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My
contention is that Washington Square park in New York City is the center of the
Earth – -- -- nay -- -- -- the center of the known universe. Everywhere you look
around that place you’ll see and hear the buzz of the flow of the city -- the
electric and infectious energy of everyday people at play, practicing the optimism of
the independent spirit of America. Parents pushing kids on playground swings.
NYU students making student films on the benches. Young dancers practicing ballet in the
shallows of the Washington Square fountain. You’ll see and hear dogs barking and
rumbling with one another around the dog walk, vendors hawking hot dogs in front
of the arch, and inline skaters or skateboarders zipping past
stream-of-conscious poets screaming their raves. And when the sun is out –
you’ll nearly always see street buskers entertaining throngs of tourists at the
south fountain sidewalk stage. You’ll see lovers kissing on benches and beat
police eyeballing pot peddlers and you’re likely to hear from the chess players
down on 4th Street with their often raucous games of board war.
But although Washington Square is a small place with lots of action and
heightened energy, there always seems to be a space here or there in one corner
or another where you’ll encounter a righteous benchnapper – come out to commune
with the independent spirit of America in his favorite way ...
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