As I’m passing through the new section of park adjacent to my studio I notice a young white couple at one of the tables, ‘art student’ types (dyed hair, torn clothes, a mishmash of jewelry and piercings). They’re talking loudly, erupting every so often in theatrical laughter. Ignoring the posted signs, the young woman is smoking a cigarette. I take a seat at a table some distance away. Another couple, Black, is seated at the table adjacent to the art students, and is talking quietly. After a few minutes I hear a loud voice coming from the perimeter of the seating area: ‘Miss! No smoking!’ The voice is coming from a park employee (who also happens to be Black). The art student either ignores him or doesn’t hear him right away. He repeats himself: ‘Miss! You can’t smoke here.’ When she still doesn’t respond, he approaches her table, admonishing her again. Finally she answers: ‘But I am smoking.’ She says this with a kind of snide coyness – it’s meant as a provocation. The man seems flummoxed at first, then says, ‘I can see that, and I’m asking you to please put it out.’ She takes another drag, smirks, then flicks the cigarette to the ground. Seeing this, the park employee simply shakes his head and walks away. The Black woman sitting with her companion at the next table has taken all of this in, and she turns to face the art student: ‘Why are you talking to him like that, he’s just doing his job.’ This sets off a tense, awkward exchange. The art student claims that the employee was being rude, then makes excuses for herself, which, from my perspective, come off as entitled and arrogant. The Black woman, having witnessed an immature bit of acting out with borderline racist undertones, continues to defend the park employee. The art student and her companion remain defiant, and eventually saunter off, safely ensconced in their obliviousness and smugness.