Adamson Square is the huge community center/hub of Carrollton. It has practically everything there; social hubs/events, bars, restaurants, some really cool stores you can’t find elsewhere such as the record store, and places to go for dessert. However, there’s one issue. Half the time, the parking lots on the actual Square are filled up, meaning you have to park further down and up a parking deck. Instead of driving and being there, you must do something different. You must walk. Some people dread walking long distances and think it’s a waste of time, but it’s way more important and in-depth than people really think.

We’re lucky to even have Adamson Square to begin with. In our time and age, according to Rebecca Solnit’s “Wanderlust,” places similar to our Adamson Square in older cities are “being eroded and abandoned” due to “technologies and services that don’t require leaving home.” Not only do we benefit from it being a public space, we also don’t recognize how beautiful of a space it is sometimes. Every area on the square has something unique. The Budder’d Udder ice cream shop pops a bright blue so you can’t miss it, Local Ties has a beautiful setup outside and inside their shop with warm, vibrant colors on the inside, and Chip’s burger bar has dark brown walls with a bright vibrant logo to contrast the cool undertone the brown sets. It’s a wonderful place to wander and explore and you’d never be able to tell unless you walked the square.

To elaborate on the technology advancement, as of late, people don’t leave their homes. I mean, why should we? We have food services like doordash to deliver us food and amazon to deliver just about anything. However, as Rebbeca Solnit puts it, staying at home creates an isolated and controlled environment. Being in public spaces, to contrast, is, as she puts it, a radical act of political freedom, discovery, and democratic participation. I like to think of walking around the Square as a place to escape. It’s a place of anonymity, where no one may know you at all, and it’s a place to get out of your house and move around. If you stay at home long enough, you’ll feel unproductive. It’s good to get out every once and awhile.

Recently, our classroom has gone out and studied Adamson Square more deeply. It’s been seriously eye-opening for me as I’ve never really tried to pay attention to what all goes on. There’s so much community. So, so, so much community just out on the square. People will take time out of their days to come to the square and meet and talk and have coffee or a drink. I especially picked up this memo when I went into Gallery Row. I had heard all about the coffee, but I’d never actually been inside and analyzed the whole place. There were 3 people sipping coffee at a small group of comfy chairs in a corner of the store, 2 people who seemed to be discussing work together, people who had just come and taken a chair and table to work in the corner, and there were so many big groups of people. As for me, I was one of them. I was in a group of around 6-8 people in Gallery Row and we just talked. It felt different, though. Usually when I talk to people, it’s sometime in school or on a call. Being in a public space with these people I know and care for made it feel different. It felt better than being crammed in my bedroom at home, sitting on a call. It felt better than being at a desk looking to my left talking to someone. It felt good.

And Gallery Row wasn’t the only place packed with people, either. The sidewalks and restaurants all had people. Even if it was just one person, there was someone there. Especially the sidewalks. Some people stopped and had conversations, others hustled to where they needed to be. It was very interesting to observe, honestly. I had never really thought of the square as so important and only went there because my parents wanted to eat there from time to time. After this experience, I’ve had my eyes opened. Adamson Square is more than just 1 or 2 good restaurants, it’s a community hub for people to come together and live. It’s somewhere people can go and learn and make friends. It’s something I’ve seen almost nowhere else and you can never take this away from this community made for them, by them.