A Walk in the Park
Emerson Park is a fairly standard public park. Equipped with swings, slides, jungle gyms, a tennis court, and a basketball court, it’s a place that is normally filled with people of all ages. Young children have slides, trees, and all sorts of structures to climb and play on, while adults can make use of the tennis courts and walking trails, and the elderly can relax on the benches in the shade. Warmer weather makes the park lively and appealing, you could probably make a stock photo out of it for some sort of local magazine.
During the winter however, the park receives far less traffic. The colder months turns the park from a gathering hub for the neighborhood into a rather barren and lifeless patch of land. The park is still frequented by people however, many of them high school students making their way to school, or heading back home. Cutting through the park makes for a convenient shortcut to the nearby school, so while it may not be utilized in the same way during spring and summer, it still has people coming and going.
Many of these students will stop to chat with friends and catch up, or wait to walk to school together. While passing through on my way to the train station, I had overheard two students complaining about their physics teacher, who was once mine as well. They discussed how he was a really nice person, but had no idea how to teach and explain certain concepts. For the most part I agreed, and had made the same complaints at one point myself. Another person was on their phone to let someone know they had to be in early and wouldn’t be able to meet up before school started. One conversation that stood out to me was while I was heading back home, three seniors walking behind me were talking about college and what they would miss about home. Surprisingly enough they talked mostly about missing the cafeteria food at school, which was amazing to me as it was something most in my graduating class were happy to escape from. They were reluctant to part ways with daily burritos and pasta for lunch, and felt apprehensive about the food on their new campuses.
Another group of students were trying to help a friend prepare for the ACT exam as she was having trouble with understanding the mathematics portion. They were walking slowly while explaining some sort of algebraic formula I used to know, and showing her examples on their phones. This went on for a little while about the math portion of the test even after they had made their way out of the park. There isn’t anywhere warm in the park, so it’s no surprise they kept moving on to the school instead of sitting down for their discussion.
Despite being an empty and cold space for most of the day, Emerson Park is still a gathering hub for the high school students who use this public space as a place to socialize. They have maintained the public aspect of the park by coming together there and exchanging ideas, information, or just personal complaints. Without the students passing through, the park would not be much of a public area despite being labelled a “public park”. They are the ones who make the park a public place just as much as those who visit during the warmer seasons.
