Henry David Thoreau Research Paper

571 Words3 Pages
On the cool, still afternoon of September 30th, I took a walk. This walk was (other than a class project) of no purpose, as suggested by Henry David Thoreau in his 1863 essay Walking. Thoreau describes a “true” walk as a chance to cleanse the mind of society’s dinge, and truly live in the moment. Although I don’t share the luxury of living in the Virginia wilderness and escaping the mark of man, I am able to saunter aimlessly as he did by implementing a degree of chance into my voyage. At every other intersection, I would flip a virtual coin up to two times. The first flip would determine whether or not I would turn at all. If I got tails, I would turn, and a second flip would decide between right or left. I did this at every other intersection to ensure that I had enough distance in my walk, and that I wasn't confined to a small area. Simply, the walk was largely unsuccessful, apart from the exercise that I got out of it. In a situation parallel to my first intimate encounter with a woman, there was too much pressure, and I was unable to “free my mind” and truly enjoy the experience…show more content…
Most of this section was previously-charted territory, besides a secluded patch of trees which I noted as being a prime makeout spot. After I got past that, though, things became a bit more interesting. starting near 71st and Powell, the first leg of my journey took me up to the cafe across from the PCC campus. I’d been curious about the establishment, but I decided to take the Thoreauvian route and avoid the constructs of man. I then walked back down 82nd, until my copper captain directed me southward and into a nearby neighborhood. This neighborhood turned out to be a dead end, and I considered taking a shortcut through someone’s yard. I then gauged my rebellious nature as “too low to climb somebody’s fence”, and was forced to retrace my steps to get out of the
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