On the lawns, under the flagpole, everywhere I looked as I walked to the fountain, were people dressed in yellow tee-shirts, sitting in silent meditation circles. On the back of the shirts was printed FALUN DAFA IS GOOD. Later in the day, with the exercise finished and the many groups dispersing, waves of yellow shirts passed by me, smiling or giving me a thumbs-up.<\/p>\n
The day was cool and windy. Elm seeds piled up against the curbstone edging the paths. On Cherry Hill, a fuchsia-colored azalea vibrated with intensity, while closer to the fountain, the colors were a more muted salmon and white.<\/p>\n
Meta was at the fountain. She called me over to give me the phone number of Jeff Croft, a colleague of Norman Siegel of the NY Civil Liberties Union. \u201cHe might be more responsive than Norman,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe couldn\u2019t be less.\u201d For the moment, all again was well, but I\u2019ll keep the number in case the Parks Department, or the tail that wags the dog, the Central Park Conservancy, shows its fascist face again.<\/p>\n
I played under the maple, its helicopter seeds twirling down around my head. For almost an hour, no one stopped to dance, or noticed me at all. For long stretches, the only people I saw were the yellow shirts, a homeless man, and a middle-aged woman, sitting on the bench high on the hill behind me, taking the sun.<\/p>\n
A gaggle of conservancy workers, in green shirts, walked by. One of them said, \u201cHave you been displaced?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, the harp was already at the fountain,\u201d I said. \u201cWe buskers are self-regulating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Six well-dressed high school girls crested the hill. Finally, someone had time for a hula. As I passed out the leis I asked why they weren\u2019t in school today. It seems they had won a day off by winning a trivia contest. \u201cWhat was the winning question?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cActually,\u201d one began, \u201cwe weren\u2019t even there.\u201d I inquired no further. Two verses of \u201cThe Hukilau Song\u201d yielded 2 singles.<\/p>\n
Shortly afterward, a jolly looking man, strolling with his family, added another dollar, to bring the day\u2019s take to $3. I was happy to have avoided a zero dollar day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"