Naturalis Essay - Katie Fraser

Katie Fraser
ENV 101-102
Sept. 20 2009
Naturalist Essay

For my nature walk I chose to walk from my neighborhood, Wrigleyville, to North Avenue Beach. I walked east on Waveland to Halsted, then walked south on Halsted till North, then walked east again towards the lake.
Along my walk I was exposed to many different elements of nature. While walking through my neighborhood there was grass that lined the sidewalks as well as many trees. This continued while walking through Lincoln Park. I also passed Oz Park which is a large area of grassy fields. When at the beach I was exposed to the sand and water of the lake shore. Even while walking down the more urbanized part of Halsted I was exposed to elements like the sun and wind. Originally, I intended just to walk down to the lake from my house, which would have given me little differentiation, since there is no beach or many dilapidated buildings, so I am glad I changed my route so I could experience many different settings.
While on my walk there were a few things that significantly stood out to me, that I may have missed on any normal day. One major thing that I noticed was how much it was beginning to feel like fall. I took a greater interest in the colors of the leaves on the trees around my house and I noticed many more of them on the ground. I also noticed how early it got dark as I made my way back, and how while it was a warm day the temperature dropped drastically at dusk, which happens around fall. While at the beach, I also took note how it was still such a beautiful day to be outside, but that there was a bitter sweetness to the day as it was most likely the last beach day of the year. It was fall, as the sun didn't stay very high for very long and offered less heat while up.
I also took more notice of the drastic change that takes place on Halsted. While walking from Wrigleyville to Lincoln Park many streets are lined with trees and grass. Eventually one will run into Oz Park, which is made up of fields as well as playgrounds and baseball fields. However, after Armitage till about North Avenue, there is hardly any of this. The streets become more worn and there are significantly more buildings. These buildings also look more rugged and beat up. This remains until one hits Old Town, which is right at North Avenue. I actually passed a playground that was all on cement and thought about how different it was from the one a few blocks north at Oz Park.
While at the beach I took much more notice to the trash in the beach. While it is generally a well taken care of beach, I did find cigarette butts, beer caps, and glass in the sand. From a glance, the beach looks taken care of, but upon further inspection one can see that it isn’t. When I pass the beach I generally don’t think about the trash hidden underneath the sand, I usually just long to be lying out under the sun enjoying the last few rays of summer. I found that this remained true even when I was aware of the trash. With the trash in the sand, I still thought about how fortunate I am to live in a city that offers such beautiful lakeshore community property for its residents.
I enjoyed this walk because I generally don't think too much about the nature around me. The most prominent way I view the nature around me is in the weather. The weather affects me greatly as I use public transportation and walk places. I have a love/hate relationship with it. While I like it to be sunny and warm, I curse when it’s too hot because I get sweaty and my hair gets messy. I also dislike it when it rains, but enjoy the coolness it offers. I like when it cools down, but I always wish I could slow the coming of winter. I can say, however, that during the summer and the first few weekends that I have been back in the city, and it is beautiful outside, I often feel guilty for sitting inside. I try and make myself go for a walk or at least sit outside. This summer especially every spare minute I had would be spent outside if it were nice. Since I worked a lot and wasn’t able to be outside as much as I wanted to, I would often sit in my back yard and read if there was no other way to be outside. That way I could at least catch the last few rays before the sun set after work, or I could be outside without having to go to the beach alone. When I moved back I began to take my roommates dog for walks in order to be outside. I enjoyed being able to be outside this Saturday, when I did my walk, because I didn’t want to feel as if I was missing out on one of the last summer days.
When I actually am immersed in nature, that is go outside because I want to spend time outside, my feelings about nature don’t necessarily change, but my emotions do. I tend to be a lot more relaxed. On those gorgeous sunny days when I sit in the quad and listen to music, or take a walk, I feel like I’m the only one experiencing the moment. That the day, and the sun, are all mine. I feel as though I am savoring something special. Some moment of my life, whether it is soaking up summer vacation or just one more moment of my life in Chicago, it’s something that will stay with me, something I can be nostalgic about come fall.. I am happy and relaxed, and feel as though I am truly thinking and living rather than getting bogged down by things I feel I should be thinking about or should be doing. It is a healthy way to forget.
While I would classify my interactions with nature as more of a Muir perspective, this particular walk matched Kuo’s writings more. Kuo discusses more about the social aspect that trees and nature can bring to a community. I found this to be very true in my neighborhood. Kuo uses trees as an example of a entity that a community can revolve around. While the area I live in does have a good amount of trees for a city neighborhood, and they do play a part in the social aspect of Wrigleyville, I don’t think they created the community. I view Wrigley Field as one of the main reasons that Wrigelyville has such a strong sense of community and feeling of safety. However, because of this sense of community, trees, bushes and grass were planted, which only furthered this feeling of a “defensible place,” as Kuo says.
Since my neighborhood has nice grassy areas, many people are out on the weekends, or nice days, running or jogging. I see the sense of “casual social contact” (p4 Kuo) that Kuo talks about when people run with their dogs and others stop to pet them. There are brief interactions simply because one cannot ignore all the people around, especially during Cubs games.
Kuo also dicusses how bringing trees to neighborhoods makes residents feel like it is a shared space and they have some part in it. Thus, they want to take better care of it. I see this with Wrigely, as no one wants to be the person who vandalized the field. I also see this sense of protection that Kuo claims trees bring. He says that once the space feels communal, people often tend to be more on the lookout for strangers. I see this in my neighborhood because many people are out late at night too making it harder for strangers to do harm, and the field is constantly being monitored.
I also saw this when I was on Halsted. The area that I walked through that had very few trees, also seemed to be an area that wasn’t taken care of. The buildings seemed more run down, I mentioned the concrete park, and it was definitely an area I wouldn’t want to be in after dark.
Kuo’s writings wouldn’t generally correlate to how I view nature, as I have mentioned before. His writings were a in-depth look at other studies done about how trees impacted neighborhoods, and then a discussion on what that means for urbanized areas. This piece was more scientifically based and from a more logical place. Muir’s writings were very much from an emotional place. Muir writes with a literary style, very narrative like, where he describes vivid nature scenes and the his reactions to the world around him. He isn’t picking apart individual pieces of nature and studying the effects, like Kuo, he is exploring the grandeur of it all. Yet, both paint an equally interesting picture of the effect nature can have on human beings.