August 7: My mountain, my heart
By Nolan park
With Ronald C, 3-5pm
Text from Freddy
The meeting with Ronald has been a month in the planning. Ronald works in security at 205 Hunter and he is super friendly, laid back and spiritual. Ronald had been working for Hunter for a long time: first in East Harlem gallery, the old MFA studio building, and then 205. He has never been to Governors Island (even though he used to take the Staten Island ferry for work), and I wanted to know more about his life beyond Hunter.
After seeing some of the text photos I have in the studio, Ronald immediately came up with his: “Understanding the WOW moment”, with special focus on “understanding” and “wow”. He explains that the ability to understand is something different than intelligence— it’s something that just comes to you, effortlessly. Like” birds of feather (flock together)”, this understanding moment comes in the form of an answer or an epiphany that doesn’t necessarily requires a hard pursuit. Ronald then explained his “wow” moment, when he saw his granddaughter crawling on the floor by herself for the first time. He was amazed by how she intrinsically understood how to use her hands and legs, without much guidance from others.
By the front steps of Admiral’s house in Nolan Park, we set up a small picnic and did Freddy’s text “My mountain, my heart”. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon right after a quick storm; the air was breezy with the after smell of rain.
