Tuesday, February 27, 2007

My fellow thrill-seekers


If I recall correctly, some of us in this group were also, at one time in our danger-defying youthful pasts, dabbling in something known today as "urban exploring". If you don't know what that is or to whose past I'm referring to, then I'll give you a hint: it involves flashlights, dark clothing, manhole-covers, and dodging Campus Safety (or maybe the police).
Some of us just crave a little adventure. The thrill of exploring off-limit places. The excitement of finding secret spaces unseen by the average joe (sorry, Joe). There are not too many un-explored natural areas anymore, so what do we have left? Rotting underground urban tunnels and abandoned decaying old buildings. Urban Exploring is a fairly new phenomenon found in most large cities of the world, and one of the most well-documented groups is Action Squad in the Twin Cities. I spent an entire weekend paging through their facsinating and extensive website.

My new-found interest in urban exploring was compounded when I heard there is a new documentary on that very subject premiring at the Walker Art Center. The film follows several members of Action Squad who were arrested as suspected terrorists because they were found in tunnels under the city. Can't wait to check it out. I may not be interested in getting arrested for breaking into old buildings (as kick-ass as it sounds), but I can at least watch other people do it!

2 comments:

Micah B said...

I went in those tunnels at Calvin once. was that with you Adrienne or were we on separate explorations. They had a thing on Urban Exploring on Criminal Minds or one of those shows. That documentary sounds cool.

abockheim said...

I can't remember who all was with us. I do recall Kim Hendrix, Dave Auperlee, and a few others. I'm sure lots of people went in those tunnels - they were not terribly exciting in and of themselves, but the IDEA was pretty cool. Check out the documentary here.