FASTCP is the Field Around the South Tennis Court in Powderhorn. It is the southwest corner of Powderhorn Park that runs along 10th Ave and 34 1/2 st. The field borders the south and west sides of the four green tennis courts. It extends about 75ft to the street on those sides. The field is where people walk their dogs while doing their routine laps around Powderhorn Park. Local kids and people from around the neighborhood go there to play soccer, fútbol, football, stick/baseball, catch and frisbee. In the field in the summer squirt gun fights and outdoor games take place and in the winter snowmen are built and snowballs are thrown. There are three large elms in the eastern part of the field and an amazing, tall pine tree that can be climbed. Besides those four trees there is one more in the eastern part of the field that in unison with the pine make an incredible goal for soccer games with out enough people. So what makes this field so special? The light, the sun, the shade, the warmth, the abundance of people the absence of people, the barrenness of the snow-covered ground. The softness of the grass under my feet and the feeling of energy. The field makes me want to run. I've climbed the trees, run the field, played tennis, soccer, baseball, football, catch, frisbee, etc. This is where I grew up. This is the Park where I've fully experienced the nature of the city of Minneapolis. In the same fifty square feet I've been beaten up, I've made the greatest catch of my life, I’ve played for countless hours, kissed my girlfriend, been called gay, taken my anger out on the fence with a baseball, and enjoyed many a foolish picnic. So what’s the difference of the atmosphere to me than another person? I have my memories to base my experience of the ambience this field posses. It's a relatively simple field with an amazing sky. The grass is green in the summer, covered in leaves in the fall, frozen over in winter, and muddy untill it turns green again in the spring. I chose this field for it's genius loci based on one specific evening in the summer of 2005. It was about seven or eight o'clock and it was raining. It was still summer so it was still light out and it was one of those rains that more misty than rain and the sun was still attempting to shine through the clouds. These clouds were the most sureal clouds imaginable and I've only ever seen them in Minneapolis a hand full of times. They were a mix of red, pink, peach, orange and other warm colors. The rain was warm and the grass was slick. The air was thick with moisture and there was a rainbow. The field had a warm peach-pink glow as the sunset and everything smelled amazing, fresh and clean, similar to a summer rain in a more natural environment such as the North shore.
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