Just two steps out my door, I heard, "You better not f**king run into me."

I did the assignment alone: blindfolded myself, walked out my front door and turned left right into a group of five or so guys who hang out on the corner regularly.



I stepped back toward my doorway and considered giving up.

Ali, the shop owner next door, was worried about me. In the picture above, he looks as if he was even trying to protect me, or steer me out of the way at least.

"You don't want to do that thing on this block. They'll steal your camera," he warned.

"I live here," I noted.

"That doesn't matter," he added.

I was determined, and I edged toward the far curb.

The guys threw some things at my back (bent-up straws and other trash) along with a load of your mother's favorite swear words.

One of the five-some was particularly angry. "You take my picture, I'll break your camera."

There was an unexpected opening -- one guy in the back of the group asked, "Man, why are you doing this?"

I said that I wanted to see what it was like to try to get around if I lost my eyesight.

He was incredulous, "Why the hell would you want to do that?"

"To know what it's like to walk in someone else's shoes... to see things differently"

Then, I asked, "What would you do if you lost your eyesight?"

"I'd stay at home, man. I wouldn't ever leave my room."

I didn't want to push my luck, and I slid my way down the sidewalk with my right foot on the curb each step.

My next interaction was much less tense, and each one got easier as I made my way down the sidewalk. I met a bunch of neighbors for the first time, which was great. Here is a picture of a neighbor -- Hugo -- who was doing his laundry.



About 45 minutes later, I had come home to my front door.

The guys were still there on the corner.

to be continued...

A few things I learned:

1) With visual cues (admittedly stereotypical), I would have steered clear of this group of guys -- an unspoken understanding that there was plenty of space on the sidewalk for us to stay carefully in our separate worlds. Without the impetus of this assignment, I would not have inadvertently broken the seal between our worlds.

2) No matter how violent the guys' language was, they didn't push up on me or touch me in any way. I found that **so interesting,** and I wondered later if it was because of how utterly vulnerable I was at the moment.

3) Despite the tense interactions, I noticed that I was unusually calm. My heart wasn't pounding as I would have expected. In much more tame conflicts, my heart has raced, my face flushed red, and I'd spit out the most incoherent words in retort. I wasn't fazed this time, and my thoughts were fairly collected. There might be something about the visceral nature of sight that triggers such strong emotions.

4) I have much more to learn from this experience, and I need to spend more time reflecting.