onwalking-a-journal-bypaul
On Walking: A Journal
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11/24/2021
7:03pm
Scottsdale, Arizona
My last required journal entry! I’ve enjoyed this journey and have learned a lot. Tonight for my walk I just walked around the neighborhood again like I have been doing. Even being off the freeway a few miles you can still hear the dull distant roar. I also appreciate seeing random wildlife up here like quail and bunnies. I’m happy to be back in Arizona. Thank you to anyone that was along for this journey!
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11/23/2021
12:43pm
Gateway Trailhead - McDowell Sonoran Preserve, Scottsdale Arizona
Crunch crunch crunch
A rock slides as I step on it in my white dad sneakers. An annoying bird is in the distance and won’t shut up. I’m not particularly in the best head space today. The loud bird isn’t a humming bird. I enjoy the sounds a humming bird makes. It reminds me of a semi truck engine accelerating. There are a lot of loose rocks on this path. Two young men pass me going the opposite direction. They are exchanging thoughts on crypto currency. The loud bird is back. I guess I’m in it’s space, not the other way around. It’s still loud and annoying. I appreciate the desert landscape and condemn anyone that says it’s dead. Thank you for the slight breeze today desert. Thank you for your refuge during winter. Thank you for your loud birds. Thank you for your towering cacti. It might rain today. A Sonoran desert treat. I hope it does. Thank you desert.
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11/22/2021
1:03pm
Phoenix, Arizona
Today we have been touring apartment complex’s. It’s been entirely exhausting but walking the grounds helps one get a better idea of what the complex is actually like.
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11/21/2021
10:48pm
The Rebel Lounge, Phoenix, Arizona
I’m glad to know that I can still navigate my way thought a crowd. I thought I lost this ability. It’s still here, like riding a bike, or smoking a cigarette.
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11/20/2021
11:04am
Fountain Hills, Arizona
Today on my walk I saw the plant Desert Broom. It’s so beautiful!!
Baccharis sarothroides
http://southwestdesertflora.com/WebsiteFolders/All_Species/Asteraceae/Baccharis%20sarothroides,%20Desertbroom.html
The white cotton parts of the plant float away if you shake its limb. It’s quite beautiful.
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11/19/2021
3:04pm
Scottsdale, Arizona
I walked around Trader Joe’s today. It really blows my mind that people don’t know how to navigate this kind of store. I will park my cart somewhere and walk around and grab things and put it in the cart. I think it’s funny when people shop with their carts like their at fucking Costco. Like move rich white lady.
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11/18/2021
11:01am
Scottsdale, Arizona
Today I had an interview for a photography/ creative director position at an auction house. It’s funny how when you’re walking and you try to picture how it will be walking when you enter a building. As I walked into the building for my interview I was greeted by the friendliness floppiest dog I have ever seen. I was not expecting that at all, but I actually like dogs so it was cool. 🤞about the job! I’ll hear back tomorrow.
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11/17/2021
7:04pm
Phoenix, Arizona
I went for a walk in my neighborhood again this evening. I’m unpacking from our big trip back still and don’t have time to think about where to walk yet. The slight smell of cigars was in the air. There is hardly any wind. The wind would normally blow this smell away, but it lingers in the valley. I don’t mind the smell of cigars. I don’t have any memories tied to the smell, just cigarettes. Two very different smells. The smell of a freshly lit cigarette reminds me of when I was 9 my brother would smoke in the car on the way to school. He would remind me every morning not to tell our parents. I never did, but they totally knew.
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11/16/2021
2:45pm
Phoenix, Arizona
I’m back. My arrival back in Phoenix was lackluster. I thought I missed it here. I don’t think I do anymore. I went for a walk around the neighborhood this evening. The smell of burning cedar was in the air. I do love this time of year, when the air gets slightly crispy at night. The sound of dogs barking at nothing in the distance. I can relate.
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11/15/2021
8:46am
Sugar City, Coloty
Crunching gravel beneath my sneakers.
Birds in the distance it’s cold but not too cold. The shore line is much larger than I thought. Cracks in the earth like lightning. The dock is pulled onto shore, winter is coming. The sky is blue, really blue. I missed the southwest skies. I begin to walk back. Some parts of the earth I walk on are soft. Birds making bird noises in the distance. Gravel, again under my sneakers. Small logs every 100 feet that make me loose my rhythm of walking. I don’t have to walk over them I can walk around them.
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11/14/21
5:04pm
Sugar City, Colorado
Today we drove about 8 hours from Rapid City South Dakota to Sugar City Colorado. I took a walk right around sunset and it was so beautiful. It was a short walk but inspiring!
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11/13/2021
2:29pm
Rapid City, South Dakota
Today we loaded up our U-Haul in Rapid City. My walking experience today was walking back and fourth to and from the U-Haul to the storage unit. I am exhausted but excited. The weather was perfect until the very end. The wind can be so harsh.
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11/12/21
10:03pm
Rapid City, South Dakota
My personal cartography would look something like this.
This is a map of all the cities I have lived in. Starting with Florence, Watertown, Wall, and Sioux Falls South Dakota. In addition to Tucson and Phoenix Arizona. These cities and towns are all connected in a way to me, so I have connected them literally in a way that is unique to me.
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11/11/2021
3:21pm
Florence, South Dakota
We drove back from Fargo today. It started snowing on our way back to Florence. I tried to walk outside but that’s not happening today. I watched a live tiktok from @pedestriandignity while they were walking so this is my “walk” for today. He likes to point out how his city, Denver, is not pedestrian friendly. I kind of like his content, but I’m kind of annoyed by him at times as well. I enjoy his perspective!
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11/10/2021
2:03pm
Fargo, North Dakota
We came to Fargo North Dakota to catch up with an old friend before we go back to Phoenix this weekend. There is something about walking and talking, catching up, talking shit. It’s cold as fuck here, it going to snow tomorrow so we’re leaving Fargo to go back to Florence early. We may delay our trip to Rapid City, South Dakota by one day because of the weather but we’re not sure yet. It’s always hard to leave my hometown, but I’m ready. This snow bull shit is awful. Give me the 80 degrees and sunshine.
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11/9/2021
4:02pm
Barney, North Dakota
Today we visited the ancestral homestead of my partners family. It was beautiful!
We also visited the nearby church, equally as beautiful.
It was fun to walk around where nobody really walks anymore.
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11/8/21
8:07am
Menards, Watertown South Dakota
If you haven’t been to a Menards before, when the opportunity arises do not miss out on this experience. Menards is a Midwestern hardware store. Well, it’s not JUST a hardware store. You can buy anything from a gallon of mayonnaise to sheetrock. It’s always quite the experience. I wanted to try to have a “pencil” adventure like Virginia Woolf. My pencil was painters tape. I found my tape quickly and on my way out I noticed aisle after aisle, or so it seemed, of half awake white men staring and holding different objects. I think they need to put Starbucks into Menards locations like they do at Target. www.menards.com
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