Monday afternoon I didn’t get over to the Market until nearly 4 o’clock. It’s amazing how the energy of the space changes once the lunch rush is over on the weekdays. It becomes a place where people can sit quietly over a cup of coffee (try it iced from Old City Coffee, I had it today and was instantly smitten) or a newspaper or a laptop.

After a quick circuit of the market, I centered in on three kids sitting around a table in the Center Court. One had a notebook spread out in front of her, the other two (who you can see above) were just hanging out and talking. I interrupted them with my standard, “Hi, can I bug you for just a second speech?” while I pulled up a chair (I find people have a harder time saying no if I’m already sitting down). They were up for talking, so I stayed in the seat and started asking questions.

They introduced themselves as Jay (on the left), John (on the right) and Cindy (who didn’t want her picture taken). Marketing majors at Temple, all three are going to be heading into their senior years this fall. Cindy is the reason they hang out in the Market, she works at one of the prepared food stands and occasionally is able to pass a little free food along to her friends.

She’s been working at the Market for more than a year and a half and said she enjoys the people she meets. She once met a professional marathon runner who had come to the Market to load up on pasta before a race and swears that there is a judge who frequently comes in for lunch and makes a point of carrying a juror sticker around with him so that he can get the 10% discount.

John remembered walking into the men’s room one afternoon to discover a man shaving his beard at the sink with a pocket knife. Realizing that it wasn’t getting the job done, John told him to wait and ran out to get him a disposable razor so that he could finish the shave more effectively and less painfully.

At this point, the conversation devolved a bit. We talked about the difference between the words effect/affect and invincible/invisible and then Jay started asking me questions about the story project and what I was doing in school. He liked the idea of talking to people with a specific location as the point of initial conversation and thought that it would be cool to do something similar with the different neighborhoods in the city. Maybe when this project is done…

Cindy, John and Jay, I hope I see you all around the Market again sometime soon! (I promise to try the chocolate covered potato chips soon).