Final Notes

I think there's a lot to be said about our class (and even more about the park in general.)

I'm sure some of you will leave today and never bother to read this again. We'll see what unfolds.

But I think it seems relevant to take the time and try to bring the park into the context of today and the future, sans the whole renovation thing. It seems when discussing the park today it's inevitably tied to the "what's happening to it" (i.e. NYU and the renovation.) But I'd rather talk about the "what it is." After all this time, and all of these years what is the park, really? An open, public space for residents and tourists alike?

...Muse?
...Refuge?
...Nuisance?
...Garden?
...Path between Points A and B?

I don't know anymore than you do. But I was walking past last week and it was one of those nice, warm, sunny days. Something like today. And I had a shitstorm of mess welling up inside me and leaking out my pores: work, finals, moving all my furniture to my new place, more finals, trying to back into my swimsuit body, finals, stupid people who don't know why it's called a "sidewalk" NOT a "sidestand", and finals. But when I walked by I decided to sit, sip on my ice coffee and take a few minutes before my next class.

And everything melted away, and there was a hiss as I sat down like all of the pressure was being released from my over-inflated mind. And I sat longer than I should have because I forgot to think about time and I forgot to think about things I knew I should have been thinking about. And the park did all this.

So maybe that's what it is for me. But that's all I really know.