Stranger Studies

I eavesdropped on a conversation at a bench in Washington Square Park:

The guy’s enthusiasm for Arizona drew me toward the Grand Canyon. I saw his unwaivered attempt to keep a dialogue going, a drive to erode his way through the conversation and bore his friends to death, analogous to the Colorado River’s pursuit to hollow out the Grand Canyon.

Conversation 1:
Description: (A teenage boy walking with an older lady. He appeared to be a New Yorker and she seemed foreign, mostly by the unassuming way he spoke to her. They seemed like family members. Maybe she was his aunt.)

Lady: (Looking at sculpture) Yeah but what’s it sposed to represent.
Boy: Art. It’s just art.
….Are you a fan of ice cream. It’s here.
Lady: What’s that?
Boy: It’s ice cream.
Lady: Oh oh yeah.

Conversation 2:
Description: Guy with a backpack and there’s a couple. Tourists. Wash Sq bench across from the arch.

That’s one of the things about New York, is that there’s not just places you can go and just hang out. Unless you guys have been over to Music in the Park, over at

One of the things about my home in Phoenix is the one, it’s super cheap, and secondly it’s

That’s one of the greatest things

And also you can get a lot of space for a little bit of money

And also the weather. You have two seasons and they’re just like good weather

And you can cancel out air conditioning by walking into the shade. In other places on the east coast you have this humidity

Do you ever miss

Uhhmm occasionally. I ran into a promoter a few times. An old roommate coordinates concerts at Carnegie hall. If that’s the case I get hired out. I haven’t been there in a while. It’s fun and it’s generally enough to associate with

Ha, feel how cold this is, haha

(Touches beer)

(GF returns with bottle of water)

Man it looks like you were slightly pained.

Mhmhaha

“Washington sq park is a 9.8 acre public park in Greenwich village…. Well know Manhattan park..”

That’s true like the park we saw earlier

The arch is called wash sq arch. Let’s see what that’s about. “Built in…to honor George Washingotn” oh it is the end of fifth avenue

So “the park as a whole extends..it remained farmland until”

(Continues reading stats for way too long, friends are clearly bored)

GF: Whoahh.

Conversation 3:
Description: Two little kids, boy and girl, both carrying little plastic toys like spaceships. They’re following far behind their parents. These kids are talking so much more than any adults, but most of the little boy’s words were gibberish. They were having fun, acting out scenes.

Shel Silverstein style illustration book
3D bristol block letters. Can be placed around a room, spaced out on chairs, tables, floor, shelves, hung from ceiling, rightside up and upside down and sideways and tilted, etc.
A large 3D thought bubble containing drawing or cut-out thought bubbles that hold text, or it contains a comic strip type dialogue.