Parking
Today, my class split into five groups of four and went out and set up little living rooms in public parking spots all over the city. We paid the meter. We put my bedside table next to a small fold out chair we even had a little lamp set up on the table. One guy walked through our space and apologized for walking through our living room.
The premise here was not only that we were reading books that were important to us in public, but also that we were challenging the unspoken social rule that you must park a car in the parking space that you've paid for. Interestingly, the back of the printed parking ticket claims that the city 'merely rents the space'. It was fun to explore other people's reactions to our use of our rented space. There were some close calls when people failed to park properly in the spaces around us, and when one truck nearly backed into the spot over us. But over all we weren't hassled nearly as much as we thought we would be. One man rolled down his window and angrily asked why there was no parking in our spot today, we smilingly informed him that there was, that WE were parked there. This did not improve his mood.
Generally though people were more confused or pleased by it than angry. One couple with two small children came and asked us what we were doing, stating that they'd watched us while they ate lunch and had wondered the whole time. There were also many confused drivers passing us. We were questioned by the parking authority, eyed by police, and we even got double-takes from metro drivers. One old man had no idea what was going on and proceeded to park half in our spot and half in the one behind us.
We stayed for two hours and distracted many business people on the other side of the main street. All in all. It was successful.
The premise here was not only that we were reading books that were important to us in public, but also that we were challenging the unspoken social rule that you must park a car in the parking space that you've paid for. Interestingly, the back of the printed parking ticket claims that the city 'merely rents the space'. It was fun to explore other people's reactions to our use of our rented space. There were some close calls when people failed to park properly in the spaces around us, and when one truck nearly backed into the spot over us. But over all we weren't hassled nearly as much as we thought we would be. One man rolled down his window and angrily asked why there was no parking in our spot today, we smilingly informed him that there was, that WE were parked there. This did not improve his mood.
Generally though people were more confused or pleased by it than angry. One couple with two small children came and asked us what we were doing, stating that they'd watched us while they ate lunch and had wondered the whole time. There were also many confused drivers passing us. We were questioned by the parking authority, eyed by police, and we even got double-takes from metro drivers. One old man had no idea what was going on and proceeded to park half in our spot and half in the one behind us.
We stayed for two hours and distracted many business people on the other side of the main street. All in all. It was successful.