Get lost!

I really loved last week's class and our foray into psychogeography. As someone who has lived in Portland most of my adult life, I'm constantly amazed by how much I've never noticed because I'm too busy getting from A to B to enjoy the journey.

In doing a little Google searching to learn more about psychogeography and its applications, I found this app: Drift. It will literally take you on a psychogeography tour through any neighborhood by giving a series of seemingly random directions (turn left here, turn right here, etc.) I am planning to use this over the summer--I'm thinking it will make for way more interesting walks than my normal loop through my neighborhood, and encourage me to explore parts of the city I've never noticed despite living here for more than 20 years. Check it out, and let me know if you'd like to go for a walk!

Here are a few pics from our group's walk last Thursday...

I've driven by Pedro Field hundreds of times but never really thought about it as a place of community. I don't recall ever seeing a baseball game happening there (though I'm sure they've been going on), or any activity at all, so it was fascinating to me to hear Dani share her vivid childhood memories of time spent there. One thing our group didn't share in class is that while we were sitting on the bleachers reminiscing about our various adventures (and misadventures) with group sports as children, which the baseball field and Dani's stories conjured up, a person Lacey knew and hadn't seen in some time (judging by the bit of the interaction I picked up) just happened to walk by. Kind of a cool coincidence, especially in a place that I never think of as particularly pedestrian-friendly despite its close proximity to Back Cove.

Interestingly, the very next time I drove by that field, there were people playing ball (informally) there. I wonder how many times I've missed that because I was too busy to pay attention?