The Mannix farm was a legendary place in an area that was then called Bacton Hill. It was known as such because it’s owner, Daniel P. Mannix, was known as an adventure writer who traveled the world with his wife, Jule Junker Mannix, in search of wild animals to bring […]
Thom Nickels: Port Richmond elegy
There’s not a single vacant space in my Riverwards Fishtown-Port Richmond neighborhood that hasn’t been rezoned for rehab by developers. One night as I was making my way to a friend’s house in the neighborhood, I passed the spot where one of my favorite little houses once stood. This tiny […]
Thom Nickels: Owen Wister and the ‘Western Cure’
Several years ago while researching my book, Literary Philadelphia: A History of Poetry & Prose in the City of Brotherly Love, I looked into the life of Owen Wister, the author of the western novel, The Virginian. Wister was the only child of a physician father and an actress mother […]
Michael Thomas Leibrandt: The Day that Jimmy Carter Built Houses in Philly
Not every US ex-President would volunteer to build houses in North Philadelphia. Then again, Jimmy Carter wasn’t just any ex-President. Even in 1988 , the neighborhood around Wilt Street in Philadelphia was a dangerous place. Jimmy Carter didn’t care. He would reside in the Temple University Dorms for three days during the Habit for Humanity Project in […]
David Reel: The consequences of America’s broken moral compass
A dictionary definition of a moral compass is a set of beliefs or values that help guide ethical decisions, judgments, and behavior, an internal sense of what is right and wrong. A dictionary definition of broken is something that is no longer whole or working correctly. As has been reported […]
Jeff Hurvitz: Bob Dylan’s movie and self-determination
Midway through 1965, Bob Dylan changed the world of music by bringing his compositions from the era of acoustic guitar to one of electronic. The creation of “Like A Rolling Stone,” a piece hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as number one among its top songs ever, is now depicted in the […]
Thom Nickels: Theosophists in Philadelphia
In the 1970s I lived for a time in a second floor apartment in a building that also served as the headquarters for the West Chester, Pennsylvania, Theosophical Society. In a deal with the landlord to lower the rent, I cleaned and swept the offices of the Theosophical Society rooms. […]
Thom Nickels: Philly’s cultural revolution
The fallout from Philadelphia’s June 2020 George Floyd riots worked to radicalize the city’s cultural and arts communities. Shortly after the rioting, museums, art galleries, theater companies and historical societies sent out statements in support of Black Lives Matter. These messages of support grew exponentially until the tsunami had every […]
Michael Thomas Leibrandt: Why Cliveden means so much
When I was a young man, few things meant fall for me as a visit to Cliveden with my Dad. The annual re-enactment of the Revolutionary War Battle of Germantown in 1777 — which has taken place for over four decades — was a wonder to my youthful eyes. This fall is […]