Utne’s been consistently feeding my fascination with pedestrian loco-motion. Last month there was this article exploring the social meaning of walking and the state of pedestrianism in a car’s world. Then along came a great introduction to the arts of psychogeography in the current issue. I’m discovering that psychogeographical games are a potentially riveting way to connect my mental spaces with everyday places around me, to find new meaning and beauty there.
So, in the infectious spirit of playfulness and following through with good intentions, I turned my morning walk with Gordon into an experiment in "generative psychogeography" – I tried to find that twilight zone between goal-oriented and completely random travel by following this spontaneously-decided algorithm: take the second right, second left, first right, then repeat. I tried not to fuss too much over further elaborating the rules ("should I make my turn before or after crossing the intersection?") and to focus instead on the world around me. We cycled through the algorithm just over 3 times in the allotted 45 minutes (think long LA blocks and lots of pausing to sniff and pee on all sorts of upright objects). Here are some of my favorite moments:
For the first time I noticed a "Share the Road" sign struggling among the visual clutter of Sunset Boulevard. I guess I usually drive by too fast to take it in.
There are two hourglass Marilyn Monroe palm trees in a line of standard tall and ultra-thin Twiggy ones.
Gordon sniffed the whole length of the hedge lining the back of KCET studios while I admired the old brick building and peeked into the windows of the ground level offices.
A Little Rascals -esque dog draped his paws out of a second-story window and barked as we passed.
Gordon’s crooked little piggy tail wiggled as he touched noses with two new big dogs through their gates. Across the street a frumpy little Maltese yipped a greeting.
100 teenagers streamed between buildings on the Thomas Starr King Middle School campus. It was their second-to-last day of school. I heard some squeals along the lines of "ohmygod – that is such a cah-UTE dog!"
Two big men speaking Spanish prepared to pour cement in a neighbor’s driveway. Four big men were installing roofing tiles on a little house on Virgil. I thought of my mum working with Grandpa on his roof in Indianapolis.
I made eye contact and said "Good morning!" to three of the people I passed. Two of them responded in richly accented English, including the funny little man I sometimes see jogging baby steps around the neighborhood.
I can’t wait to try another algorithm soon, or the same algorithm starting from a different location! I’m also excited to have found a reference point for some of the street art I’ve occasionally seen around town.
The Utne walking article was very well done. Thanks for sharing! I of course am a strong believer in the power of walking, though sometimes I temporarily forget. After Sunday’s 4 hour walk to, through, and back from Bald Hill my mind and body was revitatalized with the deed.
Second attempt at leaving a comment on this fascinating and appropriate subject matter for this site. You could keep a log of your experimental finds, itself entitled "Pedestrian Saga". Lookout! You could become a leading author for this movement if you and Gordon get really serious!
When I first perused this entry I was reminded of a TV segment (thought it was on Scientific American Frontiers but can’t find reference to it in the archives) which focused on a professor at Harvard(?) who offered a course on being more aware of your surroundings. He and the show’s host took a rambling stroll, exploring their surroundings like children. They observed traffic, trees, and manholes in a way that few of us ever do in our adult lives. Something I remember from the show which I still notice each time I see one- FedEx logos have and arrow built into them which few of us ever see. Check it out.
The linked articles were inspiring, something to occupy my mind other than BLTs and chocolate chip cookies. Just this afternoon, Lela and I had ridiculously long waiting periods at pedestrian-unfriendly intersections while trying to walk four blocks to the co-op. I just wanted happy cow milk for these cookies, man! Too bad my neighbors threw out their old sofa!
I started a comment in reply to L. Claudia and Pedestrian Saga’s fine observation exercise, but it turned into a mini novel. So as not to completely tilt the balance of this blog with my long-winded words, I instead moved it all into my own sandbox. It is entitled Enhancing Your Observation.