Parks

Yesterday's post on the use of parks for Fourth of July celebrations got me thinking about different parks I visited in the U.S. I am not a frequent park user/visitor but I have visited a lot of small recreational parks over the years. I was a part of quite a few outings/events at parks, including church-related events and school-related events. I am yet to visit national parks such as Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon National Park.

I also recalled my experience at Bryant Park in NY years ago. It was a difficult situation, but some good came out of it. I got an idea for a project on cell phone privacy tradeoffs while at the park. It is included in the Summary section of my LinkedIn research profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fahmeenaodetta.

There were likely lots of posts on social media from parks across the U.S. yesterday. Such posts are being used in research. I found an interesting journal article that used Twitter posts by individuals while at a park in NY. The research question is very interesting: "Will people’s sentiment towards a place be more positive when they are in New York City parks as compared to their sentiment when they are in other places?" The results are interesting too. Read the paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204618305863.

July 4th

It is July 4th! In years past, I spent most of the day at a location (usually a park) good for watching fireworks. In the evening, from a good spot on the grass, I enjoyed the fireworks display. I did this when I lived in Maryland and also when I lived in Gainesville, FL. Here are some photos of a park in Gainesville on the 4th of July 8 years ago (from my old weight loss blog at https://moorefo1.tumblr.com/). I recall that the fireworks display in the evening was spectacular!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice that the park is crowded. A lot of people visit parks on the 4th of July. They make it a family affair.