From Jumping To Chalking

So I color up this railroad-converted walking/recreational bridge probably every other day with chalk. Chalk is kind of a beautiful thing because it’s brilliant and radiant if you put enough effort and creativity into it, but it will never last forever. Now read that sentence above again and replace the “chalk” with the word “life.”

yeah that’s some real shit – I just thought of that as I did a double take xD…. but anyways back to the point.

Chalking brings people together: people want to stop and watch you draw or write, they want to join in with you, they want to make their own creations, and before you know it, you have 5+ people chalking in a circle with another 7 people standing around. Then you get that random guy with the guitar who comes and plays. Then you have a peaceful, simple party of kind strangers all brought together by something so simple as chalk. Sometimes I’ll write jokes in sections on the bridge so that people have to walk further up to get the punch line. My friend and I did this joke the other day and had easily 30+ people walk past me being like “what? I don’t know what this joke means” then as they walked past my friend doing her part chalking the punch line, you could hear everyone laughing like it was the funniest thing they’ve ever heard.

We used to use this bridge as an icon of potential death, always guessing how likely it’d be to survive the fall, different ways of reaching the top railings, and more suicidal ideational thinking. It always felt like our death spot. I know it sure felt like my death place. But I’ve realized that this bridge is now my laughter spot. It’s more than a place to die. It’s a place for all people to come and gaze out over the river, go for a jog, ride a bike, have a peaceful walk, or enjoy in the simplicity of chalk art. Chalk may seem elementary… but it is so much more.