Urban Walking

Finding my way to new a place,

I see new things only at walking a pace.

I simply walk to Washington Park,

But along the way something in me inspires a spark.

I decide I want to make a change in my life,

By living simply and not having any rife.

The birds chirp peacefully and put me at ease,

I feel the lightness in the air through the spring’s breeze.

I pass a dog park along my walk,

And never before seeing this I open the gate’s lock.

I haven’t pet a dog in so long being at school,

I fall in love with them even if on me they drool.

I must leave the cute puppies as I am short on time,

But in my mood I become jocund and sublime.

I find that this walk has cleared my head,

And with all my worries I am finally able to put them to bed.

I enjoyed my 45 minute walk in the urban environment of Winston Salem. I began my walk out of Center Stage Apartments and onto Haled Street which then leads to S Main Street. I went down Cascade Ave to walk to Washington Park. I have never been to Washington Park this way but I realized that it was a lot shorter route than going any other way I have traveled. Also, walking along this route, I realized that it was familiar to me because I had trick-or-treated on that road this year during Halloween. However, since it was dark outside when I went on Halloween, the area looked different than on a cheery Sunday afternoon that I decided to talk my urban experience walk. I walked right to one of Washington Park’s entrances and headed through the park. I love parks and it reminded me of being home seeing swing sets and baseball fields. It was such a lovely walk, I enjoyed the fresh air and the time alone to be able to think and contemplate things that were on my mind. It was distressing because I had set aside time to walk and I knew that I could do my homework later rather than worrying about it now.

On my walk, I came to a conclusion that Winston Salem has its own identity and unlike New York City, Winston Salem is not a melting pot of pushing people together. I think Winston Salem is a small city but still allows the beauty of people living a suburb life because of the parks that are around the city and the cute houses that people inhabit. Also, Winston Salem’s population is not an overload of people or having too many things coming at you and it is not like to have to majorly adjust to survive, which is how Stanely Milgram expressed it in his film The City of the South. Living in Winston Salem is not like living in a major city such as NYC, which is like living in a place with millions of others and being congested by its constant activity. As expressed in Milgram’s film, only in New York City can you be three seconds late. I like normal pace of Winston Salem’s city rather than being rushed all the time like how it is in NYC.

Overall walking is a good way to clear your head, but next time I will share it with a friend and maybe jog next time instead of walk to get in some cardio as well as thinking time.