Social Spaces

This weekend was sort of CRAZY for me. Now, normally Thanksgiving is a quiet time for family gatherings and delicious food, but unfortunately we lost our family cat on Thanksgiving Day. She was at least 19 years old, and she started declining 2 days before Thanksgiving, and couldn't make it through the hospital. We decided to take her down to Cottonwood Animal Hospital and say goodbye. I thought the drama for the evening would end there, but at about 1am Thanksgiving night I got a call from my mom that my grandfather was being rushed to The U, and he may have been having a heart-attack. WHAT A WAY TO WAKE UP. My boyfriend and I sprang into action and headed over to the hospital. Turns out he's okay, but he does have some kind of arrythmia, called heart block, that the altitude can affect. So, needless to say I didn't make it out to observe very many social spaces this weekend.

That's not to say that I did not observe any, BECAUSE I DID! I know, I'm surprised at myself. I made it downtown this weekend just to walk around on Friday! Now I noticed a couple of places that definitely could have served as more of a social space. For example, on the corner of 1st south and state street there is a sculpture. In the movie we watched last class, sculptures made a huge impact in social space. On this corner there is a sculpture, and plenty of room for tables and chairs, maybe food carts, but there was NO ONE there. It was a clear day, and not too cold out, so if there would have been somewhere to sit, maybe people would have. This is also very close to the City Creek Mall, so maybe all the people are there, which sucks. I didn't see a ton of people out socializing, and no one just says hi on the street anymore, which also sucks. I also saw a sculpture in front of Beni Hana! It's really cool, but I forgot to take a picture. This sculpture is also very fun to look at and could serve as a social space if given the chance. I could even see the restaurant extending to have tables outside serving appetizers or sushi! But, they couldn't have main courses out there because of the style of restaurant! I wish I'd had more time to observe more spaces, but the events of the weekend didn't allow for it. However, I'm keeping my eyes open!