Reflection on Walk #49 – On Saturday morning, June 20, 2015, at 7:30 a.m., 14 Mindfulness Walkers gathered in front of Hamilton K-8, a FUSD school near the busy Palm and Clinton intersection.
Walkers described the walk with these words: diverse, calm, loving, established, surprising, and crunchy magnolia leaves. The youngest walker, a 7th grader, noticed the variety of chimneys, and other walkers agreed that chimneys stood out to them as well.
The sights, sounds, and smells that were remarkable on this walk included: different window styles, chimneys, mature shade trees, churches, and the wide range of residential conditions – from well tended to neglected. Walkers smelled breakfast cooking, heard dogs barking, saw spinning pinwheels reflected in the sun, stained glass windows, container gardens, and front yard seating areas. Walkers noticed many signs of residents trying to make a peaceful oasis even with the simplest of efforts and costs. Walkers saw bridal shower presents piled on a kitchen table inside a front window.
Walkers observed locked gates at school playgrounds. Walkers talked about their own childhoods when they grew up in these neighborhoods. School playgrounds and alleys were a regular place to play after school and on the weekends.
Walkers were saddened by the locked school playgrounds, the neglected, trashy alleys, the dry lawns, and brown trees. Walkers noticed many tall trees stressed by the drought. A number of yards were not just brown, but crunchy dry. Walkers noticed a few new drought-tolerant landscaping, and at least one house with visible solar panels.
Walkers talked about the shopping area at Fruit and Shields. This used to be the core of stability for this neighborhood, with a market, and Tony’s pizza. Another corner now has a 99 Cent store and a Bank of America with large trash items dumped in the B of A parking lot. One Walker who lives near here told us she recently pushed a shopping cart from her residential street back to the retail corner. She saw that same shopping cart, but it had moved.
Walkers strolled the premises of Beautiful Zion Church but commented on the two windows that had been boarded up. Walkers observed a number of churches: Mt Olive Church, United Christian Church, Congregation Beth Jacob, Unity Church of Fresno, Beautiful Zion Church, Faith Baptist Church. Walkers observed Hamilton K-8 FUSD School and also Daily Elementary Charter School.
People we met:
Walkers met Guillermo, who was sitting in the shade of the United Christian Church with a rolling wire basket overflowing with recycled bottles and cans. He only spoke Spanish, so we exchanged a few simple greetings. After we met Chris later, she told us that Guillermo goes by the name Chewy.
In the parking lot of United Christian Church near Marks and Shields, FMWalkers met a woman named Chris. Chris was wearing a small backpack and carrying a water bottle and calling out for her dog Woofy. Chris told us her dog Woofy usually stayed near her. Chris is homeless, but since her mother lives just a few blocks away, she has a place to hang out some of the time. But otherwise, she just hangs out around this intersection looking for a place to rest in the shade. When we asked Chris what she did for a living, she said she was a caregiver.
While walking down an alley, FMWalkers encountered an open back gate and men working in a back yard with shovels. Walkers met Rodrigo who came to greet us and was friendly. His back fence was burned, and he told us how a couch had been put in the alley up against his fence and set on fire. The fire engines came and put it out, but the charred fence had stayed burned for two months. He locked his back gate since people use the alley at night, and he wanted to lock up his back yard.
At the end of the conversations, Lori asks FMWalkers to think about the residents of every Fresno neighborhood as our brothers and sisters in Fresno. All of our lives and futures are tied together. No one is
Facebook photo album: https://www.facebook.com/pg/fresnomindfulnesswalks/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1625672887719459
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