Wash. SqpRK

 

Washington Square Park, Nine point seventy-five acres in total,  located in Greenwich village and named after George Washington was originally divided by a marsh valley ‘The Minetta’  and densely populated by the Lenape tribe. In 1624, the Dutch working in part with an Indian trading outpost at the Southern tip of Manhattan seized the land and gave it to slaves in order to keep the natives away and to exploit the slaves for farm labour under the guise of freedom, and was given the nickname the “land of the blacks.”  The “Blacks” eventually lost their rights under English rule and the property was seized and merged with Dutch-English landowners.  In 1797, a plot of land that occupied now Washington Square Park was purchased as a place to lay the poor after an epidemic of Yellow Fever (1797-1803), the space already housing the bodies of many people belonging to the surrounding churches. After they had filled the grounds it was turned into a park to increase the affluence of the surrounding neighborhoods. Following the completion of the fountain erected 1853 and replaced 1872, were the draft riots, spanning from Monday July 13th to the 18th. The people of New York, including many Irish and German immigrants were enraged by the declaration of the Emancipation Proclamation and set forth spread their rage on the community as a whole beginning with attacks on military and government building and soon escalating to set an orphanage for black children on fire, leading to the displacement of the children, and attacking anyone who spoke up in defense or got in their way, including other immigrants who impeded their actions and even random black people on the street, ranging from children to old men. In December of 2007 the New York City DDR proposed a 16 million dollar redesign for the park, completed between 2009 and 2012, spicing up the park which continues to be a cultural and social hub to this day.

 

                                                     INTERVIEWS

 

Q1: How often do you come to the park?/How much of that time are you using tech?

Person 1: Once a year, I commute from brooklyn Heights, I’ve been on my phone and laptop a majority of the time

Person 2: Once a day and I use my phone half of the time, for music etc.

Person 3: Once a week, maybe less (commutes from staten Island), uses phone/ipod ⅓ of the time

Person 4: Walks through park every day for class, using phone/music a majority of the time

Person 5: Their second time here, using phone majority of the time

 

Q2: What is your favourite spot in the park/why?

 

Person 1:Wherever the sun is/ The south side. They like the arc and fountain view sans crowding

Person 2: Here, it’s quite (near the corner where washington sq crosses washington sq)

Person 3: Doesn’t know, never sat ‘here’, but likes it, away from the middle

Person 4: Around the fountain, likes how its central

Person 5: Fountain, beautiful

 

Q3: When was the first time you came here/tech involved?

Person 1: I was a teenager visiting from long island watchung people skate (like 30 years ago)

Person 2: Felt like this was the definition of new york, busy, diverse, happy (they snap chatted the experience)

Person 3: Just moved back from 18 yrs away. 11/12 yrs old, loved it, loves the communal feel

Person 4: When they moved(for school). Came at night with parents. The arc was lit up

Person 5: Came with friends at night

 

Q4: What type of tech do you use here?

Person 1: Twitter ect/or working

Person 2: On instagram or facebook

Person 3: texting(working)/emails

Person 4: Texting/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat

Person 5: Texting Friends

 

Q5: Sit or Walk?

 

Persons 1: Walking

Person 2: Sits, walks on outer ring w/o phone

Person 3: Moving

Person 4: Sit

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Leo Sherman. Age 18, sometimes gets mistaken for older, most of the time quite younger. A nose that is slightly sloped if looked at from the side protrudes from his face, a rich warm brown. Sparse black hairs cover his brow bone and flecks of pigments his forehead and cheeks, while crinkling almond shape eyes are supported by a ring of black lashes that appear to fan out. Their curve carrying the weight of independent histories, crashing together on one body. Dark eyes sparkling with a wholesome mischief, coping with historical trauma, coping, mischief. A heavy metal is found between the nostrils, its point resting softly on his cupid's bow, accenting his mouth, lips full and slightly puckered, as if in annoyance or vague displeasure. His chin is unremarkable while one ear seems to stick out giving him an uneven appearance. Brown locks fade into a soft green upon his head, short hair curling in a corkscrew pattern, and star of david resting on collar bone.

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