My Earreplaceable Map: Chicago
Living in Chicago, people are surrounded by buildings high and low, spending a lifetime discovering the new places the city has has to offer. In the photo of the John Hancock, the city’s limits seem endless against the horizon. The city’s format of streets from a view so high above from the ground, the perspective beholds a maze. The maze of the windy city allows a person to choose what ever path they wish, and so many places to discover with every turn. Along with the places are the people, with Chicago being the third largest city in the United States, with the city brings the amount of sounds.
Growing up with hearing the public transportation, the traffic, the ambulances, and more. The people who are from the city learn to block out the noises from the streets quickly. When babysitting kids younger than four I notice that most are unaware what action goes with what sound, one most common example is thunder and because of the child’s lack of knowledge he or she are more curious about their surroundings. The older kids that I babysit ignore or never bring up what it is that they hear or jump to conclusions. Whenever I leave the city, I forget really how loud the city really is and with focus on your surroundings you can hear the more enjoyable pleasant sounds like nature or music, noises you don’t pick up I the city.
When the project was given, it took time to wonder what exactly could I map to represent the limitless city and the streets that make up Chicago. Therefore, I decided to map the unmappable. The city has numerous sounds and one might wonder how could you map sounds if it continuously changes. By walking multiple times down, a street comparing each time, some sounds stay the same so my mission is to not focus on what you can see but through listening to what is around you.
The inspiration of my idea came to me in Chicago’s neighborhood Andersonville, on the corner of Clark and Farragut walking across an eight-foot-tall rectangle box with an opening of two puppets dancing and singing along to the music playing in the background. I noticed before a strange sound of old jazzy music and the laughter of children and people talking. When following my ears, they lead me to a group of people; parents, children, and walkers like myself that so happen to stop and listen. The people didn’t gather around because of the places around it but was there in front of them, the music and because of that it brought together the community of Andersonville together. By becoming curious once again I hoped to map sounds like music and discover what that means about the neighborhoods, the streets, and the places.
Through already walking through different neighborhoods around the city of Chicago, going all the way back to immersion week I revisited my explorations throughout the city and focus only on what I hear. At the end of it all I mapped six areas across Chicago from sounds that I heard.
The first neighborhood I went back was one of the most memorable area for multiple classmates located in the heart of Chicago on the west side known as, Pilsen. During immersion week students learned about the culture through looking at the area’s art in murals as well as graffiti and the difference between graffiti and gang markings. However, I discovered by walking around the Mexican Art Museum you can hear the culture Pilsen provides. On the busy streets, I noticed more of the obvious sounds like traffic, a couple bikes, and doors opening and closing from local business. When I walked more of the closed off I heard more of the soft tones like the wind blowing through the trees, leaves falling, birds, and voices of people walking pass me. What made Pilsen different from others was the music that I heard was mainly Hispanic or Latino base from hearing inside the car’s radio, or through open windows of homes, and restaurants inviting people to come in and eat. Likewise, just walking around I heard the Spanish language between people therefore the sound makes contact with one another and in that case brings people together. Pilsen’s sounds of the use of Spanish and their music brought out it’s culture without having to use your sight and shows how they bring the community together.
The next destination on my earreplaceable map is the inside the city, where I liked to call the place where you walk in a loop. The Loop was hard not to notice the obvious, right off from walking up to ground level from the red line on the Jackson stop from coming up from underground besides hearing the train, traffic was the number one thing. No matter what time the city always has cars no matter what time of day, Chicago really follows the saying of the city never sleeps. Overall, I was surprised with how much honking I heard and wrote down and interesting how the honking had more action around intersections. With that my theory is at intersections there are more to see, openings like in the reading how closed off spaces lead to depression or lack or creativity so when cars honk, most likely the person in front is distracted.
Walking in the Loop, the sound of the wind making contact with objects were very noticeable and funny how this connected to the tittle of the windy city Chicago is given. The sounds of people talking on their cell phone and footsteps were more of the unique side of the Loop. The interesting part is when I walked east the sounds lead me to a little garden where I heard a dog, different language, and music all sounds people would really get to hear in the center of the city.
When I walked along the east shore line of Chicago known as Lake Shore Drive. Being excluded from buildings and traffic in the area your ears really gathers the sounds of nature. From the beginning I walk into a path surrounded by wildflowers hearing the cicadas and other bugs buzzing around. Following the sound of the breeze of the waves crashing into the rocks. Listing closely to the waves, I found a strip of concrete with a tall lighthouse at the end from there I stood about five minutes hearing boats cruse in and out of the harbor. When turning back I heard voices and found people sitting along the rocks and maybe the sound of the waves brought the strangers together.
Along the path I heard multiple seagulls and when I listened for bikes I quickly found the track of hearing the mixture of bikes, footsteps, and music blasting from speakers or headphones. The theory of why the specific track is so popular is not just because of the view but that its away from the tall buildings of the city and the calming sounds of nature including the waves attracts the people of Chicago to come together from all parts of the city with Lake Shore Drive having about eighteen miles of path from the north to south side of Chicago.
Next on the neighborhood is located on the north side of Chicago in the Wrigleyville area in Lakeview. Going down any block in the area full of homes and apartments I wanted to discover what the sounds would be around on the side streets. On a road such as Greenview being in a wealthy area construction isn’t a surprise and so walking through the first two intersections I heard first the loud crushing sound of breaking the payment on the roads to chirping birds and the trees swaying in the breeze. I explored the area, keeping my ears open and I pick up on voices of nannies and children and discover there was a playground at the corner. As I came closer I heard children laugh and parents or babysitters talking amongst each other. Standing by the playground I discover how the laughter of the kids playing in playground bring the community of Greenview together with most of the people who live there are families.
Moving towards a friendly, welcoming street on Clark located in Andersonville. Clark street has many shops, restaurants, and businesses to offer the community I picked up a lot of voices and walked alongside multiple walkers. On this walk specifically I heard the more enjoyable sounds of people like voices, music, and less of the traffic and bikes. To me the more pleasant sounds I heard the neighborhood felt more as a community.
The perks of having a map of sounds is to explore the neighborhoods of Chicago and discover and create theories of how sounds connect to there surrounding and the neighborhoods of Chicago. Here is what I discovered that you can uncover the neighborhood’s culture through music and the sound of people’s voices or the languages the people use. Places such as parks, a form of art, or an escape from the city can bring people together in the neighborhood. Although, these sounds maps are different from others all in Chicago is because to me Chicago is diverse with multiple neighborhoods or communities that are unique in their own way.
