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Mike Sowden's avatar

Each time I read this (this is the third time) I have a new thought. Mauybe I should keep coming back and leaving new comments like a crazy-person.

Anyway - this was the thought I had the first time round:

"Anyway, the two things I knew were most important to me were education—specifically math and public schools—and walking/walkability."

What if they became one thing?

I know your essay is making a case for walking being a lesson in itself and a tool for weaving community. But what if it was a tool for teaching as well? As in, specifically? Building a math lesson into the route (or an [insert other option] lesson) in a super-intentional way - as an attempt to prove to everyone that we learn things better when we're (a) physically active and (b) experiencing them in person, figuratively or otherwise? (See : Annie Murphy Paul's points about the non-brain body being an integral part of our cognition).

When I was at Uni studying Archaeology, we had to do assessed seminar presentations our in the streets of York. They are some of my strongest memories. Teaching a lesson about a place while *in the place* is an incredibly powerful thing. What if all education involved something similar - like walk-lessons?

Hunter-gatherer teaching. ;)

So anyway, that was my stream-of-consciousness when I read it the first time. I will be back with other thoughts later. Sorry.

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elm's avatar

(And I just barfed out a comment about not being able to say yes to everything that wound up being tangential to all this, so off it goes. 😆)

No, you don't have the time to say yes to everything, no one can.

"(Spoiler alert: I don't know)"

Hell if I know either. I am currently in an area which the NYT identified as a Republican bubble and the political hostility to people who are say, me, or any liberal, is quite high. Hard to get off the dime with a 'community' in that situation. We very much live in a world where lots of people are either dedicated to getting rid of people, or never allowing them in in the first place. Communities of anti-communities are doing bang-up business.

Don't even get me started on the lack of sidewalks in town. (The reason why: they don't want to pay for it. There is active hostility to people walking places. The bike lines are doing better because... the feds paid for it.)

elm

i have nothing helpful to add, I am afraid, but god bless you for trying 🤍

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