8/15/07: Performance Walk Documentation

Start time: 5:49 PM, Dudley Square
End time: 7:49 PM, Mass Ave T Stop, Massachusetts Avenue
Action: Started in Dudley with heavy suitcases filled with seed pots, dirt, water and squash seeds. Asked passers-by to help me carry my suitcases from one bus stop to another. Proceeded along the route in this way, remaining still and waiting at each stop until someone offered to help. Got as far as I could in 2 hours.

Documenter Information:
Gender: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Age: 27?
Lives in: Brookline

5:49 PM: Dudley Square

Chivalry?

The scene wasn’t great at the start. My own bad experience colored my first impression of the first person that interacted with Andi.

Was she safe?
I think so. I’m sure she makes her intentions clear.

Am I safe? I’m slightly put off but I feel ok.

I don’t feel comfortable taking a photo because I was immediately connected to Andi by others visually. I feel like I look as if I were spying or trying to catch someone doing something.

We turned the corner. Not so many people. Just I in fact.

3rd stop:

A small older, kind-looking woman. She seems to sympathize. I can separate myself from the situation now. Andi and the woman are sharing stories now. I feel safe here and I feel Andi is safe.

A man passed in a hurry.

It’s green here. I’m under a tree. I feel like we are at the line between gritty urban and industrial manicured landscape. There are dogs – many of them barking.

She looks like she’s been stranded. Where could this woman possibly be coming from around here with those two bags/suitcases?
The red of the bags stands out against the green.

4th stop:
Totally desolate and between places. It’s not a place itself. I shouldn’t be standing here. She looks like she should walk to the next stop because this isn’t a place to be standing.

Lonely.

Andi, you are a very “open” person. Inviting, I mean. I’d talk to you.

Some help comes, finally. Or rather, it is sought across the street. It seems this whole action, this favor that’s being requested, is a chance to expand on a moment that would normally only be a moment. To create more of an exchange than just eye contact.

Help leaves us off at a non-bus stop. She was a young black woman who moved on in another direction.

I’m curious about the men and how they react to the seeds that are given. Women seem to be comfortable with it.

It’s chilly and cement-y. A building is under construction across the street. It’s as cold in the shade as the area looks. There’s no one around that isn’t driving by in a vehicle.

Andi moves across to the next corner. A woman offers -- oh, no she doesn’t. She takes the smallest bag and there isn’t any conversation.

Stop 5:
At the next stop. The woman drops the bag and doesn’t want Andi’s gift.

The man at the stop seems happy to take the gift and chat.

Seeds grow and become nourishment. A kind gesture… grows to nourish as well.

It’s loud. Ambulances, construction, and the Boston Medical Center traffic.

We are a lot less out of place. Many people carry things but they are kept. Nothing to be shared. Purchased things in plastic bags – owned.

Your bags speak of going somewhere. The man you are speaking with isn’t going anywhere. He’s at the stop but not catching any of the many buses.

I wonder where the seeds will go.

1 to Revere…
Strange that I imagined women being more receptive to the seeds…

On Mass Ave it’s quite busy. It’s dusk. I realize many people move about in a very closed off way. Myself as well. I’m truly surprised at what seems to be an overall positive reaction. A willingness to help a woman in need.

There are young girls, 17 or 18 years old. They seem wary. Andi is a stranger after all.

Nope, now there’s a crowd of kids. Squealing tires scare everyone and the crowd walks away.