- A man walking six dogs
- Three babysitters with 10 babies in one stroller
- A group of foreign exchange students from China waiting on line for Shake Shack
- A bench with three homeless men talking to each other and smoking
- A women feeding three squirrels letting it touch her hand
- A little boy sailing his toy boat with his remote at the small pond with his dad
I pass by Madison Square Park everyday when I come in and out of the R train. There’s always something going on in that park. Parks are known to revolve around social interactions, as Lewis Mumford states it’s a, “theater of social action.” Among all the people immersed on their phones and laptops, there was a prominent amount of social actions taking place at the park. There was a man, I’m guessing a professional dog walker because he had six dogs all ranging from different sizes on multiple leashes. I also spotted three babysitters with a stroller shaped like a fire-truck and it had ten babies in each seat. They were all trying to keep this one baby, who was crying remarkably loud. Another interaction was a group of students wearing sweatshirts saying they were Chinese students from a foreign exchange program, and they were all waiting in line eagerly to taste the infamous Shake Shack, which drives a lot of tourist traffic into the park. Everyday I see these same three homeless guys with garbage bags on the same exact bench conversing and smoking cigarettes. You can see people not trying to go near them while holding their noses, and keeping their distance. The interaction that I startled me was a women had a bag of crumbs, and she was feeding three squirrels. They were going up her shoulder and touching her hand. People around her were just staring at her, and was as shocked as I was at this woman’s bravery. My favorite social interaction has to be when I saw this little boy and his dad sail his boat on the pond that’s located at the park. He placed the boat on the water, and started steering it with his controller. Both the dad and son were smiling at the boat as it was taking its rounds around the pond.
Taking what Mumford stated about the park being a social theater and a place for collective drama, I agree with his statement. I always pass by the park every time I go to Baruch, but I never stopped to see what’s going on like most people do in the city. Everyone’s fast-paced and on the go, but in a span of ten minutes I got to see so many interactions and drama. The interaction between the father and son sailing a boat was truly beautiful, you can see how much the boy is invested on sailing the boat and how invested the father is with his son’s happiness. The drama between the lady feeding the squirrel while other people are staring at her in disgust or awe. People were pointing and having side conversations on how crazy this lady was feeding city squirrels. We usually have the perspective that the city shouldn’t be interacted with because it’s not clean, but this lady was going against that belief. I understand what Mumford says when he states it brings a, “collective unity.” The park brings people together and allows you to interact with one another, when they’re not invested in their phones or focused on going to one destination. Mumford allowed me to have a different perspective on a place that I visit almost every day. I will definitely stop and take in what’s around me next time I’m in the park.
It’s so interesting that we go about our lives without stopping to appreciate what is going on around us. I love the fact that we can stop for a moment and appreciate the movement and actions around us, as though it is a scene in a play. I really liked your examples of the dog walker and the babies, it really brings the scene of Madison Square Park alive. Well done!
I really loved that you kept a list of all of the specific interactions you saw at the park! Whenever I’m in Madison Square Park, I see so many similar situations to what you saw, which I find really cool and interesting because even if you’re there at different times and different circumstances, the same groupings of people and activities going on can fall into categories almost. (The family, the college kids, the animal feeder, etc.) I also agree with the statement by Mumford about a collective drama, and I think you got a very similar vibe as I did!