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Faces in the Crowd at Barnes and Noble Union Square

Posted by Stuart at 11:29 AM on May 04, 2006

I'm sitting in the 3rd floor cafe at what is perhaps my favorite Barnes and Noble Bookstore in the world -- at Union Square in Manhattan. A diverse crowd fill the many tables here. So, instead of working, I spend most of my time just watching people working, reading, talking, thinking.

A young Asian fashion designer with a jacket, vest, and scarf all of three different colors and patterns and textures makes notes and sketches in a drawing book.

Behind the mix and match style of the designer, a round-bodied elderly gray haired man takes the monochrome approach with matching grey shirt and black pants as he flips through a comic book.

Two Japanese ladies thumbing through eclectic product catalogs and home design books sit next to me. I can only make wild guesses as to what they are chatting about in Japanese.

A long haired girl in a t-shirt and dark rimmed glasses sits by the window. An earnest concerned look is etched into her face as she makes her points to her male companion. Is she saving the world?

Across the large room, a table of Indian business men, sharply dressed in designer jackets and ties and glasses smile and nod and speak of important things. Perhaps they are tacking the same problems as the girl by the window, but I would guess that their approaches might be quite different.

Saving the world is definitely not on the mind of the pot-bellied middle-aged caucasian guy a few tables over. But I do wonder what he is thinking as he studies a Thai kickboxing book.

And perhaps a mirror image of myself sits facing me a few tables away. On his table is an open laptop that he glances at now and then. But he is seemingly more interested in scanning the room around him as he thinks, paying more attention to the comings and going than to what is on the computer screen.