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: