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Epilogue: What Now?From The Peopling of New York CityGo back: Friends Forever -- Prologue: Sounder Bodies and Surer Morals -- A Counter to Drug Use and Street Crime
What Now?WELCOME TO FRIENDS FIELD! (On non-captioned photos, roll over with mouse for more information.)   
When we last saw Friends Field, it was in the capable hands of the Parks Department and the local residents of Midwood, Brooklyn. So what has happened since? Well, a lot of construction.
The capital projects seem to coincide with the trajectories of politicians. As one person wrote of a Councilman who posed for a photo at the new playground in Friends Field (see below right), "Now he’ll tell you to vote for him!" Indeed.[3]   I set out to examine Friends Field more closely one warm Sunday in April. The field is full of kids running and playing, but the area in front of the field house is deserted. The building is sealed; I try every door. A Parks Department worker sees me fiddling with a doorknob. Instead of arresting me for attempted break-in, he unlocks the front door of the field house and gives me a quick, two-minute tour. I am thrilled. As I look around, he tells me that the building is used exclusively by the members of the Parks Department. (That's incorrect: Since 2006, Boy Scout Troop 611 has been meeting in the field house.[5]) The building, which is sweltering hot even in the shade, is undergoing repairs to make it more hospitable for the Parks Department workers. The work is mainly on the plumbing and electricity, which are as old as the original building.
  The fellow from the Parks Department lets me gawk at the historic fireplace for a moment, shows me the room where the Brooklyn Friends School students would eat lunch, and points out the bathroom and kitchen, which, though modernized, are still essentially the same as they were when BFS owned the field house.
After the tour, I examine the exterior of the building more closely. Despite all the money spent, the field house is in wretched condition.
  
  
The park itself is in beautiful condition. I remember a Parks Department worker I spoke to last summer told me how much she loved caring for the park. It shows. The trees are carefully cared for, and there are always flowers being planted.
But what of the community involvement? As far as I can tell, there isn't much. There is litter, apathy, a great love for the park, but no one to care for it. I am not sure what to make of it. The rest of the history of the park slides neatly into its historical context, but as grassroots organizations become more popular, why is there not even one for a beloved local park?
Society for Creative AnachronismThe Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an organization devoted to studying and emulating the traditions and customs of the Middle Ages.[9]Aside from having a fabulous name, the incorporated society also has an almost unhealthy obsession with Medieval Europe. Not only do members dress in Middle Age gear at their meetings and engage in Middle Age activities (fencing, feasting, calligraphy)[10], they write in "Dark Ages" style: "Whyt Whey’s Midsummer’s Masque," for example. [11]
The SCA is closely connected to Friends Field. I never knew this until one rainy Saturday afternoon, when I went to ruminate about life while sitting on a swing in the empty park. Or near empty, I should say, because there was a large tent set up right next to the playground. I sat on the swing, staring unabashedly at the cluster of people tramping about in clothes that looked right out of the Tudor Era. I could’ve sworn I saw Henry the Eighth gamboling around my park. I watched them fiddle with their clothing, fence in the rain, and make a general spectacle until the cold drove me back home. But I did not forget the event, and I spent several hours wondering what it was all about. Then I discovered that on Google Maps, the "official" website of Friends Field is the website of the Brooklyn area chapter of the SCA.
Everything fell into place. I learned more about the SCA, discovered that it is an international organization with nineteen "kingdoms,"[15] and that the chapter in Brooklyn, called the Canton of Brokenbridge, is very active in Friends Field. At a recent Department of Parks' "It's My Park! Day" event at Friends Field, the organizers were the Friends Field-based Boy Scout Troop 611 and the Society for Creative Anachronism.[16] Perhaps that is why someone put the Brooklyn SCA as Friends Field's website on Google Maps.
Some Demographics of the Park Ethnic composition of the area around Friends Field (specifically the Community Board 12 district). Photo credit: NY4P.org [17] The area immediately around Friends Field (zip code 11230) is significantly poorer than other parts of Midwood. While the median household income in 11230 is $36,750, in 11229 it is significantly higher at $40,645. And at 11210, the median household income is $43,012. 11230 also holds 4000 more people than does the wealthiest zip code of Midwood. Fewer people own their homes in 11230 than in 11210 and 11219: 33% to 45% and 40%, respectively. [18]
However, citizens' efforts in the '70s to keep the park open, and hence keep neighborhood kids out of trouble, may have succeeded even into the present. Of the three area zip codes, the one around Friends Field has the fewest percentage of residents with only a high school degree (29.1), and the greatest percent (13.8) in the neighborhood with graduate degrees. The murder risk score (with 100 being the national average) is 154, compared to 11229, where it is 173.[19] ConclusionFriends Field has a long history of social engagement, from functioning as an enhancement to students' health to acting as a haven of safety for neighborhood children. Its past is also full of irony, with peace-loving Quakers, the Parks Department, and neighborhood organizations like NICE all wrangling desperately over a park called Friends Field. But in the end, the park is simply another patch in the quilt of New York City history: sometimes catastrophic, often contradictory, but always wonderful.
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