I'd Rather Walk

June 19 2012

I’D R ATHER WALK

I’d Rather Walk

Author: Brian Frey

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Documenting the walk to work

June 19 2012

INTRODUCTION

I’d Rather Walk

In order to better understand myself and what I do I have documented a small moment of my life. I guess this moment really isn’t that small, being that I had to do it twice about 4 times a week for about 4 years, but It has had its impact on me. I can remember countless times while making this walk where something has jumped out at me. Wether it be a feeling an interaction or a memory, they have all had an effect on me. To document this walk I have taken photographs, interviewed others that have taken this walk, and also wrote personally about it in poem and memoir form.

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Can’t stand, n o t quite y e t , growing , & growing. & growi n g .

Water the seeds,

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and let the roots flow.

June 19 2012

I’D R ATHER WALK Author: Brian Frey

.

Documenting the walk to work

I’d Rather Walk

I hate driving. I like to walk. It might be quicker but I will make the time by leaving a little early. I have planned the walk and know that it takes exactly 13 minutes, or about two Newport Kings. If i leave my house at 9:47 I will be perfectly on time for work, which is exactly how I like to come into work, just on time. I worked at the Palomino Bar in Bay View. It is right on the lake by the Hoan Bridge. My house is well about 13 minutes away walking or about 5 minutes away driving. I live on East Linus about a block away from Mr. Ps tires, which I hear has cheap tires but real bad service. As 9:45 passes I get my backpack ready by taking out my MacBook and replacing it with a somewhat clean shirt and a hat. I take one more look at my phone and open the door and head outside. Its summer but its still morning so its great outside. I always feel like the only one in the world at that time. It seems weird to me that on a Saturday at 10 AM no one in my neighborhood is up and outside. As I make my way down my front porch and onto the sidewalk I light up a cigarette.

Sometimes I wait till about halfway through the walk but I today I spark it up right away. I don’t travel long on my “personal block” I like to call home before I make a quick right onto Williams st. Williams St. is a great walk because the chances of petting a cat increase 70% if its the morning. I look down the right side of the street and look down the left side and no sign of Blacky or Bob Cat, the neighborhood cats. But no worries I turned down Williams St. not for the cats but because it’s the route I have always taken.

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You would think walking the same route every other day would get little boring but I always end up seeing new things. It’s like my mind is so familiar with the area the new things always stick out like the soar thumb. A couple months ago it was the new raised bike path they installed by the the park, which they only “officially” opened two weeks ago. And then a couple of weeks ago it was some new graffiti on the side walk under the bridge that read, “Bitches be trippin’ and Hoes be buggin’.” Not quite sure what that is really referring too but maybe someone had a bad experience at the one of the bars down the street.

Other times its just the way the walk feels that is different. and sometimes its just the way the grass looks, or the way the air smells or even the noise my feet make as I carelessly carry my feet along. It’s not just a way for me to get from my house to work, it’s more then that. The time that I have during that walk is my own. I can do whatever I want in that time and I can think about anything I want during that time. I can relieve stress or I can cause stress. Its about the time I have to be with myself. I don’t get a lot of that time now that I had started worked a full time job and also finishing up school. It might just be for a couple of minutes but during that time I am transported sometimes to what’s in front of me and sometimes to what’s inside of me. And today was just like the rest. The smells, the sounds, the atmosphere it was all coming alive.

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Stepping into something more.

Stepping into something less..

Let Let

the the

birds

blocks tell

count. the

tone.

Let the wind set the rhythm.

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June 19 2012

I’D R ATHER WALK Author: Brian Frey

.

Documenting the walk to work

I’d Rather Walk

I continue down Williams Street but I cross the street to the other side at the same place I usually do. At the last house that has a drive-way I turn, look down the street, and walk down the drive way to get to the street. Im not really sure why I chose and keeping choosing to do this but maybe is just the comfort of walking down an incline instead up stepping down off the street conner. After checking for cars I cross the street and get to the other side.

Usually I will walk at an angle so I can make it to the other drive way across the street so I can again have a comfortable walk up onto the sidewalk. At that corner I take a left at E Conway. This street starts the first long stretch of walking, because I stay on this street till it ends by the park. This street is one of the nicest in our neighborhood. All the houses are clean and they all have great front yards. It’s like everyone in that neighborhood got together and decided to actually keep up with their lawn care, which reminds me that I have to cut the grass. But all the houses and all the yards are always clean and nice. This street is also where I usually come in contact with some people. They will either be caring for there lawn or grabbing things out of their car, never really being active just doing chores. The people I see look like nice people but none of them look interesting enough to actually talk to or get to know. They are just regular people living in regular houses.

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As I continue to walk down the long straight stretch down E Conway I start to get lost in my mind. It’s like this short walk brings back all the feelings I have had while in Bay View. I want to be by these memories more. I want my presence to almost unlock them and they will brought back. By slowing down and letting myself walk I have control over the speed in which I can recall or reenact these moments. The way I walk and step and the way I am keeping the rhyme. It’s all soothing and calming and puts me into a trance.

This trance puts me in a place where I’m behind my eyes. I’m walking and I know where I’m going but all of that becomes instinct. The trance takes me away to think about other things, my past, my friends, my life. It takes me to moments that don’t relate to the present times. I just let my thoughts float away and let them connect to other thoughts. I think about the time we all sat the beach all day. No plans, no future just us, sitting at the beach, letting the time role over us like beads of sweat. I think about the ways our eyes would connect as if they were meant to only look that way. I think about the stupid things we did and how much I miss those exact stupid things. And I think about the Summer.

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This doesn’t f e e l any

different.

Or look any different.

But

not

the

same.

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its

June 19 2012

I’D R ATHER WALK Author: Brian Frey

.

Documenting the walk to work

As I get to the end of E Conway, I hear the bartender at the Newport Bar emptying the bottles and cans. The sound startles me and wakes me up. It’s only about 9:56 in the morning and I know that noise probably woke everyone up in the neighborhood. I thought there was a law about bars dumping recycling, but maybe thats only really late at night they cant do it.

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But anyway I finally walk past the Newport Bar and it instantly brings back some good memories and some bad memories.The Bar is a small local bar about 4 blocks away from my house. When I first moved to Bay View this was the first bar I went to. Actually this was the first bar I had ever been to.

Somehow gotten an old friends I.D. who kind of looked like me but upon further inspection it definitely wasn’t me. But after getting talked into it by my friends Nick and Sam I decided to try the fake I.D. out. It actually worked though. The bartender looked at it quickly and then handed it back and asked what we wanted to drink. I had gone over this tons and tons of times in my head. I didn’t want to screw up the first time I was actually in a bar and I also didn’t want to seem like I was underage. So I bit my tong and used the liquid courage that was already in my body and ordered my beer. My friends go their beer and we sat down at the bar. We probably talked about bands and music for while we drank a couple of beers each. After our third beer our

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buddy Nick convinced us to do some shots. We did our shots and went back to shooting the shit. This is the part of the story where my memory starts to fade, probably from the alcohol. But the last thing I remember is waking up in my bed and it being morning. Later I learned that I had pushed Sam off his bar stool and ran out of the bar all while smiling and laughing. We all couldn’t figure out why I did that and to this day I haven’t gone back in the Newport Bar.

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Tr ying h a r d ,

get

to to

hands, mine

back.

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get

my

June 19 2012

I’D R ATHER WALK Author: Brian Frey

.

Documenting the walk to work

The second long stretch of walking has hit me now. Usually this walk is a better one though. The wind flows off the park and hits the side with a cool breeze. This is great in the summer but the worst in the winter. In winter the wind builds up in the parks and hits you like a ton of bricks. The side walk is usually coved in a thick blanket of snow, enough to make the 13 minute walk into a 20 minute walk. I Remember the day that it snowed enough the close school. I didn’t have class but work was still open. There was so much snow I was glad that I lived remotely close to work, because the other cooks that drove couldn’t even make it in because of all the snow. It was dead that night too, no one came in. There were a couple of drinkers but no one ordered food. I think we made cookies that day.

I’d Rather Walk

The park slips by because my head is caught else where. I don’t work at the Palomino anymore. I had to stop because of work and school. I made it though four long years because I made the choice. Still that choice weighs on my mind. I want to work their and I have always loved working there. I still talk to my old coworkers but its still not the same. When I walk into the chicken I feel like I am an stranger or something. The pots and pans that use to be there are all gone and thrown away. The coat rack is filled of unfamiliar jackets and scarves. The faces I knew are now changed. I got both of my

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roommates jobs at the Palomino which is good because I still get to stay up on all the drama that goes on. They talk about how hot it was in the kitchen and how crappy the servers were being that day. I miss that and I’m missing it all Stumbling back into reality I can see my destination. As I approach I collect myself and put myself back into my eyes and into my self. This walk wasn’t just to go from point A to point B but to lead me all over the alphabet. The walk is familiar and its my time. It’s short and only lasts 13 minutes. But really this 13 minutes lasts as long as I want it to. And I can take it wherever or nowhere.

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WORKS CITED

- Kirk, Nate. Personal interview. 16 June. 2012 - Reff, Phil. Personal interview. 16 June. 2012 - Brian, Frey. Documenting a walk to work. 2012. Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Milwaukee.

- Angelou, Maya. Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. Great Britain: Virago, 1995. Book.

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