Walking downtown

Dan and I walked downtown today to his eye doctor, and we walked through campus, where the Penn Relays are in progress. This guy was sitting on the wall at the corner of 33rd and Spruce Streets:




This also happens to be the 80,000th photo I've taken with my Nikon D200!!

There were runners all over campus, really, and in center city. We passed these guys on the Walnut Street bridge:





Then we headed down to Rittenhouse Square:





This guy was doing some really impressive flips. Not sure if he was practicing, exercising, showing off, or a combination of all three:




Three guys (these 2 plus a bass players) were by the fountain playing Beatles songs. The Beatles have been following me lately. Not sure why:




This last one needs a quick explanation. A minister had set up in the center of Rittenhouse Square and was attempting to convert passers-by by preaching through a small loud-speaker he'd brought with him. A saw a couple people engage with him, although I'll tell you from experience that arguing with such people is a pointless endeavor, unless you're just trying to waste your time or theirs. Then a guy came over and told him to stop what he was doing, that he was bothering everyone. They argued for a bit, and the guy even went and unplugged the preacher's speaker a few times, which riled him up a bit. In the end, the police came and made the preacher stop using his loud speaker.

Hey Day 2009

Today was Hey Day, the day at the University of Pennsylvania when the junior class are officially pronounce seniors by the president of the University, currently Dr. Amy Gutmann. Traditionally, the juniors wear red shirts and styrofoam hats (faux straw skimmers) and carry canes (once mahogany, now bamboo). There is a parade through campus which ends at College Hall, where the president emerges and declares them all seniors. In recent years (since, say, 2002-03), the event has also degenerated into a food fight, where first seniors (and now other juniors as well) dump every food (primarily flour, mustard, and ketchup, but also eggs, soy sauce, milk, raw meat, and fruit jam) onto the juniors as they march by. The last few years, I've noticed that the Asian students engage in the food-fight aspect of the day with much more vigor than others. I'm not sure why, but Dan theorized that it's an excuse to get messy for a change.

It is also a tradition to get completely plastered for Hey Day.

There are lots more of my Hey Day photos on flickr, but here are some of my faves:







The best friend of the 2nd woman from the right was in Spain this semester, and thus missed Hey Day, so she brought a cardboard effigy and took it with her on the parade:









The Penn Band leads the parade from the west end of Campus down to College Green:







The police guarding the steps of College Hall, and the president at the top:



President Gutmann speaks to the junior class:





Every year a few students get into the trees and the police usually get them back down:



The aftermath:





The last Hey Day shot I took:

Protest Easy Guns

I had my day all planned out today. I was going to stay home, do laundry, and wash dishes. Maybe make some home-made granola. But when I was in the shower this morning, WHYY mentioned something about an anti-gun protest today on Independence Mall. I looked up the details online, grabbed my camera, and headed downtown.

The protest was by a group called ProtestEasyGuns.com (their name is their address), largely in response to the shootings at Virginia Tech.

It was a smaller group than I'd hoped, but it was a Sunday, and the weather forecast called for thunderstorms today, and it was already raining a little bit by the time the protest started. At least there were a couple of tv filming crews there (one from Fox29, and I'm not sure about the other one), plus a reporter from KYW1060 News Radio.

There were about 32 protesters (plus maybe an extra supporter or two)--mostly women-- dressed in black with "Outrage ribbons" in Virginia Tech's school colors, maroon and orange. I believe I heard someone say that the scarves were made by a mother who lost a child at Virginia Tech, but I can't be sure. Leading up to noon, they handed out flyers titled, "Did you know that in Pennsylvania" to passers-by, listing some disturbing facts about buying guns in PA (There is no waiting period to buy a gun. No training is required to obtain a permit for carrying a concealed weapon. You are not required to report a lost or stolen gun to police.) and giving information on contacting legislators, and on organizing your own protest.

At noon, the group formed into 2 lines. Hope Bennett, one of the organizers of the protest, read a short speech explaining what the event was about. She summed up her own involvement by explaining: "I have sat at home and expressed my outrage to my family and myself. After the Virginia Tech incident, we can no longer stay on the sidelines. Enough is enough; it's time to try something else."

She also made a good point when repeating the arguments made by the gun-lobby: "Guns don't kill people; people kill people. Absolutely, so we invite the gun lobby to stand shoulder to shoulder with us in the fight to keep guns out of the hands of those people."

The 32 people (symbolizing the 32 victims at Virginia Tech and the 32 people who die every day in this country from gun violence) then lay down on the sidewalk for a few minutes, symbolizing the amount of time it took for the VA Tech shooter to obtain his gun.

Afterward, I talked briefly with Hope Bennett. She'd been hard to hear over the Market Street traffic, so she kindly gave me a copy of her speech.

Penn Alumni Day 2007

Saturday, May 12 was Alumni Day at the University of Pennsylvania. It's a fun event for any alum, with a chance to see old friends and remember your college days. And it's a great event for any photographer, bringing together a number of interesting elements: college students present and past, music, children, free food (I had a hot dog and cherry water ice), parades, parties, campus tours, and other special events. It climaxes (well, "climaxes" might be too strong a word) with the parade of classes down Locust Walk, focusing primarily on the major reunion classes--especially the 25th and 50th reunions, who natually give the most money. As you can see, fun was had by all.

Drumtime for Bongo

This man was at Broad and Sansom Streets, just across Sansom from the Union League. He shook my hand and introduced himself as "Bongo." "Appropriate name," I said to him, and he smiled a toothless grin before returning to his instrument. He wished a happy Mother's Day to some passing women while I snapped a few photos of him before heading to Border's Books for a cup of coffee.