Street Note

Street Note:
Las Mismas Cuatro Personas, The Same Four People
by Esperanza Gonzalez
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. This is a field note from Esperanza Gonzalez based on the same four people she waits for the bus with everyday.
The same four people
Await desperately for the bus to arrive to their destination
The same four people
Share nothing in common but the urge to get moving
The same four people
The first person always wears chucks and a nice t-shirt
And gosh I wouldn’t mind to flirt either
He has nice brown hair and a blue bag
And trust me you’ll never see him brag
The second person always holds the hand of her child
She’s a hardworking brown skin woman with a touch of wild
Her child always wears his uniform faithfully
Inside the bus, he would always lend her his seat graciously
The fourth person always plugs in his headphones and zones into his loud hard music
Surprisingly always carries around something exclusive
One day it was a limited edition Ralph Lauren white baseball cap
I wonder how his future story will unwrap
The same four people
Yet all different in their own ways
Share the same place as home
Philly, it’s Philly the land they praise
