Philadelphia in Quarantine
Thursday, September 3, 2020
Since Spring Break I had been teaching remotely, and the journey down to Philadelphia felt like a memory from a distant past. The only thing I heard outside of the Liberty Bell was the recorded description of what the bell meant, playing in several different languages. A family tossed a Frisbee across the lawn of Independence Hall. I could count the number of tourists on one hand. A few park rangers took turns stepping out to inform the occasional visitor, “Sorry, it’s closed.”
Whenever someone in Philly mentions Washington, D.C., as the nation’s capitol, it’s quickly appended with the fact that the Capitol was in Philadelphia before (“and Manhattan briefly before that!”–says a New Yorker).
The City Center was exceptionally deserted this weekend. The pandemic staved off tourists, and recent civil unrest had shuttered businesses to the point of plywooding their windows. I had seen images online, I had heard things, I had caught a news flash or two: Philadelphia was alive. The chorus of American cities sang clearly: No. More. Every American city had their own George Floyd. Federal troops were deployed as a political stunt.
I walked past the Mint. It was closed. On any US coin, you can see the initials of the city where it was minted. Today there are three locations: S for San Francisco, W for West Point, and P for Philadelphia. Were the printing money inside?
The Museum of the American Revolution was also closed but offered virtual exhibitions about the brave men and women who valiantly fought against the Red coats. I couldn’t help but observe the irony or coincidence or hypocrisy–or maybe hybrid of the three, vertices of a triangle–in protesting in the context of a republic in which the government was formed of and by the people, representing themselves and others. Is civil unrest part of the voting process?
This essay is part of “America in Quarantine,” a series of films and essays reflecting on life during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Don Daedalus is an artist based in New York.
Learn more at www.Daedalus.studio
