshow:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1e0R48j5ffN8gdcfCMMFkycILP-B7PG1299OXCOUV5QQ/edit?usp=sharing
Work Cited:
Gellman, Erik. Pilsen, 2004, http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2477.html.
