Overheard in Fort Greene
Ever heard of the site Overheard in New York? Well, here's a new version - Overheard in Fort Greene.
Scene: Saturday morning, Fort Greene Park tennis courts. The parks employee, Addison, is not there yet and anarchy reigns over the sign in sheet. An older, 50's male black couple and a younger, early-to-mid-30's male white couple are arguing over who gets the court, since one of them showed up later, but signed in, while the other showed up earlier, but didn't sign in. No one can decide who gets it, so in a show of defiance, both sets of players decide to split the court, effectively playing each of their friends, but separately, and not doubles.
Black couple (BC): How long have you lived here?
White couple (WC): (no answer)
BC: I've been here 30 years.
WC: Yeah, but that doesn't give you the right to take my court.
As they both get shooed off by the incoming children's tennis clinic, it went like this:
WC: I'm glad we could come to a compromise
BC: (in unison) There was no compromise
WC: (one of them shrugs)
BC: Some people have a very warped sense of the world.
And that's how it went...
5 Comments:
What happened to respecting your elders?
And more importantly, who won?
I'm an Addison fan and all -- he is a Fort Greene institution -- but does anybody think there's any less anarchy when he is there overseeing the sign-in sheet?
since when does being in a neighborhood longer make you 'more deserving' having said that, the rules should be clearly stated, and whoever signed in first should get the courts. i had a similar run in where apparently the problem was that i was 'new to the neighborhood' despite the fact that i first moved in 13 years ago...
the people who signed in first should get it.
so who signed in first?
there are two very "angry" long-time residents who live in my building, and i've seen them head out for tennis before. i wouldn't be surprised if they pulled the "old school" card.
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