Dérive by Robert Warren
December 30th, 2012 8:08 PM
What better conditions for a dérive than a snowfall in Milwaukee? It was cold. It was wet. It was getting dark. But it was also fun, exciting, and a great way to go down all sorts of paths and discover new crevices of Milwaukee that we'd never seen before.
The tale is told in the pictures, and the map is here.
All in all, we walked for about an hour and a half and covered a distance of 6.29 miles.
Conclusions
I was surprised at how arrows guide our transportation everywhere, everyday, and we don't notice them unless we're looking for them. Almost every curve had a big yellow arrow telling people to watch out. All the one-way streets had arrows pointing drivers in the right direction. Even turning lanes gave us a direction vector. Once we noticed the arrows, it was easier to neutralize their suggestions and find our own way around the city.
Second, we discovered that stairs are irresistible. Stairs saved the dérive not once, not twice, but three times. I'd never known Milwaukee had so many public staircases lying around, but they appeared and helped guide us in a direction more than I would have expected. Hooray for stairs!
Third, it's really hard to get courage to step off the sidewalk and to wander freely. We left the sidewalk maybe three or four times over the course of the entire dérive. Maybe the snowfall had something to do with it, or maybe sidewalks are a subconscious method of control the city uses on its citizens to keep them in check. There's something oddly empowering about walking in the road, on a median, through a lawn, or through a parking garage. Once I left the sidewalk, I felt like I could do anything.
Finally, taking pictures with my mittens is nearly impossible. And my hands get pretty cold fast when my mittens aren't on. I suppose that's not really a conclusion about the city, but it might come in handy in your life.
Facing east on Newberry Blvd.
Rene and I started the dérive at 2:30 PM. Snow was falling at a pretty quick rate, but because there had been snow on the ground, the city had already salted the roads, so they stayed clear. The sidewalks were another story. We saw tons of residents shoveling their walkways as we went by.
Arrow 1
It was funny how subtly these arrows were guiding us where we needed to go. I think I captured most of the ones we encountered, but whenever we had to make a psychogeographical decision regarding the flow of the city, these arrow signs influenced us both subconsciously and consciously. Once we saw them and realized how strong it was to follow them, we did one of two things: we either followed them with pride, or we subverted them by going the opposite direction.
Snowy road
Arrow 2
Hospital
We were walking by the Columbia St. Mary's Hospital parking garage and I felt a strong pull to go in, probably influenced by the heavy snowfall and the wind picking up. The moment I stepped away from the sidewalk, I felt energized. It was strange. I felt subversive, like what I was doing was wrong. But I also felt strong. Ain't nobody gonna turn me around. I'm on a dérive!
Parking ramp
We walked through the parking structure and arrived at this ramp. It was a huge slope, maybe 150 feet long, at a ridiculous grade. We sped up to the bottom...
Arrow 3
...and found our next instruction. This arrow told us to turn right. We did, and then a second parking structure caught our eye. But we felt pulled farther south, so we followed the road again.
South on Prospect
This was the view facing south. You can see the patchy clean sidewalks.
Woodstock
We turned onto a few side streets, and then we found this building, with its beautiful sidewalks and wooden door. What a find. I never knew apartment buildings of this style could look so welcoming.
Rubber glove
I found a dirty non-latex rubber glove on the sidewalk. At first I thought it was a condom, but I was relieved to see that it was something less disgusting inherently, but equally disgusting in this situation.
Mailbox
More or less adjacent to the rubber glove was this graffitied mailbox. I was impressed with the color choice and how it seemed to fit right it. Well done, graffito!
Alleyway
Rene and I thought this was an alleyway, but it turned out to be an actual street on the map. Windor Place. We started walking east.
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I encountered this bottle lying in the road. I picked it up and threw it into a nearby recycling bin. Go team!
Arrows 3 and 4
We arrived at an intersection and the arrows pulled us further east. It was strange, noticing them so vividly, when normally we'd ignore them and go about our day, letting their subtle influence go unchecked.
Dead end!
The arrows led to this dead end. Rene and I consulted our psychogeographical urges and found that we weren't really pulled anywhere. It appeared to be the end of the dérive...
Ftaires! We haue found ftaires!
There was a small set of wooden stairs to the east. Rene and I rushed over to them through the snowy lawn, passing by a set of playground equipment. We were in Back Bay Park, a place neither of us had ever seen or heard of before. "Look at this," I said. "How can they close the stairs for winter? Nobody closes stairs!" I stepped over the chain and started down the staircase.
On ftaires!
Rene followed. I hadn't walked for more than three stairs before I slipped and slid down a few feet. Rene laughed and I stood up. I totally deserved that.
A nice photograph
This photo has no narrative purpose. I just included it because it's my favorite. I inadvertanly took it while futzing around with my camera, and then it wound up being the best. Happy accident!
Lake view
This is facing Lake Michigan from the bottom of the staircase. Look at that dark and imposing cloud. Just look at it!
Footprints
We followed this set of footprints farther south, through some trees. There was a fine dusting of snow inside of them. They weren't old, but they weren't fresh.
These kids are snowing
There was a sledding hill on the other side of the trees tons of kids, parents, and pets were running around and shouting, enjoying the seasonal weather.
Sidewalk along Lincoln Memorial Drive
This is facing south along Lincoln Memorial Drive. The building up ahead is an Alterra Coffee shop. Once we arrived at the intersection, we felt stuck again. There was no psychogeographical pull in any one direction. It appeared to be the end of the dérive.
More ftaires!
And then Rene saw the stairs. We rushed over to them, crossed the road, and then ran up the hill beside them, like tons of other people had done before us. The hill was a slippery ice slope of footprints.
Bike path
Once we got to the top of the hill, I saw the Oak Leaf bike trail ahead of us. I ran up to the ledge and hopped down. We started to follow the bike path, seeing footprints, tire treads, and pawprints unfolding in the snow before us.
MAN vs MACHINE
A sticker on the side of the bike path.
Wall
This is one of the walls of the bike trail. It was leaking watch, which froze and created an amazing, cave-like formation. The bike trail used to be an old railroad line that shipped tons of stuff from Milwaukee, including missiles from an old Ford plant just up the path.
Graffito
We came upon this fantastic street art on the side of a building. I was impressed with how well-done it was. I realized that I hadn't seen much graffiti until now. And even this, this was one of the only large pieces of street art on the entire path. When did Milwaukee clean it all up?
Ftaires yet again!
The time that passed between the previous photo and this photo was a rather large expanse of time. We followed the bike path and ignored two exits, and then there were no more exits for quite a ways. We walked and walked and walked. We saw a hawk. And we walked some more. Just when we were about to give up and scale a wall, we saw these stairs, creeping out of the forest, leading to some unknown place.
Pumpkin
A blast of orange in a cold, white world.
Backroads
At the top of the stairs, we found ourselves in a residential neighborhood, quietly idling away the Saturday afternoon. We made our way northeast, slowly, trying to return home at this point. At some point our focus shifted from "where the city is pulling us" to "where our home is" and then we started moving towards that. This is probably the last point when intuition guided us without motivation.
Pizza
Somebody likes Toppers. Rene thinks they had a party. I do not.
Arrow 5
One last arrow, pointing us down Cramer Street.
Boulevard divison on Newberry Blvd
We cut across this large median on Newberry Blvd. I remember hearing a story. Apparently, people were playing a well-controlled game of football in the median. A police car shows up and tells everyone to leave, or they'll get ticketed. Surprised, someone asks what for. They weren't obstructing traffic and they weren't letting the ball go into the road. The officer said that they would be ticketed for being "pedestrians without a purpose" if they continued to play in the median. Say WHAT.
My last 2 votes. More to come when I get them. Great derive!