New York City, May 3, 2017

★★★★ The forecourt was covered in chalked graffiti declaring “2nd grade rules” over and over again, as well as a chalked portrait of Spider-Man. The second-grade children (or maybe the children trying to frame the second-graders) had caught the best of it, under a pristine deep-blue sky. From there, the sky spent the rest of the day out of sync: In midafternoon, the sun passed from cloud to cloud, brilliant for moments but without warmth or staying power; at sundown, the west was empty, with nothing left to catch the colors.