Walking a city is always more raw, and authentic, and authentically raw, than driving through it.
Skimming through a city in a climate-controlled bubble with heated seats and cupholders and favorite-song playlists programmed into the onboard computer, one is too insulated to engage with the city in any meaningful way.
To experience a city, walk it. Suck in lungfulls of smoky-smoggy air. Feel the texture of it under your feet and at the end of your fingertips. Sweat. Pulse with its music, and its sirens. There will be some level of discomfort. There will be some level of surprise. Rather the point.
You might stumble across an art show, a street fair, a long-lost friend, a person in need, a new flavor, a new song, a roiling protest march. Drink it, breathe it, pure and unfiltered. This is your city. These are its people. You have never been closer to your city than here, at the center of its adrenalized heart.
Skimming through a city in a climate-controlled bubble with heated seats and cupholders and favorite-song playlists programmed into the onboard computer, one is too insulated to engage with the city in any meaningful way.
To experience a city, walk it. Suck in lungfulls of smoky-smoggy air. Feel the texture of it under your feet and at the end of your fingertips. Sweat. Pulse with its music, and its sirens. There will be some level of discomfort. There will be some level of surprise. Rather the point.
You might stumble across an art show, a street fair, a long-lost friend, a person in need, a new flavor, a new song, a roiling protest march. Drink it, breathe it, pure and unfiltered. This is your city. These are its people. You have never been closer to your city than here, at the center of its adrenalized heart.
RSS Feed
