8 people in Rittenhouse Square

It was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in Rittenhouse Square. I was physically ready with my camera and a pad of paper. Mentally, there were a lot of thoughts going on in my head. I looked at this assignment simply as a chance to meet new people. The warm sunny day made people more open to the idea of submitting their soul to me for five minutes. Everyone seemed to forget it was January.

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meet: Leonard
Leonard has been living in Philadelphia for 10 years. Residing particularly in South Philadelphia, Leonard comes to Rittenhouse Square on nice days to sit and play chess with anyone who wants to play with him. "North Philly," he said, "is my favorite part and my least favorite part. It's both good and bad."

meet:Darnelle
Darnelle Radford, 25, has lived in Philadelphia for 6 years. Darnelle is an Artistic Director for a Theater Company called Representative Theater Company. His favorite part about Rittenhouse Square is the fact that it's a big piece of nature and a big piece of history. When asked about his least favorite part about the Square, he replied, "

Although I'm a part of it, it would have to be the trendiness of it." To learn more about Darnelle and his Theater Company visit http://www.represented.org.





meet:Kim and Sydney
Kim Tremblay, 35, has lived in Philadelphia for 5 years. She and her daughter, Sydney, 9 months, came to Rittenhouse Square to sit in the sun and play in the grass. Kim, a professor at University of Pennsylvania, said, "My favorite part are the zalias that come in the spring time."

meet:
Wesley
Wesley Emmoms, 78, has been a resident of Philadelphia for 54 years. He particularly enjoys sitting at one bench and watches people come by. "At night," he started, "I sit and watch the pretty lights in the trees. At day I watch the girls." He also enjoys the one bench because it's directly across the street from Curtis Music Hall. According to him, He has been to Curtis 2500 times for the free shows. When asked about what his least favorite part about Rittenhouse Square he responded, "Some jerk sits down across from me and mouths off at the police."


meet:Lauren
Lauren Rex, 23, has lived in Philadelphia for 5 years. She currently is an employee at Daffy's and works on designing window displays. Today, she came to Rittenhouse Square to read and people watch.


meet:Ben
Ben Zuckerman, 64, has lived in Philadelphia for 6 years. He is a lawyer and enjoys photography as a hobby. Today, he comes to Rittenhouse to smoke a cigar and enjoy the nice weather. He lives on a nearby corner and considers the Square to be his own front yard. When asked about his favorite and least favorite part about the park he responded, "My favorite part is the mix of people who enjoy it (the park) and use it. My least favorite are the people who leave trash."


meet:
FrankFrank porter, 56, has been living in Philadelphia for most of his life. He works as a painter for business buildings and workplaces. Today, he comes to Rittenhouse after a long day of work. "Rittenhouse is nice, relaxing. You can meet people, if that's what you want to do." When asked what his least favorite part about the park he responded, "I Like it. I really like it. There is no bad part about it. People come down, mind their own business and enjoy themselves. It's very nice."