From On the River
|
In choosing a location to take off my shoes and sit near the water, I narrowed my (almost limitless) options down to two areas: one patrolled and public, the other more isolated and private. I found my thought process irrationally believing that I could get 'caught'. I know the act of innocently removing your shoes on the bank of The Grand wouldn't be considered much of an illegal act, but for some reason I felt rebellious for doing so; covering my bets I dodged the security officer and chose private over public.
The experience itself felt like really small scale camping. It's intriguing to me that just a few brief moments of solitude while interacting with nature can bring about this huge wave of a strange relief. To get a little more dirt on your clothes than usual, catch a glimpse of an unusual bug or two, feel your feet make contact with ACTUAL ground (not carpet, not pavement, but stone and soil) is a ritual I wish I could do daily.
Similar to my dérive experience, I noticed small details I wouldn't regularly see (the imprints my tights had left on top of my feet, the large crack in the rock next to me that was overflowing webs attempting to make use of the open space) . My feet felt dirty and free.
| 42° 58' 1" N, 85° 40' 28" WLatitude: 42.966923586126 Longitude: -85.674508810043 |
