Floor length windows line the wall. Below, a girl walks across the park, a backpack half her size slung over her shoulder. I wonder what class she’s going to or coming from, what books fill her bag, weighing her down with all the words she doesn’t yet know. Or maybe, her backpack holds no books at all. Maybe as I look down at her from the library, I romanticise her experience as a quest for knowledge when in reality she is lugging around cheap liquor bottles, wondering if anyone can see through her facade. I sit at a table lined with students, each on looking intently into the eyes of the screen in front of them. A girl is writing a lengthy paper while the girl next to her surfs through her facebook feed. It has never been easier to find information. It has never been harder to pay attention.
It is 5:30 and the sky deepens into a dark blue. Against it, the empire state building glows red, sitting atop a multitude of little squares of light. The girl across from me works attentively, her phone laying face down next to her tablet. She considers neither as her eyes dart from left to right, scanning her laptop. She reads without a book in sight.
(Also was unable to attach a picture)
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