Dickinson College Humanities Program in Norwich

After visiting all of the royal parks in London, I can only think of how different they look to the common parks, or “the commons”. After visiting Clapham Common Park, I found out about its history. The commons were the old medieval forests, the only places that were allowed for the peasants when everything belonged to the feudalist lord. Many of the commons today are those that remained from that time, but that are now public. Clapham Common Park does not look at all like Regent’s park or Hyde Park or any of the Royal parks. It does not have as many or any flowers, it is not as clean, and does not have any fountains or sculptures.

Something that I did notice however that any London park presents is diversity. I observed the children play at a park in Golder’s Green, among them in the playground was my little cousin, son of an Argentinean mother and a North Londoner. Never in my life have I seen so many children from different ethnicities playing together. We have been talking about integration, and I could not help but think that if there is anything that integration means is the image of so many children of different color, religion and class (who at the same time have mothers that are different between each other and with husbands that are different to their wives. I saw so many mixed marriages, specially Indian men with white women and white men with Chinese women. I know so because I as bold enough to ask them!) playing in the park. If a girl was wearing a head scarf, that did not stop her to say “catch me if you can!” to a boy wearing a yarmulke. Of course, we would have to see what happens to these children when they grow up…