Wasson wonderings
November 11, 2021
What if middle-age nostalgia about college life partly reflects the remembered joys of living in a walkable community – the first and only time that many in our suburbanized society experience that?And what if fostering an appreciation for walkable and bikeable communities would make politically feasible the urban transformations essential to mitigate climate change?
Can a walk in the woods really improve mental health?
Or public art contribute to public health?
If so, might the intersection of the Wasson Way with our curving campus paths become a nexus of campus health, community engagement, and environmental activism? A place where the third and fourth universal apostolic preferences cross, where we accompany young people to create a hope-filled future characterized by renewal of our common home?
As one Xavier-crossing trail links Avondale to Ault Park, what new possibilities might the 34-mile Crown Loop open to our campus community?
And how might we, individually and collectively, prepare Xavier for all of it?
Such were my musings yesterday, when a beautiful afternoon tempted me to take a half-hour Wasson Way detour after receiving my COVID booster at the HUB.