ISTE 2010: Walking

Took a long walk this morning from 1st Ave to 14th. Walking is a form of technology, really; in that it's a sort of interface for processing one's surroundings.

I was struck by three things.

First: The size of the boulevards. Being an East Coaster, I find six-lane one-way streets in the middle of a city somewhat confounding. But everything is sort of bigger and broader out here; influence of the Rockies, for sure.

Second: Architecture. Architecture and the lack of it. There's a lot of construction going on and even the older parts of downtown look freshly dusted. The library and the art museum are particularly impressive -- both models of innovative design. It's an odd contrast to the quite large population of homeless and mentally ill you'll find all over the city. Certain parts of town are downright wastelands and if anyone here at the convention could point me in the direction of anybody working with these populations in Denver, I'd love to talk and hear about what's going on.

Third: Fruit trees. I love seeing fruit trees along the sidewalks. Walking into downtown this morning, I passed through a neighborhood where a bunch of sturdy apple trees grew along the side of the road. And it seemed like a pretty good metaphor for the way I'm experiencing Denver -- for in a city full of big roads and bright buildings, it's in those old roots finding their way under sidewalks and along curbs that I see what a city can be.