Chilling Out On a Balmy Day in Hunting Park

Not even 30 seconds after we stepped out onto the sidewalk, a lanky man toting a plastic bag full of sunglasses bumped into us. He must have sensed my discomfort with the blinding noonday sun, because after exchanging courtesies en Espanol with Marcos, the man handed me a free pair of sunglasses.

In contrast to the warm welcome we initially received, most others wandering around the park area benignly ignored us as we fumbled with our equipment. It was around 65 degrees outside, a nice enough day to enjoy the recreational area, but there were only a few pedestrians hustling to work. “I’m picking up a prescription, I’m still on the job!” said one lady breathlessly as she trotted past.

Most people we came across were either wearing headphones, spoke only Spanish, or both. One man was leaning over the rusty green gate in his yard carrying on a heated debate with two women in whitewashed jeans and tightly-wound buns. I could only catch “pero”, “porque”, and “hablar” in their speedy dialogue.

The population of public transportation vehicles appeared to be healthy, as we spotted a multitude of SEPTA busses, smaller white city busses, and yellow school busses in one intersection alone, with the subway only a few blocks down the street.

Ostentatious Chevy Impalas and Honda Civics with blinding rims blaring loud music thumped past, creating a deafening background noise on our recorder. It seems that if you have a car in Hunting Park, you pull out all the stops to let people know.

From what we could see, the neighborhood is not a beacon of fine dining. Chinese restaurants and pizza shops lined the block, and Dunkin’ Doughnuts is like pre-recession Starbucks, with one on every corner.

This was the type of fare that Hunting Park activist Ryan Kellermeyer, who was featured in the current issue of Philadelphia Weekly, had lived on for years and contributed to his doctor’s diagnosis of obesity. For a future story, our group is interested in getting in contact with Mr. Kellermeyer for several reasons. According to the article in PW, he is head of the civic association, Boy Scout leader and director of development at the Ayuda Community Center, a vital organization in the community. He is also on a mission to stamp out global hunger by raising awareness with his web site http://www.simplesizeme.com/, and subsisting on a diet of rice and water. Already, he has collected $3,100 and lost 35 pounds. It would be interesting to interview him and to find out what others can do to aid his cause.