Saturday in Brooklyn. Neighborhoods are transformed from their normal hectic but utilitarian/residential function into platforms for entertainment. Residents, freed from their normal schedule and the hectic commutes that drag them onto the subway and into pressure-cooker offices and businesses, are transformed into tourists in their own borough. Intent on discovering the latest entertainment offerings, they seek out new boutiques, art installations, specialty shops, street fairs, etc. Sidewalks are dominated by bubbly couples and families pushing baby strollers; small groups gather outside of restaurants, texting and tweeting and chatting amongst themselves. Meeting points are negotiated and established, plans are made with a false air of nonchalance (underplaying the typical New Yorker’s ambition to be counted among the privileged few who find themselves in the right place at the right time). Fair weather means a spike in these purposeful leisure-seekers, and consequently the goods on offer are in even greater demand: people queue up for seats at outdoor tables for brunch, and the line itself becomes an attraction. The laws of supply and demand are augmented by the self-perpetuating nature of crowded venues, as people swarm to the already-swarmed, fearing they might miss out on the hippest offering. Social media too plays an increasingly greater role, as the word spreads like wildfire. To be ‘in the know’ is to post, to share, to broadcast to the world one’s privileged seat at the table.