A Walk Home
10 March 02
I don't know who to blame: architects and planners, for giving us cities onto which it is hard to impose ourselves; or us, for not trying harder.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w01.jpg)
And so we get streets like this, streets that don't need us, streets that could be Boston or Taipei or Ganymede. I'm sure this street has a name, but there's no sign anybody cares what it is. I am walking home from the nearest nowhere.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w02.jpg)
The more we've paid for a thing, the less willing we are to mark it. But shouldn't it be vice versa?
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w03.jpg)
Unresolved spaces are taboo, the more so where they should be most thrilling.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w04.jpg)
We make isolated stands,
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w05.jpg)
or we don't.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w06.jpg)
We tolerate aesthetics according to their virulence,
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w07.jpg)
and when we see ourselves in them, the reflection is always the newer model,
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w08.jpg)
and we are our flaws.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w09.jpg)
But we are still there, in corners, if we know where to look.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w10.jpg)
And once you know where you are, suddenly the maps start to make sense.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w11.jpg)
And so, against odds, we find and make places.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w12.jpg)
Through the places, the streets run with names
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w13.jpg)
We make rules,
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w14.jpg)
we follow rules;
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w15.jpg)
we empty from one place
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w16.jpg)
into the next.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w17.jpg)
We balance our allegiances,
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w18.jpg)
and we fall in love for instants.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w19.jpg)
We see ourselves,
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w20.jpg)
or we do not.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w21.jpg)
We are pretentious, to disguise our fears,
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w22.jpg)
or honest, to evade our dreams.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w23.jpg)
We line up for how we're supposed to be happy.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w24.jpg)
We catalog resistance unawares.
![](/photo/AWalkHome/w25.jpg)
And then somewhere, if our belief has enough power, we find the vantage point from which air and water can help, or bridges and skyscrapers, or a boat or an airplane. We give a place a name, and draw it around us, and then it is alive, and we are almost home.