malcolmxpark.org

These certainly look like strawberries…

Strictly speaking, driving your Mister Softee truck INTO the park is not allowed.  Strictly speaking.

I was, probably not by accident, under the impression the papasan chair was some kind of genius Japanese import.  Wikipedia tells me it’s an American product.  But, you know, it’s Wikipedia: 

Anyway, someone left the frame of one in Malcolm X Park.  I believe it may have migrated from the notorious short-dump at 52nd and Larchwood.  If you’re so inclined, consider rescuing it and turning it into a solar cooker!  Seriously, this thing is pretty amazing: 

Image Source: http://www.appropedia.org/Papasan_Chair_Solar_Cooker

“Found in Malcolm X Park” is an occasional feature on a piece of trash or other discarded item discovered in or recovered or from the park.  This is the trunk and backrest for what looks to be a early to mid-1980s Honda Silver Wing Motorcycle:

First Person Arts is bringing Davy Rothbart of Found Magazine to the First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art on Friday November 14th at the Painted Bride Art Center in Old City.  If you’re into found stuff, this guy’s well worth seeing.  Details and tickets here

This curious object occupied a swatch of sidewalk along 51st St. this morning:

That’s some kind of metal pole sticking out of the middle of it.

Somewhere, there’s an improvised baseball diamond missing its home plate. Found in Malcolm X Park:

This swiss-cheese-like climbing structure seems to function as a renewable little community bulletin board, recording crushes, turf declarations, base profanity, as well as more puzzling and subtle testimonials, as in the third image above which features the word “worries” by itself followed by a lingering scatter-plot of sharpie marks, as though the author considered elaborating but thought better of it.

And based on the idiosyncratic spelling of “bite” on two of the panels, it looks like Aisha might be spreading her crush around to both Tyree and Amir.

A cleaning crew wiped this graffiti clean this week, leaving a fresh canvas.

I’m not the only one who finds odd, humorous, and occasionally compelling, items in Malcolm X Park. Al, the park’s seasonal maintenance attendant, finds little presents all the time. He thought this one might have been left as an insult, to suggest he was getting fat:

Here’s an interview with Al from August 2007, talking about how Malcolm X Park has changed over the years.

Unfortunately, the “Shock Baby” flashing pacifier itself was long gone.

According to the packaging, it’s not okay to actually shock baby. It’s okay to shock anyone 6+