Happy Memorial Day! Here I am, sitting at a local coffee shop, enjoying the breeze from the open windows and blogging. I’m hoping that this will become a bit of a ritual – trying new coffee shops and writing. Sometimes I feel like I avoid writing because it involves sitting in my apartment, by myself, for a couple of hours when I could be out doing something. But if I go to coffee shops to write, I’ll not only write more often, I’ll also get to try a bunch of new places. Which I love to do. Right now I’m at Savor the Flavor on the corner of Lincoln, Sheffield, and Wrightwood. So far I really recommend it. Good food and coffee at decent prices, and a really nice atmosphere. But anyway -- here’s hopefully the first blog of many from local coffee shops in Chicago.

I think perhaps it is finally, FINALLY summer here. This is tremendously exciting for a lot of reasons. It means there will be all sorts of street festivals going on each weekend. It means free symphony concerts and movies in the park. It means I can wear skirts and flip flops and not freeze, and leave my apartment without a 10-pound winter coat. But most importantly, summer is the beginning of walking season.

Anyone who has spent much downtime with me, particularly in the summer, knows that I am a little fanatical about walking. Even though I am a huge supporter of public transportation and know the bus and train system here like the back of my hand, I will almost always choose to walk when time and weather permits. And I don’t just mean short distances. Whereas most people’s definition of “walking distance” is somewhere around a mile, mine is pretty much anything under six or seven miles. For instance, on Saturday, I walked from my apartment in Lincoln Park to the Randolph Street Market in the West Loop – a distance of roughly five and a quarter miles, at least by the route I took.

I not only prefer walking to driving or taking the train or bus, I’m kind of stubborn about it. I’ve been known to spend 20 minutes talking friends into walking instead of busing or cabbing it, and even walking alone and meeting people at our destination when they won’t be convinced.

So what is my deal with walking? Why do I love it so much? There are, as far as I can gather at the moment, nine reasons. (It’s kind of annoying to me that I can’t think of a tenth, as ten is a nice round number for a list. But nine is a square number, and the first odd number other than 1 that is not prime, so I suppose it will do. Ok, moment of math nerdiness over.)

There are a few that you could probably guess, but they are pretty far down the list and I think my top two reasons might surprise you and maybe even give you some food for thought. So here they are, in reverse order of importance to me.

Top Nine Reasons Katie is a Walkin’ Fool

9. It reduces my carbon footprint.

To a small extent, walking helps me feel like I am doing my part to save the world from global warming. I realize that this seems a bit silly. When I don’t walk, I take public transportation, which will run regardless of whether I am on it or not. So really, my walking does not make much of an impact on carbon emissions. But some idealistic part of me feels that I am leading by example when I walk. Perhaps if enough people got out of their cars or off the bus to walk, it could really make a difference. Scoff if you will, but walking makes me feel like I am contributing to a healthier planet. (I love you Al Gore – sorry I was too young to be able to vote for you in 2000!)

8. It burns calories.

I’m guessing that many of you thought that this was the reason that I walk: to be healthier. Don’t get me wrong – this does factor into my decisions. It’s a lot easier to motivate yourself to exercise when you can fit it into your everyday routine, and walking to and from everyday destinations is an easy way to do that. And walking home after I eat a big meal or go out for ice cream does many me feel a little better both physically and psychologically. But the exercise aspect of walking is quite low on a long list of reasons for walking. I have my love/hate relationship with running for that purpose. But that’s a topic for another blog.

7. It changes my perspective about frustrating aspects of public transportation.

Even though I own a car, I rarely use it. I take public transportation to work everyday. And let me tell you, it’s not always a picnic. On days when two trains go by that are so crowded that I can’t even board, or a group of rowdy teenagers are making life miserable for everyone in the train car, or I am repeatedly harassed for money by solicitors, or the bus simply does not come, I want to poke my eyes out by the time I get to work or get home. But in the summertime, because I walk so much, I am on the train and bus much less often. As a result, when I do climb aboard, I find that I am struck by our public transportation system’s efficiency and utility. Yesterday, after a long stroll along our beautiful lakefront, I was suddenly longing to stretch out next to an open window and play with my kitty. I got on the train and I was home in 15 minutes. The train felt positively like a treat, and I’m sure I would not have felt that way about it if I had spent a big chunk of my weekend battling crowds of drunken Cubs fans for a seat or standing on platforms, vainly staring off into the distance hoping to see the train coming.

6. It’s a safety issue.

It’s not that I feel unsafe very often in Chicago. Indeed, I think that as long as you remain alert and aware of your surrounds – i.e. as long as you don’t do anything stupid – most areas of Chicago are quite safe. However, when it is after dark, there are substantially fewer people on the street, and the buses and trains run substantially less often. In these situations, standing still by myself on a train platform or at a bus stop makes me feel vulnerable. When I’m walking, I feel safer and more in control of the situation. Plus, I walk so fast, most attackers would not bother trying to keep up with me!

5. It saves time, or at least makes more efficient use of it.

This seems counter-intuitive or even false to some people. How could walking be faster than driving or taking the train? For longer trips, such as the five-mile trek to the Randolph Street Market on Saturday, this argument doesn’t hold. I realize that. But for many other trips that are only a mile or so, walking can often take the same amount of time or less. If I take public transportation, I inevitably will spend some time waiting for the train or bus to show up. Often, the time I spend waiting plus the time of the ride itself will add up to longer than it would take me to walk. And in those situations, it makes absolutely no sense to me to wait for a bus or train. While I advocate public transportation and think this city does an excellent job of keeping it running efficiently during rush periods, during off-peak hours it can be a crap shoot. You could wait 30 seconds for a train, or you could wait 20 minutes. Most of the time I am not in a big hurry, and this variability is not a big problem. But when I am meeting someone at a specific time, or going to a meeting, it can be a nuisance. I can leave at exactly the same time and on one day be uber early and on the next be late. Which I hate. Oh how I HATE being late! (Wow, that sort of sounded like Dr. Seuss, only angry). When I walk, I know how long it’s going to take me to get there. As I am a bit of a control freak, I find this one of the biggest benefits of walking.

4. It’s time to myself.

When I was in graduate school, I spoke often of a phenomenon I called my “perpetual fear.” My classmates were fascinated with the fact that even though we had 10-week quarters, I was usually done in 8. When asked why I always pushed myself so hard to finish early, I told them the answer was simple: I live in perpetual fear that I am going to run out of time. What if something happens, and I have some unavoidable commitment the night before a paper is due? What if my cat gets hurt and I have to take her to the vet? What if my car gets impounded and I have to fetch it before I owe hundreds of dollars in storage fees? You never know. My mind is a bottomless pit of worst-case scenarios, and so I always feel like I have to spend every feasible minute working on anything that has a deadline, just in case I am unable to finish later. This perpetual fear is worse when I am in school, but it still exists when I am not. Right now, it’s more like perpetual guilt. (Thank you, Catholic upbringing.) Even if I have nothing with a deadline, I still feel like I should be spending my time doing something productive or useful for humanity in case I am unable to later. It’s one of the more tiresome and unhealthy aspects of my personality.

So, what does that have to do with walking? Walking makes me feel like I am doing something productive for all the reasons above and below. But, because I am blessed with the ability to walk and talk, or walk and think, at the same time, it also serves as time I have to myself, guilt-free. (I confess I can’t walk and chew gum, though. I have TMJ.) While I’m walking, there isn’t anything better I should be doing other than reflecting on my day, people-watching, or talking to my friends or family on the phone. Indeed, almost all the conversations I have with my mother and my out-of-state friends occur when I’m walking. I love to walk because it slows down my angst-ridden brain and allows me to relax.

3. It’s freeing.

One of the things I like most about walking is its simplicity. I don’t need any equipment or gadgets or anything to do it, other than perhaps a pair of decent shoes. I don’t have to carry keys, or a transit card, or anything else in order to get somewhere. And even more importantly, I never have to return to a specific location to retrieve something I’ve left there, like a parking space or bike rack. Nor do I have to stay in decent proximity to a certain train or bus line. Walking is, without question, the most unencumbered way of getting around. It involves no frills and no excuses. And I love that, particularly because I often make spontaneous decisions about where to go when I am out and about. Nothing is out of my way, because there are no anchor points to measure from. Changing my destination has no inconvenient consequences. And not having to plan where I am going and when in minute detail really helps motivate me to leave the house. I just get up, get out, and start walking.

2. It’s a process of discovery.

Although all of the above reasons factor into my walking fanaticism, these top two reasons are by far the most important ones. First, I am always amazed at how much more I see when I am walking rather than riding a train or bus or driving. I love living in Chicago, and one of the biggest reasons for that is how easy the city is to explore, and how much there is to discover. I can walk along the same street over and over again and see something new every time. For instance, I walked all the way down Clark Street, from Diversey to Randolph, on my way to the market on Saturday. Along the way, I discovered a crepe restaurant I’m excited to try, two additional recycled clothing stores I was not aware of, and two new coffee shops I want to try. (My next blog will likely be written while sitting at one of them!) There are thousands of spots and treasures to discover in this great city, and I know I would miss so many of them if I did not walk so much. I’ve lived here for almost three years now, and fall more in love with this city every day as I discover more things about it. There’s so much more to Chicago than Navy Pier and the Sears Tower. I’m convinced that traveling on foot is the only way to really experience this city.

1. Because I can.

Many of the above reasons for walking have been Chicago-specific. And indeed, I probably wouldn’t be so passionate about walking if I didn’t live in such a walk-able city. But my number one reason for walking really has nothing to do with being in Chicago. Simply put, I walk because I can. I walk because I am physically capable of doing so. I feel like, in this society of convenience, we have lost touch with what the human body is capable of. Sure, there are competitions such as the Iron Man race, or American Gladiators, that encourage people to push themselves to the limits of human capacity. But those shows involve doing things the human body was not really designed to do. You have to be bordering on insane to take part in them. (Not that semi-insane people aren’t fun to watch. Did anyone see the episode of American Gladiators where the Evanator chased the Chicago cop up the wall, passed him, then asked if the cop wanted to arrest him for speeding? That was awesome.)

On the other hand, the human body was designed (or evolved, or whatever) with the capability to walk. And walking is easier than most people would imagine or admit. Sure, it takes time to get places on foot, but most people could walk five miles without being sore or even particularly tired. Yet the idea of walking five miles is silly or not even considered by most people. I think this is a travesty. Because walking can take you places that no other form of transportation can.

While I was studying abroad in Scandinavia, I took a solo trip to the Swedish city of Lund, and there was one moment I remember quite clearly about that trip. I had a few hours until I needed to catch my train, and I stood on the edge of the city looking down the coast. In the distance, I could see a pier. I took a photo, and then thought to myself that I’d like to see the view from that pier. After a beat, I had this moment of realization that there was absolutely nothing stopping me from seeing that view. And so I walked the few miles out to the pier and stood there taking in the view. I’m not sure I can really explain it, but there was something so satisfying about that moment. I stood there, looking back at where I had just been, and marveled at all the places my own two feet had taken me over the last five months of traveling. They had taken me up the steps of St. Peter’s dome, through Red Square, over dozens of beautiful bridges of Stockholm, and more. No car, bus, train, or even bicycle could have gotten me all those places. But, I didn’t need any of those things. All I needed was my own two feet. I was capable of getting so many places without any assistance from person or machine. I was endowed with a sense of power that day, and I’ve been passionate about the power of walking ever since.

So, those are the reasons I walk. There are reasons related to health, the environment, and utility, but mostly, I find that walking takes me places, both figuratively and literally, that I couldn’t go otherwise. I really encourage you to get out there and walk. You’ll discover more about yourself and your surrounds you would ever imagine.

And be patient with me the next time I force you to walk somewhere. I have my reasons, and they are nine-fold.

At long last, my blog is back.

For months, I’ve been saying I was going to start writing again. First, I said as soon as I got a job. Then it was at the first of the year. Then by my birthday. Then I ran out of deadlines, but I still didn’t write.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s been stopping me. After all, I really like to write, and I’ve been told by many people that I’m good at it. By the end of my time in Sweden, I had a big following on my journal. I’ve even been told several times that I should pursue writing as a career.

Truth be told, I’m not sure I’ll ever be a professional writer, but I do really enjoy writing. It helps me communicate a lot of things I couldn’t otherwise, because I’ve never been much of a phone talker or conversationalist in general. I have things to say, but I need time to think them through and organize them before I can say them. Writing allows me to do that.

So, why have I been unable to cajole myself into writing for months and months? Because writing is hard. Writing challenges me and keeps me thinking. Finding interesting things to write about forces me to observe the world around me and see humor, opportunity, and kindness where otherwise I would see nothing. Writing makes me pay attention. That’s what makes it such a satisfying pastime, but also what makes it a difficult one.

The reason I haven’t been writing is because I’ve struggled for a long time coming up with a topic that I thought was worthwhile. But thinking back on the reasons I started writing in my Sweden journal, I was reminded that the point of writing is to realize how many of the experiences I have every day are worthwhile. I’ve been trying too hard to think of something earth-shattering to say, when my best writings have always been about the smaller things.

So, to get myself started again, I’ve decided to write about the most mundane thing I did today: I went to Walgreens. It doesn’t sound like there’s much of a story there, does there? But, in every ordinary errand, there is something worth telling. Here goes.

I walked in knowing I needed two things: a new shower cap, and cat litter. I walked into the health and beauty section, and suddenly realized I had no idea where to look for a shower cap. So, I started wandering up and down the aisles, looking for anything in little hanging packages, as opposed to the shelves and shelves of bottles that fill the health and beauty section. There is a large wall at the back of the store filled with such hanging packages, so I headed there. Whoops, turns out this wall is actually full of nylons and cheap underwear. I scan the wall, just in case, and notice a package that says “Bag o’Briefs.” After a beat, this strikes me as hysterically funny.

So, I’m feeling the urge to laugh out loud, which is horrendously inappropriate for several reasons: 1) It’s fourth grade humor to think that’s funny in the first place, 2) There was another customer standing there seriously considering purchasing the Bag o’Briefs, and 3) I was alone, and no one wants to be the crazy lady laughing by herself in a Walgreens.

In an effort not to actually laugh, I did an about face to look at the hanging packages behind me. It’s at this point that I saw a package of bibs that is not advertised, as one would expect, as Bag o’Bibs, but instead as Bag O’Babies. Naturally, I picture three small children being purchased in a three-for-one sale at Walgreens, and I can’t hold it in any more. I walked away, hoping no one would notice there was a crazy lady laughing by herself in Walgreens and call the police.

You’ll be relieved to hear that I did eventually find the shower caps. After a lengthy internal debate, I chose to go with the $2.99 flowered one instead of the boring, ugly $0.99 version. (Thanks, GWB stimulus check!) Then I picked up some cat litter, was pathetically taken in by the three-for-a-dollar jelly bean sale, paid for my purchases, and walked out.

So, there it is. My triumphant return features a ridiculous story about a drug store visit. Not exactly my finest hour, but I’m going to post this anyway, because I really need to get myself rolling again. I post this, and finally, for real, the blog is back. And I hope it stays back.

For all the reasons I talked about earlier, I think the biggest struggle will be to come up with interesting topics to talk about. That’s where I need your help. Post comments and let me know what you’d like me to write about. Do you want to hear about city life? About commuting on the train and bus? About the various unhealthy ways I handle huge crowds during rush hour? How about graduate school? Want to know my opinions on the twisted world of academia? The politics of sharing an office with PhD students while I was a MA student? Or is there some decision I’ve made that you never understood? Want to know why I played crash cymbals in college, or why I chose to go to Sweden, or why I wore a watch to bed for over ten years? (Actually, many of you probably didn’t know I did that.) You may ask me anything – about my own life or about my opinions about anything else. I reserve the right not to answer, but promise to have good reasons for refusing.

So, post some ideas. If you don’t, I’ll continue writing about shower caps. And friends don’t let friends write about shower caps twice.