Street Signs

These are my five favorite signs that I encountered while do this project. This first one in particular I took for two reasons, firstly it is a religious banner on the side of a church offering help with evil magic, so it clearly speaks to the beliefs and ideals of the people in the area. They are monotheistic but also have some sort of belief in witchcraft, otherwise this poster would be invalid, and it very well may be. However aside from that, I just thought it was hilarious to have a poster asking people if they were suffering from "bad luck". However, "evil eye" is actually an Italian thing. My grandparents from Calabria, as well as any Southern Italian person from their generation could tell you, the malocchio (maloiks in the anglosized bastardization, meaning literally, "bad eye") was a common curse of unpleasentness from one person upon another. There was a simple prayer to be said over the victim but only at midnight and in some traditions only on Christmas Eve. (For whatever reason. Maybe the birth of the Savior of man has something to do with it). If the person actually did have the malocchio and the prayer was successful in warding off the evil, the person praying over the subject would hiccup during. Anyway, on to the next one. Hear we have "Black and Noble", a bookstore that my sources tell me is for Blacks by Blacks. It struck me as odd that they would have a huge sign advertising that they ship out to prisons. This was in a predominantly Black neighborhood and it seems that even within the Black community they know well the issue of young Black men and crime today. It's also very curious that right above it is an inspirational poster speaking to the Black Youth of the neihborhood to rise up and do something helpful and meaningful with their lives and careers.

An old theatre that was locked up and shut down and long time ago. It's age is unknown. Perhaps it was a movie theatre, perhaps it was a stage theatre for musicals. Either way, it's now irrelevant. This neighborhood has had some recent renovations thanks to nearby Temple university Hospital and medical facilities, however, plenty of older abondoned sites just like this one still exist. Perhaps the neighbors are purists and wish to maintain the old natural beauty and design of the neighborhood?

I know this doesn't quite count as a sign, but my friend saw this on the pole and pointed it out to me. Honestly I was uphauled as this sticker was brand new and we saw it on the 10th anniversary of September 11th. Apparently someone thought to honor the dead and fallen of the tragedy by using the anniversary as an opportunity to push their theories of conspiracy on passerbys. In my culture, that's no way to honor the dead. Infact it's a very selfish and offensive thing to do to those who have lost and more importantly those who have sacrificed their lives for us all and our Freedom. In any case, this was in Center City, where a nice hodge podge of people and cultures meet. I feel as though the people who posted this sign were not from the city, but instead from a suburb somewhere and this is there way to rebel against, "The Man", i.e. their parents. Please excuse my bluntness but I cannot abide useless people.

Last but not least is this funy little diddy just down the street from my house in my native South Philadelphia. Apparently when the city posted Betsy Ross' name on the street pole, they forgot to spell check it first.