Touching Grass: The Return of Hunktears
Sorry it’s been a while. I kind of forgot about my newsletter when I was busy with work, and then when I was busy not having a job, and then when I was busy discovering a great new thing called “going outside.”
So now I’m thrilled to tell you about the hot new platform I can’t get enough of: The Park.
The Park is a lot like social media, except you don’t have to hear anyone’s opinions. It has many of my neighbors— homeowners and renters and people who live in RVs or tents. They’re playing soccer, practicing their golf stroke, going on picnic dates, running, walking slowly, throwing toys for their dogs, taking naps. There are always dogs— at least one or two, if not dozens. There are often squirrels eating nuts that were left for them, or drinking water out of recycled yogurt cups. Corvids (crows I think) roam the grounds, making sure you know the territory is theirs and not any other bird’s. Once I saw two guys in camping chairs filming themselves talking into microphones. Sometimes I see actors practicing lines and dancers practicing choreography.
There are trees, even though LA’s heavy rains have taken out two of them. There’s a lot of grass, and a dirt path that I can’t really make any sense of. Once I saw a fruit cart but it’s never there when I remember to bring cash for the fruit cart.
I got a dog in August, which is why I go to the park so much now. Once, at the park, she tackled a squirrel and I had to pull her off of it. We fled before I could see if the squirrel survived the encounter. Usually she likes to sit and watch the squirrels in silence. Her eyes get all sparkly and I haven’t found an upper limit to how long she is happy to sit there and stare at them.
The entertainment that the park offers seems to be endless. There’s a shadowy figure on some evenings who faces a tree and plays the saxophone. Other times there’s a birthday party blasting the radio on rented speakers. Sometimes I see people practicing physical arts that I don’t know the names of. Twirling and juggling. Things like that. Good for them. Once I saw a guy dressed up as The Mandalorian zoom by on a skateboard. There is often a baby or two to look at.
After spending my entire adult life so far sitting on the computer, it’s nice to feel like a human being living under the sky, sweating in the sun or wishing I’d brought a heavier jacket, listening to the crunch of gravel under my shoes or reading on a blanket while my dog plots murder of a local rodent. It’s nice to see another human being and smile, or to try to convey my respect to the neighborhood crows. I like that some days are clear and other days are cloudy.
I really recommend seeing if The Park is available in your area. And as far as I’m concerned? I guess I can only hope that as the days get longer and warmer, that fruit cart will return on a day I remember to bring my wallet with me.