My Studio Manager, right-hand person, and any other great adjectives that mean Very Good Friend, Fran Donato, and I have an inside joke. It’s that we are from another planet, and the only reason we’re still here is because we can’t remember where we put our spaceship.

So I was in Center City Philadelphia and decided to study the inhabitants of this planet. Just the human forms - I wasn’t dealing with the birds and the dogs and everything else - just the humans.

The first thing I noticed was that they’re all selling some sort of product. What type of shoes they have, where they’ve been, what vacation, what college they went to, what college they want to go to, where their grandparents have been. I thought that was kind of interesting. You buy something, and then give that company free advertising while you walk around wearing it. ...I think they should give you a little money back for that.

Then I noticed the rainbow of colors of people. And sizes! It was fascinating, all being of the same species yet having so many different varieties. And I knew some of those people out there I saw had to be aliens and didn’t know where their spaceships were, either.

I then started thinking of all the different countries that their families originated from. That’s another huge branch of variety. Then I started thinking of religion, that’s a whole other branch of variety - and the languages you hear!

I’m not even going to go into the different hair colors I saw out there. Some were colors found in nature, but most of them were colors I’ve only seen on birds.

The people were just a beautiful, colorful mosaic of this planet.

Then I thought, some people don’t look at differences as a wonder. When those people look at differences they start to lose respect for anyone who is different, younger, older, with a different accent. For some people that just turns into a petri dish of hatred. Differences should never be hated, they should always be embraced. Don’t be scared, learn something new.

And on the political side of things, with all of the diversity this planet has, and with all of the fear and hatred this planet has, it’s kind of good that they have not blown it up.

Like they say, the best show in town is just sitting around watching the people.

Okay, go out there, throw out a smile or be a little kinder to someone who doesn’t expect it from you. And if by any chance you see my spaceship hidden in your garage, can you see if I left the keys in the ignition?

Have a happy End of Summer, and I’ll talk to you next month!

- Kevin S. Nash

Photo details: Self-project, Atlantic City, NJ.