In the libertarian world of 2030s Virginia in general and Crystal City in specific, private parks are the norm. They are open to the public 24/7, clean and safe. Public parks are where one goes to have trouble find them. Below are some of the privately owned parks as they look in the 2010s.
12th Street Park:
In the 2030s, this is the only private park in Crystal City that is not considered safe. The developer on the south side tries to keep it guarded, but the developer on the north side continues to make it accessible, rather than providing recreation space on the north end.
Outdoor sales of what was considered contraband and vice in earlier decades is rampant, but just a lure for thieves.
Before I began the outline for Suki I, I set down some rules for the environment the characters would be living in. Being set in the USA just a few years in the future, I decided that the country would be no more legally homogeneous than it is now. That ties into something I have noticed across the country, when people get used to their local laws they seem to think that they are the same everyplace. Certain laws anyway, which has run people into problems for decades, even centuries when it comes to Eastern vs. Western property rights rules.
In this case, a simple towing of a vehicle that happened a few days before this post:
Nothing particularly exciting there, on the face. The land owner has designated certain parking spots reserved for this-or-that. The land owner has made an arrangement with a wrecker company to monitor parking and remove vehicles that are parked without permission on the land.
Now imagine that adjoining jurisdictions, Washington, DC and most of Maryland, have different rules, where parking in areas like the one this vehicle was towed from being mostly controlled by the government and must be marked in a certain manner. Just for fun, imagine that the tow trucks in these areas are government trucks, not contractors, so being towed is less of a risk. When the drivers from that environment arrive in Virginia and just grab a spot because they think they can get away with it with maybe a ticket, they get a rude awakening when they discover their vehicle has been privately towed and is going to require a substantial payment to retrieve.
The above example is too minor for the short novels that I write, so there is a mention of a demonstration in Suki's neighborhood over someone from DC or MD losing their home for destroying a Virginian's property with their under-insured vehicle and bad driving habits.
The video above was taken from across the street from Chipotle, 2231 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202.
At the Crystal City 2600 Crystal Drive Starbucks I saw a guy reading Suki I just a little while ago. Was interesting, bordering on thrilling, as I glanced his direction and saw him turn a page with a look of interest on his face. He read it for several minutes. I never anticipated any thoughts or feelings I might have if I saw someone reading one of my books.
The Concord Starbucks, as it is known currently, is the one that inspired #OpBookDrop by Ami Hendrickson, on Twitter. Actually, that man was reading the book that I left that day. It is also a location in Suki I that the couple visits on an early date. The pictures below are recent at that location.
In Suki I, a part-time pursuit of John's is tutoring Math and Science to college students. I enjoyed doing that when I was in college and noticed more than a few people in their 30s, 40s, and older who enjoyed tutoring college and high school students. In cinema and books, the writing arts seem to be more frequently represented by older mentors and tutors.
Suki has hired John as an Astronomy tutor, but she is long out of college, with a PhD in Robotics, a Masters in Bionics and an MS in Mathematics.
This passage from a recent Stephen Hawking article captures a bit if the instruction in Suki I, during their first tutoring session. However, the couple sticks with science without launching into religion:
The tale of how the primordial universe of hydrogen, helium and a bit of lithium evolved to a universe harboring at least one world with intelligent life like us is a tale of many chapters. The forces of nature had to be such that heavier elements—especially carbon—could be produced from the primordial elements, and remain stable for at least billions of years. Those heavy elements were formed in the furnaces we call stars, so the forces first had to allow stars and galaxies to form. Those in turn grew from the seeds of tiny inhomogeneities in the early universe.
