July 4 2010,

Independence Day

Central Park - the lungs of the city! Trees breathing, turtles swimming in the pond, squirrels skipping from branch to branch, people rowing small boats...an old Kinks song comes to mind...

"The tax man's taken all my dough

And left me in my stately home

Lazing on a sunny afternoon"

"And I can't sail my yacht

He's taken everything I've got

All I've got is this sunny afternoon"

All around The Delacorte Theatre and The Swedish Cottage Shakespeare's words are echoing...

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages."

...but who is humming that Sondheim tune, "Sunday in the park with George"?

"My name is Fiona. I'm one with the trees and the soil... I like these people. I like to make them laugh. They seem to need it. They seem lonely in their crowds. They seem to cluster together in search of something, desperately trying to belong. To what, I wonder? I try to understand them as I try to understand my own reaction to them, to their faces, to their masks. I saw behind a young girls mask today! her eyes glittering and sparkling, almost bursting with withheld energy. A hesitant crooked smile of recognition. A soulful moment!"

The Angel of the Waters Fountain at Bethesda Terrace.

The angel is watching over us - quiet people, loud people, lost people, people who have been found...one man's King of the World, a legend in his own mind. He hardly notices me.

I hear music! I hear beautiful strings and pounding drums! I can't help myself. I can't stand still. I have to dance!!!

As the dark falls upon us like a cloak of wet velvet fireworks celebrate Independence Day. We're watching from a rooftop in the West Village. It's hot. Crowds are cheering all over the city. Are we really independent? Any of us? Aren't we totally dependent on each other, all of us? People, nations and all creatures of the universe closely connected, all one. Not independent.

I celebrate that we are all dependent on one another as fireworks light up the evening sky in the city of dreams!