Thoughts on walking

Posted on | November 26, 2005 | 7 Comments

I am reading Rebecca Solnit’s Wanderlust: A History of Walking. Since I was little, I’ve been a walker. I walked to school from grades 3 through 12 (I lived within a mile of both schools I attended, a rarity in Los Angeles). I would walk weekends to the mall, and then I’d walk all around the mall. I’d walk along the beach, the boardwalk. When I moved to Berkeley, I’d walk up into the Berkeley hills. In San Francisco, I’d traverse high and low. In New York, well, it’s foolish not to walk.

And when I travel: walking. Heel toe. Heel toe. When I was younger, and I would travel with parents, I’d get a shitty hotel map, and just start wandering, meeting up with them at some appointed time and place. I walked San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, and London in such a fashion.

Anyway, as I read this book, it will spur various thoughts. Some of them I will write down.

A few so far:

For my money, perhaps the most haunting depiction of walking in literature is Yossarian’s ramble through the “Eternal City” in Catch-22. In an otherwise satirical and absurdist work, the bleakness of this chapter is deeply chilling.

Walking, or rather, bipedalism, is considered by some to be the original human trait. When I think about australopithecines walking around, the image that comes to mind is of the footprints found in the volcanic ash, left 3.7 millions years ago by a couple of ancestors, scurrying with some intent, quite possibly safety.

And something I just learned. The adjective “pedestrian,” meaning dull or prosaic, predates the noun “pedestrian,” meaning one who goes on foot.

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7 Responses to “Thoughts on walking”

BJMe
November 27th, 2005 @ 9:30 am

And don’t forget Paris. You, your Mother and I left the Passy district to meet Joe at the Pomidou Center. Your Mother and I went to the Metro station but you decided to walk clear across town. And you beat us to the Pompidou.
Edward Vielmetti
November 27th, 2005 @ 2:01 pm

Solnit has a new book out -

A Field Guide to Getting Lost

haven’t read it yet, but I put it on reserve at the Ann Arbor District Library and hope to see it show up soon.
Emily
November 29th, 2005 @ 7:32 am

If all of America loved walking as much as you do, I bet we’d all be in much better shape, and better spirits!
Livia Labate
December 1st, 2005 @ 9:30 pm

Would you be frustrated if those weren’t really footprints?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4488490.stm
peterme
December 2nd, 2005 @ 11:20 am

Those are different footprints! Those are the footprints of the “first Americans.” The ones I’m talking about are australopithecine footprints from Laetoli in Africa.
K8 Simpson
December 6th, 2005 @ 9:27 am

‘Course the publisher is reprinting here in the UK right now, so can I get a-hold of this book for a Christmas present (under the guise of buying it for my partner of course…!) ??
Not on your life (well for a hefty fee I could get it shipped from the States I guess!).
{{sigh!}}

Thanks for the review though!
laurette
April 3rd, 2006 @ 10:36 am

I like your website alot…its lots of fun… valium online

peterme.com

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Thoughts on walking

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