Now that the weather is warmer, many students run along the River of Knowledge. One advantage of running as opposed to walking is the ability to see many Philosophocler students in a shorter period of time, or be seen by many Philosophocler students.

The Creativists take this opportunity to show off their hand-painted T-shirts (featuring a never-before seen hue of pink or blue), or the silken wings they have painstakingly woven, or their antlered hat lined with melodic bells. (They run slightly slower, however, with their gear.)

Not to be outdone, an equal number of Uniformists run along the river. Unlike the Creativists, they run in large groups. Actually, their exercise can’t be called “running” so much as “marching”, because they adjust their speed to that of the slowest member.

Regular runners check the Uniformist bulletin board in order to avoid the times that the Uniformists run, but sometimes the Uniformists converge impromptu on the gravel track, like telepathic bees. For they fill up the path, almost shoulder to shoulder, and are impossible to pass without either detouring into the woods and facing its brambles and vines, or even less attractively, detouring into the river and facing angry geese.

I find it pleasant to meet Creativists running the other way, as they will often wave to me using a hand gesture they made up on the spot, and which I will mull over for the rest of the day (did the upwards wiggle mean “find your wings, no matter how unsteady your first flight will be?” or did they mean “eventually we will ascend to the heavens and leave this world, no matter how firmly we try to hold on to the ground?” or did they mean “beware the smoke that your campfire leaves, lest you make yourself known to the enemy”? The Creativists will do well to ponder on this last interpretation.).