Journey to Dale

"Formerly, the problem was to invent new forms of labor-saving. Today, the reverse is the problem. Now we have to adjust, not to invent. We have to find the environments in which it will be possible to live with our new inventions." - Marshall McLuhan, in his book The Medium is the Massage, 1967

We have to live with the car. Everyday in America we deal with the car. There is no getting around it because our country has been engineered for it. This was one of the premises behind my final video, Journey to Dale.

For my final project I wanted to explore walking, a method of transportation as old as we are that has been made much more difficult in the car era. I walked to Dale, Wisconsin, to see what it would be like to walk long distances over rural and suburban roads, busy and quiet. It took me just over five hours and I learned so much. I learned that walking on the shoulder of high speed roads is very dangerous and often unpleasant. I learned that sidewalks often just stop and you are forced to continue over land that was not built for walking. I learned after that about 7,000 pedestrians die every year in this country alone.

But I also learned about the landscape. I learned that there are several new housing developments in the area, often right across from barns and silos. I learned that there is a cute little town near Dale named Medina, and that there is a bar downtown there that people love on Friday nights. I learned that walking requires a lot of energy and it's a good idea to bring food. Overall, I learned so much more than I bargained for. And I am so glad. I loved my walk - I wouldn't trade it for the world.