Downtown and Domestic: Building a Home

Reading Response #2

We know that psychologically, walkers need a new interesting thing every 3 seconds to stay engaged with the space they are passing through but focal points add a more powerful facet to this theory. Jacob’s states that if a focal point is special enough it’s “magic” will spillover into the whole district. She continues on and says that all great urban centers contain a magic that doesn’t grow old. This can be applied to great cities around the world, Paris, New York, Rome etc. there is one magical thing that keeps the people coming back. This focal point theory makes sense within the context of our discussion in class. In class last week we watched a very angry architect give his call to action about the death of America via its drab suburban landscapes. He attests that when a space is boring than people reasonably won’t care about it, this becomes a first step to the decline of the district and as the architect argued, a decline in “American culture.”

Exploration #3

It’s easy to fall into a routine. Go to class, get lunch at the student center, go to my dorm, nap, do homework. I feel so guilty going to the same 3 places when I’m free to do whatever I want in a city where the options are so limitless. But there’s comfort in routine, especially when you find yourself so far from the place you’ve called home for 18 years. My favorite street in Chicago so far is the one I’ve made the most memories on and the one that feels the most familiar. On W. Webster I went to dinner with my parents on drop off day, went to an aerial silks class and nearly fell on my face, made my roommate cry laughing when I almost fell on my face, got many a lunch with good friends and went apartment hunting the other day. The sidewalks are walkabley wide and always populated with cute dogs or moms pushing strollers. It’s familiar in that I know it pretty well, the shops that inhabit the street and the curves and where to stop for crosswalks but it’s familiar in that it also reminds me of home. Being from the suburbs I sometimes miss the domestic aspect that being surrounded by homes gives you. I came to Chicago for the busy feeling it emotes and is characterized by, but Lincoln Park and W. Webster gives a much needed relief. Lincoln Park and W. Webster are my favorites because it’s what I consider home now, even though dorm halls and college dining halls oozes temporary, it’s what I look forward to after a long day.

What I See:

A little girl sticks her nose up against the window of Sweet Mandy B’s

The sidewalk of a bar is overflowing with people, it’s National Taco Day, tacos go well with tequilla

A family of bunnies hop across the sidewalk in front of me

A woman with a blonde ponytail is decorating their front gate with Halloween decorations, the little boy inside the gate is fascinated by the fake cobwebs

There aren’t a lot of public spaces but no specific hinderences to passers by, its a sidewalk built for getting somewhere

Metal tables and chairs spill out into the sidewalk and a couple is having lunch on one of them, celebrating their last chance to do so

What I Hear:

A flock of birds chirping softly like in a Disney movie, because this day couldn’t get any more picturesque

“If I see a clown I’d fight them, Mason has been showing me karate”

“Sweetie you’re not gonna fight any clowns”

A dog barks at me and wags its tail when I walk by, I am flattered

What I Feel:

Its one of the last warm days of summer, you can feel it on your skin, the mixture of brisk breeze and sun warming your skin, everything is in equilibrium