Ciara, Alisa and Blake; 29 May, 2021; Boston, MA; London, UK; and Hawley, PA.
Three rivers: the Charles, the Thames and the Lackawaxen. Ciara,
Alisa and I set out together, apart (connected via Telegram). London is sunny,
while in the United States we walk in the rain.
![The Charles River on an overcast day]()
![Children play on the shore of River Thames]()
![The trail leading to Riverside Park on the Lackawaxen River]()
Between
Suburban and Urban: The
Charles River. Within the first fifteen minutes of her walk, Ciara has ‘been
splashed by two cars, stepped in two puddles, and encountered several closed
sidewalks’. The people she encounters are out with a purpose—'runners and dog
walkers’. The unfriendly charm of Boston: ‘Other pedestrians just treat you
like an inconvenience’. She passes a rainbow of fists stenciled on the ground
as well as ‘Everyone matters graffiti’. The sentiment against Black Lives
Matters is strong in America, though so is the fight for new modes of equality.
![Everyone matters graffiti]()
![A row of fists, each a different colour of the rainbow, stenciled on asphalt.]()
The
“community” garden is locked. No trespassing please. Near the boathouse that
belongs to Harvard—or is it MIT’s? or Northeastern’s? with so many boathouses
it can be hard to keep track—she reflects, ‘I always feel like a guest in their
water.’
![A no trespassing sign at the Charles River Community Garden]()
![A bench in front of the river, a boathouse in the distance]()
Urban: In London, a sunny day brought out droves.
Walking the Thames near Southbank, Alisa navigates a river of people. ‘Everyone
is SO dressed up’. The ‘first warm day. saturday. everything open.’ There seem
to be more folks on the river than the entire population of Hawley. Emerging
after a winter of discontent? People passing, people sitting.
![People walking along the River Thames]()
![Multiple boats floating on the River Thames]()
For Alisa, the monuments of the Enbankment evoked ‘Stalin’s Vodokanal projects’ and the power dynamics present in the ‘act of framing water’. The water not available for all. The embankment itself is a ‘man made thing’, a taming of the Thames. The crowds in London have better access to the river than Ciara or I, though Alisa still navigates a combination of actual public spaces and POPS (privately owned public spaces). Private spaces masquerading as public commons.
![A close up of part of a monument on the Embankment.]()
![Detail of monument obscured by dirt and cobwebs]()
For Alisa, the monuments of the Enbankment evoked ‘Stalin’s Vodokanal projects’ and the power dynamics present in the ‘act of framing water’. The water not available for all. The embankment itself is a ‘man made thing’, a taming of the Thames. The crowds in London have better access to the river than Ciara or I, though Alisa still navigates a combination of actual public spaces and POPS (privately owned public spaces). Private spaces masquerading as public commons.
Rural: My river was not so friendly. Beautiful, but
not particularly inviting. Until 2021 the Lackawaxen River had no
official public access points. Instead, there are private homes on the
private river. To be fair, the river itself isn’t private. You can be on it, but you can’t necessarily get to it.
![The Lackawaxen River with a house on the river bank surrounded by green trees.]()
![A sign on a grass path that says "This is not the walking trail, turn around and go back the way you came!"]()
I pass a house with a wooden sign laser cut with the phrase ‘I don’t kneel’. A reference to Black Lives Matter I presume. It couldn’t possible be a rejection of Christian genuflection (Hawley being a good, god-fearing town). As I walk, I continue to encounter moments where it is clear I am not invited. Psychologically my queer atheism overrides my status a white, middle class, able-bodied, cisgender male. A continual feeling that I don’t belong here. I am not aligned with the town’s common thoughts.
I pass a house with a wooden sign laser cut with the phrase ‘I don’t kneel’. A reference to Black Lives Matter I presume. It couldn’t possible be a rejection of Christian genuflection (Hawley being a good, god-fearing town). As I walk, I continue to encounter moments where it is clear I am not invited. Psychologically my queer atheism overrides my status a white, middle class, able-bodied, cisgender male. A continual feeling that I don’t belong here. I am not aligned with the town’s common thoughts.
Three
rivers, but who do they invite to walk?
![The Charles River; boats lie on the grassy shore.]()
![The River Thames with the London skyline in the background]()
![The Lackawaxen River with rocks in the foreground and woods in the background.]()
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