Students Do Walk, At Least Most Of The Time

To the editors:



I was rather disappointed to read Brendan Hodge’s “Getting Around” (comment, Apr. 14). I grant you that sarcasm is essentially the second language of all Harvard students, but Hodge unfortunately does not understand the line between being funny and playful, and being obnoxious.

Besides the general condescending tone, the simple fact of the matter is that most people at Harvard do walk most of the time (while at school anyway); if Hodge has evidence to the contrary, I’d be fascinated to see it.

Furthermore, Hodge makes factual errors in his description of running. He states, “running [is] similar to walking, but at a faster rate.” This is not at all true; running and walking are orthogonal concepts. When you walk, as Hodge should know if he is such an expert, you always have at least one foot on the ground, whereas when you run there is a moment when both feet are off the ground. You can increase your rate of walking to some maximum limit without achieving a run. Likewise, you can choose to run at a slower pace than a fast walker. The key difference is in the type of motion, not the rate.



ALEXANDER M. BRASH ’06

April 13, 2006