2008 Woodie Awards
To ride or not to ride
Scooting. All the cool kids are doing it. Maybe not, but according to Medved they should be
Whitney Medved
Issue date: 3/14/06 Section: Detour
Let's face it, our campus is small. Despite all the griping that goes on about hiking all the way up to the Agenos, the truth of the matter is that in comparison with other campuses, it's a walk in the park.
I live in Aquinas, and I can honestly say that I've rolled out of bed at 8:57, got dressed-up (I guess as dressed-up as one can be without a shower…), and gotten to class via my feet, all by 9:10. Fear not, I am not rebuking those of you who dread trekking to the far corners of campus, nor is this a didactic piece about how to sleep longer and neglect personal hygiene, I too have become acclimated to the tide pool-like eco system of Saint Mary's College.
For example, after a visit to the post office one fine day, much to my chagrin I discovered that a repeat trip was going to be necessary. I sighed and said "ugh, I don't want to go all the way back to the post office!" after which my suitemate flogged me with bamboo poles for my laziness. Not really, but she should have. We both laughed about how "all the way" really consisted of a two minute walk - and that would be taking up my sweet time. We chuckle about it to this day.
The point is all of us have acclimated to the size of campus, just as students at larger schools have also effectively adjusted. This does not change the fact that we still need to get places though, and fast!
Still, while a bike is the preferred mode of transportation at the typical university setting, it seems superfluous when getting the bike out of the building, or unlocking it from its chain, would take longer than the ride itself, or the walk for that matter. It would be denying us a large part of the college experience to bar us from alternate modes of transportation. Aside from the token long-board, I feel as though we still have some options here at Saint Mary's.
While meandering back from math tutoring one night, I was quickly overtaken when a young man passed by on a Razor scooter. Genius!
Now, I will admit I thought that fad was a little last year, and that the typical age demographic for them was 11-14 year-olds, but I have seen a fair share zipping around campus.
With numbers and equations still spinning through my hopelessly English-oriented mind, I hypothesized that proportionally speaking, the circumference of the wheel of the razor coincided with that of a much larger bike wheel, whereby both vehicles are appropriately calibrated for distance and time of travel on said campus. Therefore, according to Euclid (things which coincide with one another are equal to one another) our campus is smaller than larger universities, but equally navigable on foot-operated vehicles. Now, this is where I had hoped to bust out some actual measurements and follow a proposition to really hit my point home, but alas, due to a lack of time, Razor, and mathematical inclination, that endeavor was not accomplished.
I live in Aquinas, and I can honestly say that I've rolled out of bed at 8:57, got dressed-up (I guess as dressed-up as one can be without a shower…), and gotten to class via my feet, all by 9:10. Fear not, I am not rebuking those of you who dread trekking to the far corners of campus, nor is this a didactic piece about how to sleep longer and neglect personal hygiene, I too have become acclimated to the tide pool-like eco system of Saint Mary's College.
For example, after a visit to the post office one fine day, much to my chagrin I discovered that a repeat trip was going to be necessary. I sighed and said "ugh, I don't want to go all the way back to the post office!" after which my suitemate flogged me with bamboo poles for my laziness. Not really, but she should have. We both laughed about how "all the way" really consisted of a two minute walk - and that would be taking up my sweet time. We chuckle about it to this day.
The point is all of us have acclimated to the size of campus, just as students at larger schools have also effectively adjusted. This does not change the fact that we still need to get places though, and fast!
Still, while a bike is the preferred mode of transportation at the typical university setting, it seems superfluous when getting the bike out of the building, or unlocking it from its chain, would take longer than the ride itself, or the walk for that matter. It would be denying us a large part of the college experience to bar us from alternate modes of transportation. Aside from the token long-board, I feel as though we still have some options here at Saint Mary's.
While meandering back from math tutoring one night, I was quickly overtaken when a young man passed by on a Razor scooter. Genius!
Now, I will admit I thought that fad was a little last year, and that the typical age demographic for them was 11-14 year-olds, but I have seen a fair share zipping around campus.
With numbers and equations still spinning through my hopelessly English-oriented mind, I hypothesized that proportionally speaking, the circumference of the wheel of the razor coincided with that of a much larger bike wheel, whereby both vehicles are appropriately calibrated for distance and time of travel on said campus. Therefore, according to Euclid (things which coincide with one another are equal to one another) our campus is smaller than larger universities, but equally navigable on foot-operated vehicles. Now, this is where I had hoped to bust out some actual measurements and follow a proposition to really hit my point home, but alas, due to a lack of time, Razor, and mathematical inclination, that endeavor was not accomplished.