Activity 7, Matt Blank

I went to a Plaza a couple times, on 53rd and Lexington.

The first time I went, I saw that a lot of people used it as a gathering space, there were people who met there regularly to play chess, or to do homework, and some to play a large group game. There were also people who were sleeping in the space, but they were regularly woken by the security guards. The security guards were very odd. They kept doing things that didn't make any sense to me. There were outlets on the floor but people weren't allowed to use them. Sometimes, they would ask people to move chairs back to tables, but other times they would not. Finally, they kicked people out of the space 30 minutes before the signs said it was closed. The whole thing felt very policed.

I came back another day, and it happened to be raining. This was very interesting, a lot of people who I'd seen before were huddled in the far back corner of the space, playing and talking like nothing was going on, while a lot of people stayed near the door out of the rain. It was like a subway car, where everyone was crowded by the doors and there was plenty of space inside.