Yesterday was Gay Pride Day in NYC, with a march and attendant festivities. I got back from the Rancho just before they started the fireworks, and I'll go to anybody's fireworks at any time, so I went. They shoot them off from a barge in the Hudson. This means thousands of people watching from Hudson River Park. This being my morning spot, I'd seen the Parks folks wrapping the shrubs and putting up the ropes to keep people off the grass, as they do every year for this event, for the Fourth of July, and whenever they're expecting huge crowds by the river. It never really works, though, and the grass gets trampled and some shrubs and flowerbeds get smashed. Being a big fan of people's freedom to gather wherever they want, and also a big fan of the plantings in the park, I'm always torn about what's the best answer to this kind of situation.

Well, last night the Parks Dept. found it.

They watered the lawn.

They turned on the sprinklers as people began to gather, and voila! The grass was too wet to cavort on, the spray was powerful and so not fun to dance through, but the wide walkways were perfectly dry. Hanging out on them, leaning on the rail, thousands of people ate, drank, danced, and watched the fireworks, cheerfully shrieking whenever the wind carried spray to them. The plantings were spared hordes of feet, bodies and blankets. No one got mad at the cops for ordering them off anything. Bruce Lee, in ENTER THE DRAGON, spoke of "fighting without fighting." This was crowd control without control. A good time was had by all.