Street Note:
The Beauty of the Square
by Angelica Owens

​Re-PLACE-ing Philadelphia is building an expanded archive of cultural memory that includes multiple histories, re-place-ing the established with new narratives and understandings. Notes consider place via the street, sound, food, trees, and other portals.

In partnership with educator Joshua Block, students from Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy are creating and publishing their Philadelphia Field Notes. Angelica Owens shares her experience of Franklin Square Park.

As a person who comes to Franklin Square Park often, I enjoy relaxing on the benches, listening to the calming sounds of the fountain rising and going down. As children run up and down the bricks and on the grass, I feel calm just sitting there peacefully. As I sit on the bench, there are so many things that cross my mind. I think about life; the good, the bad, the unwanted, the stress. Everything that goes on in my life. This park is a place where I feel relieved. As if all of the problems I may be dealing with at the time are extinct. There are no longer  worries since I am surrounded by this water, the laughter of the people around me enjoying the nice day. This park is where I feel free. Where I feel like I did growing up. No stress, no worries, just happy and smiling. Where I most feel like myself.