A Day in the Life…

Author: Aimee LaBrie

Do you start to feel nostalgic around the holiday season? I do, probably because my family lives far from these parts (scattered across the great plains of Nebraska and the swampy flatland of Florida) and I don’t always get to see them during winter break. One thing that makes me feel slightly better (and slightly worse) is to review old photos.

Here’s one of my mother, circa age 14, holding one of her many brothers (seven in all). Note my grandmother, in the background, probably going into that screen door to start a meal of some sort. She just turned 94 this week. I miss her too.

If you have my same maudlin/sentimental streak and like on some levels to reminisce about days past, I think you’ll really like Penn’s latest photo project, “A Day in the Life.” You may remember it from last year; the gist is that on a pre-set day (in this instance, Nov. 14 starting at 6 AM), students, faculty, and staff are invited to take pictures of their life on campus and submit them to the Penn communications team. Those photos were then all compiled together to create a wide and varied photo archive of this particular day. Over 100 photographers submitted 928 photos of campus life ranging from a new baby born at HUP to an afternoon sketch class to a theater arts performance at Annenberg Center. You can view the slideshow here or browse all of the collection on Flickr.

Please allow me to whet your nostalgic appetite for more Penn with just a few of the images.