2024 – Anderson Park Has 6 New Residents

                                                        
                                                            (ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on October 7, 2024)
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So I’m walking up Ward St towards Union St last weekend and saw something I hadn’t seen before in Anderson Park. I took out my camera and zoomed in from a block away and this is what I saw:
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What are they doing? They’re not moving. Time for a park visit.
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This is a closeup of an installation on the southeast corner of the park. On the bottom is a closeup of the plaque attached to it. At first glance, I thought it was offering the CONTACT information of whoever placed it there. Then I realized it was the piece’s title:
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In my 36 years of living across the street from this corner, I’ve never seen anyone with luggage making contact with someone else in the park. Personally, I can say that this piece would be more appropriately-placed about 3-4 blocks west at the Anderson St RR Station.
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Why?
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A long time ago, I enjoyed a very long online relationship with a wonderful person who lived in a corner of the country not near here. Eventually, she took to the rails to come visit. We made initial in-person CONTACT at the Anderson St Station……………and yes, she had luggage……………and she was also a blonde! (but neither of us had a yellow hat)
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Back to the park. While I was shooting, a woman who was walking her dog came by and made a comment about the installation. We exchanged interesting comments and then she asked me what I thought of the others.
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“What others?”
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“The other installations”.
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“Where?”
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“On each corner of the park.”
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“Huh?” (he asked, intelligently)
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She pointed north to something new on the corner of Anderson and Union.
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“Oh, I’ve gotta check that out.”
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Her dog was tugging the leash in the opposite direction, so it was “Nice to meet you” and off we went – north and south.
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Here’s what I found at the northeast corner of the park:
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Cute, but a little young, according to the plaque. The park DOES have benches, so that fits, but those have backs and no one reads books in this park.
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Where in town would this installation be more appropriate? That’s a toughie, but then it dawned on me………….Hackensack High School! I’m sure lots of guys would like to sit next to her and take selfies – especially during snowfall.
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On to the northwest park corner of Anderson and Pangborn where we find…………….Good Lord! A racial stereotype!
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I have no idea what the most-appropriate landing spot for this piece would be, but I’ll bet that some idiot will try to poke that boombox out of his grip.
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Finally, I arrive at the last stop on this rectangular tour – the southwest corner of the park:
I have NO idea what this piece is about. “The Hero?” Of what? And why is the girl signing his cast?
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My best guess is that he’s the idiot who tried to dislodge the boombox from the previous installation and broke his arm in the process. His facial expression kind of reinforces that guess.
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He looks like the kind of guy who will spend a considerable portion of his life in jail, so maybe that’s where this installation could be placed (or sentenced to).
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There’s one other minor problem that the well-intentioned donors of these four pieces could not have foreseen. Though there are no fences or other barriers to stop people from entering the park anywhere along its perimeter, the corners are the primary entrance points and are where the park’s paths emanate from.
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As such, each corner contains signs that state the park’s rules. No one will be looking at these signs as they take pictures of the four pieces in front of them. If you look at the first two pictures in this post, you can see why that’s a problem. I didn’t take notice of the signs when I was focusing on the couple.
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Probably hundreds of pictures will be taken of the pieces and many of them will inadvertently include signs about littering, dumping and dog waste(!), among other no-no’s. No artist would want those as prominent background images for their good works.
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One last thing – I hope the HPD keeps an extra eye or two on this place on Cabbage Night.
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Other than all that………………..everything’s peachy!
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