While having a drink with a friend in a neighborhood bar a few years ago, a distraught-looking woman approached us and started chatting. We engaged in typical barroom banter until she introduced herself as the mother of a guy I had met in the same bar almost two years before. […]
Guy Ciarrocchi: Why Americans are called to give thanks
Unity of purpose. Humility before God. Gratitude for what we have been given. Giving thanks. We are called to give thanks for our great, blessed, albeit imperfect nation. I join Washington, Lincoln, and others in giving my thanks to God. No, this isn’t a history lesson. Nor is my purpose […]
Boys and men are struggling locally and globally
An international group is sounding the alarm about the inequalities experienced by men and boys across the world. The International Council for Men and Boys (ICMB) declared November, Men’s Equality Month, to raise awareness about the current male crisis. Larry DeMarco, Executive Manager for ICMB, acknowledged there is “inequality on […]
Thom Nickels: First-world diets
While traveling with fellow journalists several years ago in the Middle East, one thing became apparent to me: most of the writers on the trip had food issues. One writer claimed she could only eat gluten-free food; another writer ate only kosher foods while a third was an orthodox vegan. […]
Heather Shayne Blakeslee: I don’t know if I belong to a political party anymore. So I’m throwing a party instead.
“We don’t care who you voted for, just bring a dish to the potluck.” I’ve uttered that phrase hundreds of times to my neighbors in South Philadelphia the last three weeks as I passed out postcards to invite them to a Unity Picnic and concert at Old Swedes’ Episcopal Church […]
Thom Nickels: Philadelphia’s grande dame of the essay
In the heart of Center City Philadelphia there is a small graveyard alongside the church of Saint John the Evangelist. A careful reading of the headstones there will reveal the tomb of the Repplier family. How many Repplier family members are buried in this vault is a mystery because on […]
Stephen F. Gambescia: Government is becoming our childhood’s nightmare
An enduring character in a child’s nightmare is the boogeyman. Whether it be the misunderstood Casper the Friendly Ghost or the frightful Freddy Krueger, or a sundry of peculiar onlookers of the dark, such as the Australian Babadook, what children fear most is being taken from the comforts of their […]
Beth Ann Rosica: What happened to civil disagreement?
Earlier this month, I reported on threatening letters sent to people with Trump signs in their yard. One mailing included this statement, “Your vote for this guy is seen as treading on my rights. You tread on me at your peril, motherf*****.” [edited for inappropriate language] Following publication of the […]
Seth Higgins: An outsider’s view of Philadelphia
The good and bad about Pennsylvania’s largest city.
By Seth Higgins