More on Walking
--and a visit from the witch's familiar...
First, a note: Saturdays seem to work out better for getting out my newsletter (I seem to always end up having to attend Zoom meetings on Fridays, which then require follow-up tasks). So I’m switching my publication day to Saturdays.
In my last newsletter, “On Anger, Art, Divination, and More…” I mentioned my anger at racism towards AAPI folks and BIPOCs, and its effect on how I even think and feel about venturing out, these days, for exercise and a change-of-scene. Today, I’d like to say a few more words about walking itself, and how it figures in my life.
Except for a fall that messed up my knee many years ago, I’ve taken walking for granted most of my life. But a couple years ago, that “messed up knee” started to feel its limits. I didn’t realize that movement and friction had been slowly grinding away at the cartilage, until and MRI scan revealed that about 98% of it was gone. I can walk, but if I want to do it without pain after walking more than 3 or 4 blocks, I need to use a cane or trekking poles. The latter, by the way, are amazing in their ability to take the pressure off my knee while working out my upper body and increasing stamina. With trekking poles, I can walk, and even hike, much farther.
During the last year of lockdown, I came across some blogs and articles that started me thinking more about walking and hiking:
During the pandemic a few hikers online inspired me to get outdoors more and walk or hike: Rahawa Haile, Fat Girls Hiking, Liz “Snorkel” Thomas, pinay writer & artist Jenny Odell, and even Glasgow’s “Boots & Beards” (and hijabs) Asian community of hikers:
Now I really appreciate whatever mobility I have left, and want to increase it, if possible. I started walking regularly with a friend, and we’ve been slowly (really slowly) increasing the length of those walks. And here’s where someone who isn’t as lazy as myself would launch into their program of thrice-a-week, or maybe even daily, walking, documenting each extra mile exceeded as a triumph of will. Yeah—that’s not me. Or is it? Because the more I think about this (barring my own general laziness), and the more I think about the fact that there are racist, misogynist, and ageist people out in the world who think I don’t have a right to be out on the streets—the more I feel like I’m going to get out and walk, dammit.
I don’t know your environment, your neighborhood, or your level of mobility; I don’t now how safe your city or town is, so I’m not going to urge you to put yourself in harm’s way. But if there’s some way you can venture out in relative safety—maybe you have a partner, friend, or group that you can walk, bike, or otherwise move around with—I hope you’ll find a way to do it, because these streets are ours, and you belong here.
You might be interested in listening to this PBS interview with Margaret Cho on how historical trauma and the model-minority myth play into how AAPI folks experience this):
ART
Maybe I can find a way to combine my art practice with walking or biking . . . perhaps incorporate it with the Geomancy series? Something to think about, anyway. Here are a few pieces from that series (see below). I’m working towards what I hope will be a good set of drawings from this (Geomancy) and the generative rule-based series I mentioned in my last newsletter (I haven’t come up with a name for it yet) that can go into a show, either solo or group. Maybe next year? Or later this year, depending on the state of the pandemic? If you know of an opportunity, let me know!
NEWSLETTER LINKS
Every link I’m listing today happens to be a newsletter on Substack. I didn’t plan it that way—it just sort of happened:
If you are eating healthy, I applaud you. But you might also want to read: “We are All Fragile Creatures,” by Roxanne Gay on The Audacity.
Bryan Formhals’ Notes on Walking and Photography focuses on on urban walking, photography, and “artists incorporating walking into their process”—so I had to check this out!
Money Folder is a newsletter on creativity, travel, and design by Chris Force, editor of Sixty-Six.
Amy Jean Porter is an artist/illustrator who also writes about encounters with animals in Real Wildlife.
VISITATION
Finally, a visitation. I heard a series of loud meows from outside in the garden, peeked through the blinds and spied a cat (one of the local “users” of our potted catnip—which, by the way, makes a nice, minty tea), checking out birds perched high (too high) above it in a tree. So I took a photo with my phone, used a filter, and edited the image with the settings tweaked a little too high. In the process, the neighborhood cat suddenly became a ghost cat or sprite who, while not black, was surely some kind of familiar.
Big thanks to my new subscribers! Have a safe and happy weekend, dear readers…
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Hi Jean, "Move and be moved" a favorite quote from my long time (24 years) yoga teacher. I walk at least 2 miles a day in the rolling blocks of Maxwell Park and I write a lot about it each day on One Typed Page. Concentrate on what you CAN do each day. I use Leki trekking sticks when I walk. This helps with balance. Sometimes I just take one trekking stick. Now it has become a defensive weapon in case I get into trouble, 1) Scream like hell 2) run 3) use the trekking stick like a machete if #2 is not possible. I do not wear jewelry, or carry a fanny pack. Only a scarf with a secret zip that has copies of my ID and health info. I shouldn't have to reassure my husband and son what steps I have to take to protect myself. But that is how it is. Probably a dinner conversation that priviledged whites don't have to think of having. Today, in Oakland, a man had to fend off 4 attackers who were in the middle of robbing his elderly parents (Vietnamese) coming home from shopping - he came at them with a machete -- and they ran off. All on apartment video. Another day. Walk. "Move and be moved."