Park it on YouTube

Prospect Park has put up a lovely little 10-minute video about itself, by filmmaker Tom Ilich; it's really a pitch to support the park, ("not that there's anything wrong with that"), but the movie includes some rare archival shots that I haven't seen elsewhere (including one of the long-vanished Music Island, which was swallowed up by Robert Moses' eyesore of a skating rink). If you're only familiar with one aspect of the park—the jogging path, the ballfields, the Long Meadow dog scene, whatever—you'll get a deeper appreciation of the park's complex package of gifts to the city, and maybe you'll even feel inspired to give back. My favorite part of the commentary was the apt description of the way Olmsted and Vaux's design evokes various emotions: serenity, anticipation, excitement. But then, I get emotional very easily.

Speaking of which, I was deeply touched to have received this response from revered Brooklyn artist Otto Neals, sculptor of "Peter and Willie" in the Imagination Playground:

Thank you so much for including my sculpture, "Peter and Willie" in your blog and for your kind words and actions.

Otto Neals

The pleasure was all ours.