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Description
Down at Wyman Park yesterday, I started sketching some boring scenery when a young woman walked right into my line of sight carrying about five hula hoops and a radio tuned to a station that only played fifties surf music and forgotten pop standards. It was a welcome addition to the sounds of a baby screeching in the playground above.

She was out there all alone, and I couldn't resist the temptation of sketching a moving object. To her credit, when I asked for permission she accepted whole-heartedly.

Over the next twenty minutes, about ten other people showed up at the spot most with their own hula hoops to join in the festivities. They were all twenty somethings, or early thirty somethings, dressed well and speaking in very comforting tones to one and other. No one really knew all the others, and most needed group introductions.

While getting into the hula groove, a shopping cart tumbled down the hill from a bank of trees and brush. One of the young men among the hoopers called into brush: "You lost your cart!"

From behind the trees above, a young African American voice replied: "FUCK YOU."

Undaunted, the young man continued, picking up on the baby still bawling in the playground. "You're making babies cry!"

And from the trees above: "FUCK YOU."

I finished my sketches by this point, realizing half way through penciling a figure's outline that I was out of gas. So I tried not to stare at the hula hoopers, but they were the only reason I hung around.

About five minutes later a group of black children emerged from the trees and brush where the shopping cart originated. One boy ran up to the hula hoopers and proudly boasted: "I'm really good at that!" and picked up an unused hoop. He tried to emulate the others, but couldn't keep the hoop above his knees, and only rarely above the ground. Rather than admit defeat, he called to his little friends: "C'mon they got lots of hoops!"

Suddenly, the hula hoopers saw their attempt at social networking balloon into some inner city civic program. They seemed slightly uncomfortable with the notion, one asked pleasantly but bluntly: "You guys the ones with the shopping cart earlier?"

To which the lead child looked at the ground and replied: "naw, naw."

Once everyone realized that the kids weren't going to run off with the hoops they mellowed, and gave some encouragement to the children: "That's great, really good."

Description
Down at Wyman Park yesterday, I started sketching some boring scenery when a young woman walked right into my line of sight carrying about five hula hoops and a radio tuned to a station that only played fifties surf music and forgotten pop standards. It was a welcome addition to the sounds of a baby screeching in the playground above.

She was out there all alone, and I couldn't resist the temptation of sketching a moving object. To her credit, when I asked for permission she accepted whole-heartedly.

Over the next twenty minutes, about ten other people showed up at the spot most with their own hula hoops to join in the festivities. They were all twenty somethings, or early thirty somethings, dressed well and speaking in very comforting tones to one and other. No one really knew all the others, and most needed group introductions.

While getting into the hula groove, a shopping cart tumbled down the hill from a bank of trees and brush. One of the young men among the hoopers called into brush: "You lost your cart!"

From behind the trees above, a young African American voice replied: "FUCK YOU."

Undaunted, the young man continued, picking up on the baby still bawling in the playground. "You're making babies cry!"

And from the trees above: "FUCK YOU."

I finished my sketches by this point, realizing half way through penciling a figure's outline that I was out of gas. So I tried not to stare at the hula hoopers, but they were the only reason I hung around.

About five minutes later a group of black children emerged from the trees and brush where the shopping cart originated. One boy ran up to the hula hoopers and proudly boasted: "I'm really good at that!" and picked up an unused hoop. He tried to emulate the others, but couldn't keep the hoop above his knees, and only rarely above the ground. Rather than admit defeat, he called to his little friends: "C'mon they got lots of hoops!"

Suddenly, the hula hoopers saw their attempt at social networking balloon into some inner city civic program. They seemed slightly uncomfortable with the notion, one asked pleasantly but bluntly: "You guys the ones with the shopping cart earlier?"

To which the lead child looked at the ground and replied: "naw, naw."

Once everyone realized that the kids weren't going to run off with the hoops they mellowed, and gave some encouragement to the children: "That's great, really good."