Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

Gazette opinion writer Shannon Slade clearly took a tongue-in-cheek approach in her Nov. 7 piece when she disparaged Dalhousie’s “vapid, sidewalk-hogging monsters” for having the audacity to stop in the middle of a sidewalk and have a conversation with a living, breathing person.

As entertaining as her argument was, she is incorrect.

I am proud to say I am exactly the type of person she was referring to, worse than “cows, geese, packs of feral dogs,” that strike up conversations while walking down Dal’s sidewalks.

In fact, it’s one of the reasons I enjoyed studying at Dalhousie. What can brighten up a dull morning better, while walking from one soul-destroying building to another, than coming across a buddy you hadn’t seen in a month or a professor you actually like?

All because you happened to walk outside at a certain time. These exchanges are brief, no more than a minute or two, but always enjoyable.

Here’s the thing, Shannon. We’re a bunch of stressed-out students. That said, our days are often not as demanding as we claim them to be. We can spare a few minutes chatting with a friend on the sidewalk, even if it means individuals like the writer in question have the chore of walking around. There’s no need for the folks conversing in conversation to walk off the sidewalk to keep talking.

Let’s all relax and enjoy Halifax. If I wanted to study in a fast-paced city, I would have went to Toronto.

Sincerely, Ian Froese