Swimming in Central Park

After work today the girls and I went to Lasker Swimming Pool. It is a free pool in Central Park, but you must bring a lock for a locker. It was probably 95 degrees today so the pool was extremely refreshing albeit crowded. There were probably about 300 hundred people at the pool and we were three of maybe ten white people there. It is near 110th Street which is, technically, Harlem so it was not unexpected but rather interesting non the less. The pool is a large round pool about four and a half feet deep through out. At one point we were walking across the pool and a Polish man said not to us, but audibly about us, "Ah, we need more beautiful woman here." I wanted to laugh, he looked like a character out of the old cartoon "Hey, Arnold". The collection of lifeguards was very interesting. There was one anorexic girl who was wearing long pants, a long sleeved shirt and a scarf around her neck - we didn't think that she would have enough strength to save us. Another lifeguard we called Fabio - no further description needed. Then there was a Michael Jackson circa 2000 look alike. And finally, one cute life guard seemed fine and fit until he proceeded to put his hand down his pants for several minutes. We couldn't look away because we were transfixed by the fact that he was so interested in himeslf and so uninterested in watching the pool.

In the middle of the pool was a large group of teenaged boys and girls. As we floated and walked through the water we never felt threatened by them in any way. They were dunking each other and flirting. No big deal, but I guess dunking is not allowed. There was a lot of whistling from the lifegards telling them not to dunk each other, but no adult or authority figure ever got into the water and talked to the large group directly. After we had been there for about an hour and a half we could see a police car had pulled up near the gate and the lifeguards were now telling everyone to get out of the pool an hour before the swimming session was supposed to end at 6:00 pm. The teenagers splashed their hands in the water in unison causing quite a splash, but then they proceeded to get out in an orderly manner. What I thought, to myself, was how strange the whole scene was to me and yet how normal it seemed to the other swimmers. I have never been in a public setting where the police came in and basically said, "Ok, the fun is over. Break it up and head home." There were a few grumbles from the crowd about how a few were ruining the fun for the masses, but as a whole, everyone followed the rules without question. I wondered if it was an urban thing where people just know that the masses must follow the rule for the greater good or if it was a race thing where an oppressed group has learned to go with the flow or suffer the consequences. The girls and I plan to return again tomorrow afternoon to beat the heat and work on our tans. People watching and urban dynamics don't get any better than the Lasker Swimming Pool in the heart of Central Park.