Wednesday, August 12, 2009

A little West Texas in Tompkins Square

One of the many aspects of living in the East Village which will be missed is Tompkins Square Park. Years ago I found myself studying the Ruth Orkin photo series of Tompkins Square from the Christadora (A World Through My Window) and hardly thought I could be traversing those same pathways. It is a gem of a park especially since they've done such stunning work renovating and beautifying and putting in those great playgrounds (three!)

My dog Scout loves the dog park there, for obvious reasons. He was a bit setback this Summer by some nasty virus that was going around that sandbox of germs but now we use the hose on our paws and that helps.

I found myself chatting with a guy named Ignacio about our dogs, both mutts, and why all the dogs seemed to be sniffing in the exact same spot. He mentioned the Boy Scouts I gave a very brief explanation of why mine is named Scout and Austin came up. Ignacio said better to be found in Austin than West Texas. This opened up a well of things to discuss. He asked where I lived -- Marfa -- and he had lived in Alpine. For close to a year he worked on the horrible PBS series, Ranch House, but for years he's been writing about Black Cowboys and the Buffalo Soldiers. Small world, indeed.

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