The Blink of an Eye

When asked to choose our favorite block of the city to walk down, the first one I thought of was the block of Webster Ave that I walked. I had walked down it before so I knew where it was and how it looked and it was close. It was just easy. However, I am not a person that can choose the easiest path just because it’s easy so I tried to think of other blocks in the city that I liked to walk down. But, no matter how hard I thought, I kept coming back to that block so I decided to walk down it.

It was a beautiful fall day and, as I was walking, I realized why I couldn’t choose another block. So far, this was my favorite block in the city. Not because it was close but because it was new and nostalgic all at once. The calm, relaxed pace of the streets made me feel like I was back home in the Wisconsin suburbs. With Trebes Park bordering the block on one side and a street of houses on the other, I could close my eyes anywhere on the block and it would sound like home for a few seconds. However, when I opened my eyes, I wasn’t home and that’s another reason why I loved it. Everywhere I looked there was something new. The street had a distinctly urban feel to it. From murals to rows of stored to skinny city houses, every sight reminded me that I wasn’t home. I was somewhere new and exciting. With my eyes closed, I was home but, with my eyes open, I was on my next adventure in life. I felt like I could travel in a blink.

In an article for Fortune Classic magazine, Jane Jacobs wrote a piece titled “Downtown Is For People”. In this article, Jacobs refers to as “punctuations” and “focal points”. In this case “punctuations” are things that stand out when someone looks down a street while “focal points” are bigger things that add variety to the street. Both of them focus on and encourage contrast. People don’t want to be bored and will actively avoid it if they can. They will look for Jacobs’ “punctuations” and “focal points” when deciding which street to walk down.

Since reading this article, I have noticed myself doing the same thing. While walking around the Loop after class today, my eyes were drawn to the top of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at the end of a street. Instead of crossing like I originally intended, I turned down the street and walked towards it even though, at the time, I had no clue what it was. Suddenly, I found myself walking through Millenium Park. Similarly, when walking around Lincoln Park, I am drawn to Lincoln Street because of the variety of “punctuations” like shop signs, art, and different things for sale in windows. Even on the Lincoln Park Campus, while walking to the Rae, I find that I am much more interested in where I am going once I reach the Student Center with the statue of Monsignor John J. Egan (a “punctuation”) and the church (a “focal point”). (242)

Field Notes:

Sights: 2 children swinging on the swings on a playground, children playing baseball, 3 pumpkins on someone’s porch (one orange, one white, one green), a mural depicting a desert scene on the side of a Mexican restaurant, a sign saying “love”, a stained glass window depicting a cupcake, a flower bed with false apples mixed in with the plants, yellow and pink flowers, orange flowers, red tables and chairs, two planters with succulents in them, a clock, red leaves, house with colorful spiders on their fence, a skinny squirrel and a fat squirrel running up a tree, a skeleton on a barrel of hay on a porch

Sounds: dogs barking, children laughing and screaming, squirrels climbing up a tree, wind in the trees, woman talking on her cell phone, cars driving by

Smells and Textures: bumpy succulents, soft flowers, cupcakes, something sweet (I couldn’t decide what), Mexican spices, dumpster, rough brick, smooth railing

Related posts:

For this exercise I traced the same letters in different typefaces using a thin sharpie on tracing paper. I learned more about different weights, serif vs sans serif, and how different letters…

If you are new to using air dry clay, the options out there may be a tad overwhelming, but I am here to help! The hardest part of starting a new hobby or craft, in my opinion, is collecting all the…

I normally publish a short blog post in Exploring Sobriety each day, but for the rest of this week I’m going to be out of town on vacation. In fact, I’m writing and scheduling this post ahead of…