Dedicated To Man’s Aspirations Toward Peace Through Mutual Understanding and Symbolizing His Achievements In An Expanding Universe
Flushing Meadows Park, the site of the 1965 World’s Fair.
Saturday 08/08/20 at 3:30pm — Joel Evey & Elie Andersen
J: I don’t know, I just think it’s an interesting time in history when we, like, just showed off. Like, for no real point other than to be like, as it is, and pretty and like — I don’t know, just a more carefree time. Like even if people didn’t understand it, they appreciated it. And now, it’s like, everyone’s here in the park amidst the decaying ruins of it.
E: Yeah, I think what you’re trying to say is like, that was “IT.”
J: Right.
E: Like, that’s the “IT” of “Make IT great again,” or…
J: Right.
E: It’s like the cultural bastion of our American golden years.
J: Right.
E: But I also think, like, it’s purposeless, as we’ve said, but it’s also … part of that purposelessness is that it’s not trying to make any money, it’s not built FOR capitalism, like, specifically. It is in a general way because, like, Buy American, and America sort of asserting itself as the economic capital of the world, but it’s not specifically trying to sell anything. And I think, like, nowadays we barely have anything that exists for a purpose of not selling something. Like basically nobody makes anything cool unless it’s to sell you something.
J: Right. A hundred percent.
E: So maybe there’s a connection between nostalgia and a sort of like pre-consumer-based lifestyle, in some ways. Like, 1965 was the dawn of the age of advertising.
J: It was.
E: The invention of credit cards.
J: Well it’s also, you’re right in the middle, or maybe the tail end — the atomic age was the fifties — but it’s this time when the space race is happening, we’re gonna go to the moon, um… it just felt like the government did a lot of things just because. You hear a lot of things in this time period, when this was built, you hear a lot of presidents and other people speak about things like the advancement of all mankind.
E: Let’s get a Sno Cone.
J: Cool. It’s just, you know, JFK, we’re gonna do this thing for all mankind.
E: Yeah, well, there’s like, this visionary… um … yeah. I mean, we don’t have much of that rhetoric in the public these days. I’m going to get one from these guys because they put a specific amount of sweet stuff on it.
J: Cool.
E: Want to come with me?
J: Sure.
E: Hi, can I have a son cone?
Vendor: Four dollar? Five dollar?
E: Three dollars.
Vendor: No, four.
E: Small.
Vendor: No, four, or five.
E: Oh, four. Yeah that’s fine. I thought you said three.
J: Do you need some cash?
E: Yeah, I think I do. I think I have like two dollars.
Vendor: We have orange, lemonade, strawberry, pineapple, tamarind, mango, cherry, blueberry, passionfruit, coconut and fruit punch.
E: Ok, can I have strawberry and lemon? But I only want a little bit, ok? I don’t want it too sweet.
Vendor: Um, strawberry.
E: Yeah, and lemon. Can I get two?
Vendor: Yeah.
E: And I don’t want it too sweet, so.
Vendor: Like this.
E: Yeah.
Vendor: And lemonade too, right?
E: Thank you. Yeah that looks great. Thank you. Thank you! Have a good day.
E: Yum.
J: Next time will you just say, will you buy me a Sno Cone instead of saying, I’m gonna buy myself a Sno Cone and then being like, do you have money.
E: No, what I said was I have money, I don’t need you to buy it.
J: Oh! You didn’t seem like you were gettin it out.
E: Because you already had your five dollars out. Sorry, I wasn’t clear.
J: Word.
E: Mm.
J: I wonder what’s down that way. Look at that sculpture of the man. Wonder what he’s holding. Something gold. It’s too bad all this is closed.