Early yesterday afternoon Judy showed me a video about Hunkpapa Lakota youth running across America to protest a pipeline crossing the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota. I was really interested in their insistence on having their voices heard, in their view of water (min wiconi, water is life) and in their use of social media to publicize real world activism. Continuing to follow the links from article to article and to their own Facebook page I discovered that they would be here in New York -- at Union Square Park -- in an hour and a half!
My only hesitation about joining them was my recent experiences with running to Manhattan to join an event I looked forward to. Hōkūleʻa is a double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe that native Hawaiians have been sailing for forty years as a means of reclaiming traditional culture and knowledge. For the past few years they have been circumnavigating the globe and I was really looking forward to visiting the boat when it arrived here. Prophet and I went downtown to North Cove, near the World Financial Center, on a day they said would be an open house. No luck. The security guards told me everybody was across the river in Jersey City. So much for that.
So I had some reservations this time, too. But Sundays in August mean less traffic and more chance of finding street parking, so... what the hell, right? We parked on 16th Street near Seventh Avenue and walked across to Union Square. There was no immediate sign of Hunkpapa runners, so we checked through the whole park. There were Hare Krishnas chanting and drumming. There were Muslims offering free Q'urans as the "solution" to homosexuality(!) There was a man advising everyone that Jesus would save them. There were hundreds (HUNDREDS!) of hipsters of every race and nationality. And there were people and dogs who wanted to meet Prophet, along with more who looked at him as if he had no business in the park.
There was also a cluster of people my age and older with a Veterans for Peace flag, hanging around and waiting for something. That group was the closest I could see to what I was looking for, so I found a shady spot behind the Hare Krishnas where we could watch for a while to see if anybody turned up. The actress Shailene Woodley ("Divergent") did, which was a good sign because the Rezpect our Water Facebook page had videos of her supporting the runners. But after half and hour there were very few more people and no Lakota runners.
Union Square does have a dog run, so Prophet and I went in. He made the rounds, introducing himself to all the other dogs and their people. He found a water bowl and drank from that. He found a bath and drank from that, too. He went to break up a fight, but concluded that those dogs were playing. He shook off an overly-aggressive dog, then smiled at him and licked his face. The crowd waiting for the runners had grown to maybe twenty by now and they were making welcome signs. It was 90° and sunny and I decided it was time to take Prophet and return to the Bronx.
Four hours later things finally jumped off. The runners arrived. Everybody chanted and ran the circumference of the park. Rosario Dawson spoke. I know all this because they went live on Facebook. Even if I had known what time they were arriving I wouldn't have stayed because, well, four hours. If I had known the right time in the beginning I might have gone. It looked like a high-energy demo and I remain impressed with the persistence of the Standing Rock youth.
I could choose to be bummed by going down there for nothing. I could choose to be bummed about missing what I wanted to see. But, somehow, excursions with Prophet do not disappoint. We still got to walk around downtown. We still got to meet new dogs in the park. We still got to meet children and adults who wanted to admire him and pet him. He still got his photo taken by total strangers who never asked permission. The day before we had to kill an hour in Hudson River Park while Judy was at a Transfiguration service. It was the same fun: dog park, meeting people on the walk, high stimulus levels, Prophet showing his ability to cope with the whole range of personalities and conveyances (strollers, skate boards, bicycles). Frankly, we had an equally good time on that day back in June, also in Hudson River Park, when we missed the voyaging canoe.
I know that I can make my own narrative for any day. I can make my own fun, even when things don't go as planned. But I find all that so much easier when I'm with Prophet. There is no disappointment when we're together.
