I'm a devotee of ritualistic nature walks myself, but I still laughed at:
This Sunday, at 10:30 a.m. sharp, a group of stylish, mostly 30-something New Yorkers gathered at the Hare Krishna Tree in the center of Tompkins Square Park. Despite a few complaints of hangovers, they had made it there on time for a plant and history tour of the park led by Olivia Rose, who handed out tote bags and forest green zines she had made for the occasion....
I loved the video snippet of the stylish, youngish folk walking quite slowly, each holding a disposable plastic cup of something brownish and milky. Plastic cups, tote bags, zines — zines! — nature is so great.
Here's the Wikipedia article on Tompkins Square Park, where I learned that the park is the namesake of Daniel D. Tompkins, who was once Vice President of the United States.
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Per Wikipedia a surprising history of rioting at the Park.
10:30am sharp? Are they sure?
Things the stylish, mostly 30-something New Yorkers touched: tote bags, the Hare Krishna Tree (maybe), greenzines, plastic cups, their phones (definitely maybe).
Things they literally did not touch: Grass.
Per Phillip Roth, Tompkins Square was near the Projects , and is where his first wife bought a urine sample from some black mom so she could take a pregnancy and force him to marry her.
And that's all I know about the place
To "touch grass" is to stop looking at screens and step outside. They met the brief.
There's virtually no chance most or all of those 30-somethings didn't look at the phones, not even to ensure they were on time.
"I’ve been wanting to come for weeks and weeks and weeks."
I hear that way too often.
JSM
Handed out tote bags? Should they have handed out sod?
Walk-up hook-ups.
Touch the grass with your hands and your feet. Good idea. Just forget about all the NYCers who don't carry doggie bags. And even those who do will leave a smearing of the stuff all over the grass.
@gspencer, screw the pooch doo-doo, I'd be more concerned about used needles.
When people started criticizing the new (ultra-woke) Dr. Who TV show in England, the star of the show said that people should go out and "touch some grass."
Based on the terrible ratings of that show, it looks like they are doing that instead of watcing Dr. Who.
When I live din Park Slope, I was a 15-minute walk from the nearest grass, so I understand "touching grass" as an activity that can require planning (especially when kids are involved), but Thompkins Square Park is a small park where most of the grass patches are behind fences. That's hardly the trip I would organize if I were wanting to touch some grass.
Tompkins was an interesting bird ... Monroe's VP, and a serious drunk. In 1820 he ran for Governor of New York and was defeated by DeWitt Clinton, who holds the interesting distinction of being the **only** Mayor of NYC ever to go on to a higher office.
"I used to surf the web to escape real life, now I seek out real life to escape the internet." – Some wag in a comment section somewhere.
It's fun to make fun of young people, but it's also kind of mean.
"I've been wanting to come for weeks and weeks and weeks."
It was the kind of love-making that left women begging for . . .
some.
its like Asimov's Caves of Steel, off by about 2500 years,
Overheard in Tompkins Square Park in the old days, "I'm going to get some milk, cover me"
Thompkins Square Park wouldn’t be my first choice, if it is as I remember. Better to continue east to the park on the River…
Jaq said, "It's fun to make fun of young people, but it's also kind of mean."
"It's fun to make fun of anyone over 40, but that's because we're kind of mean." - Young people
city grass is gross…
As others have noted, these photos depict people walking on hard dirt, gravel or concrete -- not one of them is shown stepping on grass. And they're all wearing thick-soled athletic shoes, so all their feet are feeling is polyurethane foam. It's not exactly "Barefoot in the Park."
Touching grass is counting coup with Gaia
Grass, weed, marijuana, ganja, puff the hallucinating drag-on.
I went to touch green grass and hit some golf balls this morning. The sun was shining and I was enjoying myself, until two cloyingly perfumed, gaudy makeup wearing, dumb-looking Korean Scheherazades who didn’t shut their markle-mouths for a second, a second(!) landed next to me. I hope people like that will never procreate. Who needs autists when you have over perfumed Korean Ambers and Tiffanies who refuse to shut up. We need a new category in psychiatric medicine.
"We need a new category in psychiatric medicine."
The category already exists. It's called "pathological narcissism". It can be sprinkled with various other personality disorders. Most of those afflicted are women.
What the hell is a zine?
Spring makes me want to touch ass, not grass.
“The old hometown looks the same
As I step down from the train
And there to meet me is my mama and papa
Down the road I look and there runs Mary
Hair of gold and lips like cherries
It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home
Yes, they’ll all come to meet me
Arms reaching, smiling sweetly
It’s good to touch the green, green grass of home”
Per Sgt Fury, Nuff Said.
Sung by the great Porter Wagner, but possibly written by others.
I planted herbs today, hoping that all the chilly weather won't do them in. The woman at the farm at which I bought them was gloomy about the whole of next week. But I hoped. I dug holes in dirt and splashed water about and imagined mint in lemonade, basil on tomatoes. Then I came in and read about those women trying to "touch grass" in an organized outing that had to keep off the grass. It was so silly but a bit sad, too. I thought people in New York had second homes in Connecticut and all through a circle around New York but. of course, not all of them do. And lattes aren't enough.
"I’ve been wanting to come for weeks and weeks and weeks."
that’s what she said.
Those 'young' 30 year olds between them ought to have brought the spring campaign against the marauding barbarians to a successful close, discovered several useful medicines or mechanical devices, enacted sound legislation in the House, written notable essays of poetry, painted a few amazing canvases, composed and performed symphonies, and so on and so forth; this lot has drunk coffee and assembled in a park. Am not impressed, not at all.
RCOCEAN II said...
Spring makes me want to touch ass, not grass.
"If my ass looks that good in my dress and you don’t touch me like this…we’re breaking up"
https://x.com/Amer1can_Barbie/status/1920282076638544334
If they want to touch grass, they can come over and mow my lawn.
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