2/23/98

Lots of Walking

One step at a time. You put out one foot, shift your weight and bring forward the other foot. That is how I describe how I spend most of my time. In the past three days I bet I have walked over 20 miles. No shit! Scouting, going to the Cineteca, walking to meet friends, whatever. Walk, walk, walk. It feels good and my feet are getting accustomed to it, and tolerating it quite well. (Actually my estimation is that I will walk about 800 miles before the 9 months are over!)

It seems that there are a few kinds of walking. There is the kind that one does when he or she is in a hurry.

Then there is the kind of walk that one does when she or he is just strolling, doing nothing out of the unusual, taking your good old time.

It seems that many things are going on in ones head while walking. I wonder what he is thinking in the photo above? Could it be happy thoughts? Sad thoughts? Perhaps there is nothing going on in there. It does, however, by gesture, seem that he is deep in thought. But does this gesture represent what he is really thinking? Or is it just that I caught him while he was digging something out from in between his teeth? It seems that we will never know. But at this precise moment, the way I froze him in time, forever (depending on how long this medium lasts) he appears to be deep in thought.

My mind 'moves' around while I walk. I think about what I'm up to and usually ponder many questions. Like why the hell does it take Italians so long to get anything done?

On this particular walk I was thinking about Dante. I'm reading his 'Inferno' from the 'Divine Comedy'. In the book Dante the Poet and his guide Virgil are walking through hell. During the walk Dante presents many interesting ideas and concepts. (I guess that is why so many read it after all these years)(he began writing it in 1308) One that I found particularly interesting is about the 'shades'. Shades are the spirits of those in hell. They represent the souls of those that spend eternity's in pain in suffering for the deeds that they 'did' on this earth. (It has always seemed strange that we are to believe that we will suffer for eternity for a few dastardly deeds that we do in this short life time)(I guess that is why we have religion...)(...To scare you into believing that you gotta be good, by the churches' rules)(So pay up - and go to church!)

The shades in this life can also represent a shadow cast by someone or something. So, during this walk, I was thinking about how to give form to these shades. It seemed to start to appear to me by noticing small details of the people that I passed. They are always there, it is just that we have to look for them.

Almost as if ripples of someone walking through a puddle I began to notice them appear. As I walked I began to see them more clearly. This reinforced my idea of being aware of what you want and getting what you ask for.

As I walked, things seemed to become more abstract. It seemed as though time slowed, and everything blurred. It was at this point that the shades became more apparent to me.

As I walked it swirled around me and undulated in front of me. I stopped and tried to gain my control and posture. Then suddenly a flash! As the light cleared away, I had a vision, in three dimensions in front of me.

It was the strangest thing I have ever seen. It was as though it froze in front of me. The only thing I could think of to do was to try to record it. As I pulled up my camera it seemed that time slowed down even further and I heard a noise of a slow very deep moaning that was full and rich. It echoed all around me. As I was moving my camera it began to form a funnel and turn into fire.

Then another flash. This time it was from my camera. When my eyes adjusted, it was gone. I could see nothing. I wondered if it could still be recorded. As I was thinking this I heard a quiet sound coming from my left. I turned and fired off another shot down the alley.

Could it be that Dante was right? Could it be that for five centuries his shades existed and we could not recognize them?

I knew that no one would believe me, so I told no one. In fact the reader may think that this is fiction. But remember, reality is only in the mind.

I continued my walk toward town with a smirk on my face.