Doors Open Milwaukee

For my Doors Open Milwaukee experience, I went to the US Bank obseration deck. The view from up there was amazing. It made Milwaukee look so beautiful and the architecture so much more interesting from a birds eye view. Buildings I am familiar with, now were mysterious and I struggled to guess which one I was looking at. The next stop for us was the Phister Hotel. The next tour would have been a long wait but it had started to pour outside so we stayed for lunch. The part of the hotel I did see was gorgeous and I definitely felt out of place in my street clothes. The most interesting part was the cafe inside the hotel. They had a sign stating Ipads were available for use while sitting in the cafe. I found this particularly amusing. I could not even imagine any of the places I normally spend my time having such a convienence as this for their customers. This was a new perspective in the sense that for other people, this kind of luxury is perhaps not the least bit surprising for them and just ordinary life. After lunch we stopped at a few churches along the way, accidently interrupting a wedding rehersal. The architecture of old churches has always been one my favorites. But not wanting to be a nuisance however, left quickly. Our last stop which was City Hall. They had tours available to go to the top of the bell tower but once we got there they were all full for the day and people were already signing up for tours on the following day. I thought it was interesting that they only had three tours a day allowing 25 people on each tour. So for Doors Open Milwaukee only 150 people, in a city of nearly a million, get the whole experience. However, they were allowing people to walk around freely. We took the liberty of taking the stairs all the way up to the sixth floor where we were met by a security guard who told us that only the first three floors were open to the public who were not taking a guided tour.

Over all the experience was worth the time. My favorite location was by far the US Bank observation deck. With better planning, I would have been able to see much more. I think the concept of Doors Open Milwaukee is fabulous however. The places I went to were places I would not have ventured to on my own but I am glad I did.

Micro/Macro

A place that caught my attention while walking by was right at the intersection of Brady and Water Street. There is a small garden and resting area secluded from the street by the surrounding brush. From this sitting area you can see the artwork across the street of the large colorful animals, which is always pleasant to look at. An object I would use as a metaphor for this location is a seashell. Seashells are usually collected by children during their visit to the beach as a treasure to take home. The seashell, while simple in its design, has a certain beauty and mystery that other objects found in nature cannot compare to. This park is place in a very urban and busy environment, but it is a treasure to find in the city and hold on to. A simple, yet, lovely location to sit and enjoy a quite moment in a very chaotic city. Just as the seashell provides an escape by listening to it closely to hear the ocean.

An object that becomes a metaphor for a location that is significant to me is a small unicorn key chain I have had since fifth grade. This key chain has definitely seen better days, but I could never bring myself to get rid of it. The chain broke a few times before and I was insistent on fixing it. The initial purchase of the key chain was with my childhood best friend, Rachel, who lived across the street from my parents house. We bought identical key chains and then exchanged them. Even though I rarely see her, the past few times we have run into each other she still had the key chain as well. While Rachel and her family still live across the street from my parents house, the key chain is not a symbol for home. Rather, it represents all the places my family lived in during my childhood, all the friends I made that I couldn't imagine living without when we would move again, all the memories that still make me laugh at our childish innocence. That unicorn key chain probably is not even worth a penny, but it holds more value than almost anything I own.

The intervention created by Justin Beale and myself took place on North Farwell Ave. We used chalk as our medium to comment on the Milwaukee "beer culture". This location was choosen due its close relations to a number of bars in the tavern and the people leaving the bar was our target audience for the work.

Personal/Public

A place that I enjoy spending my time is Thousand Island Park, located in upstate New York on Wellsley Island. It is a small summer residential community where people come to vacation. For as long as I can remember, my family has spent the summer here at our cottage. Wellsley Island is in the Saint Lawerence River which is one of the cleanest fresh water lakes. This makes it the perfect place to do nothing except swim, lay on the dock in the sun, and go boating all day. Since most of the families who have summer residences there have had the cottage in their family for generations, you see the same people every year. Having this kind of closeness with people you only see once a year is something very unique. Everyone is extremely friendly and respectful. When passing people on the sidewalk, even if it is someone you may not know, they will acknowledge you and say hello. The community is so peaceful that there are no police on the island, only a few security gaurds who you rarely see. There has never been any violence or crime on the island and without a doubt, the safest place I have ever been. Now that I am older and have to work during the summer I cannot spend as much time as I would like to on the island. However, even getting away from the real world for a week out of the year is the best thing I could do for myself. My family is originally from New York so traveling to the cottage was very easy to do. After we moved to Wisconsin the drive there became much more of a task but completely worth the extra miles. I remember how excited my siblings and I would get when traveling to the island and how my stomach would turn with butterflies when we drove over the bridge, only minutes away from our final destination. I love that to this day, I still get those butterflies from the anticipation of my arrival.

The attached link is the route we take from Wisconsin to Wellsley Island.

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Milwaukee,+WI&daddr=41.44797,-83.259695+to:Thousand+Island+Park,+NY&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=32.059939,78.662109&geocode=Fba4kAIdVqfC-innR4tX1wIFiDGEe0G1IhlfRA%3BFSJyeAId0Y4J-ykHTEdpg5U7iDGVVJPyyhSakA%3BFQ_EowIdsuh3-yktyUfSB0jNTDFUW_a7OjVOgA&vpsrc=0&mra=ls&t=m&z=6&via=1

3 Days, 3 Ways

The first method of transportation I choose to retrace my route with was running. I went at about 9 in the morning, it was a calm and slightly overcast. I have always noticed that when I am running early in the day people are more likely to say "hello" or "good morning" as I pass by. This mode of transportation is more than trying to get from point A to point B, it also has many benefits. It releases stress, I sleep better at night, and of course get an opportunity to spend some time outside.

The next method of transportation I used was driving. It was later in the evening and a like brisk outside. But this gave me an opportunity to see my designated site lite up by the street lights. Since I do not have my own car, I had someone else drive me. This created more of an "outing" situation. While still paying attention to my surroundings, having someone with me forced my focus to mainly be on them. This method differed from running because the only reason I would drive is to spend time with someone, somewhere. My movement through the city was under their control since I was not the driver. They choose the speed, the music I heard, when to start and stop, etc.

The third and last method of transportation I used was riding the bus. I went around dusk and it was still fairly warm weather. I frequently use the bus as one of my main modes of transportation to navigate my way through the city and am accustomed to the socially acceptable behaviors. For example, sitting in an open seat rather than next to a stranger, keeping to myself and not engaging in conversation with other bus riders, and appropriately thanking the bus driver for taking me to my destination safely. Riding the bus was the most mundane type of travel. Again, my movement to my destination is in control of the bus driver just like driving in someone's car.

After making an assessment of my three different ways I made some comparisons to the Nato Thompson reading. The observation is made that "we become what we experience". I saw this through my decision to run. People acknowledged me as a "runner" as I passed them. I experienced running through the city and in turn was a runner. The article also discusses how our behaviors are a result of how we move through the world. When riding the bus, my chosen behavior was a product of learned behaviors appropriate for this method of transportation. One of my favorite parts of the article was the comparison to language. Discussing Michel de Certeau's The Practice of Everyday Life, it states "The city can be considered a language: a place where a short-cut across a yard or jay-walking were moments of personal flair. Loitering could be an aside, skateboarding a sonnet." I related this to when I took the bus. On my way back, because I had missed the first bus back to my apartment, I walked a few blocks so I would not be standing and waiting as long for the next bus to arrive. This change in the ordinary bus ride was my "moment of personal flair".