Back in June, we visited Madison Square Park together with a videographer from an outfit called 60-Second Docs, an organization that makes minute-long documentaries about people and groups they find interesting.
They found us interesting, apparently, and shot a bunch of footage of us hanging out and talking about what we do.
You’d think a minute-long documentary wouldn’t take very long to cut together, but…with one thing and another, it has, and they’re now telling us it’ll finally run on November 24. That’s right — the day after Thanksgiving. Well, it’s something to look forward to, anyway. Even if, at that time of year, no one who sees it and gets inspired is likely to rush outside shirtless. Unless we have a much warmer November than we’re used to.
But it’ll come when it comes. In the meantime, getting word of the release date for the video inspired us to take another visit to Madison Square Park ourselves while it’s still warm enough to do so.
Flowers were still in full bloom, along with art projects such as this set of signs expounding on the subject of love.
(Interestingly a park ranger came over to us and we thought, “Oh, here we go again,” but he only wanted to know who put the signs in the ground. We told him we had no idea — they weren’t ours. So he called it in: unauthorized art activity on park grounds! But topless women on the grass? No problem.)
We brought our favorite mini-eclairs and other pastries from the eponymous Eclair bakery. (How’s that for an SAT word? Eponymous. Scrabble champs, we.)
We also brought books, such as this one and this one and this one.
What else did we bring? A keen awareness that the summer’s gone, its last remnants fleeting. We won’t have too many more park days this year, not with October muscling its way into the room tomorrow.
So we drank deep of September and toasted her imminent passing. We received a visit from a squirrel who industriously buried a nut under the wheel of one member’s chair and then hightailed it away. You don’t get more autumnal than that.
We also received visits from two parents of breastfeeding children, who looked on the profusion of nipples like an autumn cornucopia. (Or an all-you-can-eat buffet?)
And we spent some time brainstorming intriguing indoor activities for when the cold weather comes. We came up with some good ones, too! But you’ll just have to wait and see to find out what they were.
Or…
If you’re a curious, brave, body-positive woman and would like to find out before the fact rather than after — if you’d like to take part in the fun — you can. Just drop us a note at toplesspulpfiction@gmail.com. The warm weather may be almost gone, but the fun will go on.
Even the day after Thanksgiving.
Well we’re an hour into October already here in London, so your postcard from sunny September is very welcome. But October and November can be gloriously sunny too, even if their autumnal crispness is a little chilly for bare chests of any gender. So here’s to your indoor activities, which I, for one, can’t wait to see.
Perfect
A posthumous Spillane ? If it sells, are they going to do a Virginia C. Andrews and publish a string of “lost manuscripts” (hee hee) ? Besides (enters nitpicking — or litpicking — mode) mebbe you could have the links go to an independent bookstore rather than zozon ? there still must be some of them ?
We love independent bookstores, but we also shop at Amazon — who doesn’t these days? — and we’re not going to get on the “bash Amazon” bandwagon. They’re as successful as they are because they serve a need and often do so better than the next best alternative. If you want to find a particular book, especially an odd little niche title, and have it in your hands a day or two later, Amazon will do that for you. Maybe an indie bookstore will, too, or maybe not. If there’s an indie store in NYC that would like to have our business, they’re welcome to let us know, and maybe we’ll pick a day to come by for a visit. (That would make for some fun photos!) Until then, we’re going to keep patronizing all booksellers, including the big one in Seattle.
The line about breastfeeding babies was pretty funny…and also an interesting insight.
Just what was that little guy thinking ??? lol.
Good thing he’d just fed, since if he’d tried the other nipples he’d have found them disappointingly Out Of Order…
I’m a great believer in unauthorized art!
I couldn’t read the signs, so I “blew them up”:
LOVE IS stronger than pride.
LOVE IS in the air.
LOVE IS as uncomplicated as accepting a smile from a stranger.
LOVE IS light.
i wonder how much of that park rangers job is breaking up unauthorized in progress art.