Broad Street Review

Philly's home for arts, culture, and conversation

Jackie Schifalacqua

Contributor

BSR Contributor Since August 13, 2010

Jackie Schifalacqua is a writer who lives in Cape May, N.J.

Jackie Atkins, from Cape May, New Jersey, writes on cultural and social institutions for various publications. She also is working on a 26-episode drama series recently sold to EWTV through Family Theatre Productions.

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At last, a foolproof system for filling out your bracket. (Photo: “Addiction” by Jason Dean, via Creative Commons/Flickr)

Picking a basketball bracket

Eliminating the insanity of March Madness

My system for filling out my bracket is foolproof, and it’s simple: Trust your eyes, sense of style, and regional loyalties first. Leave aside alumni affiliations and rely on a selection of good names and old standbys. (In a crunch, you can’t go wrong choosing Duke.)

Jackie Schifalacqua

Mar 16, 2016 Essays 4 minute read

Leaving behind the Roman numerals. (Image via nfl.com)

Why I won't be watching the Super Bowl

The Super Ball will be piped into tents in Afghanistan, ships on the Straits of Oman, turrets on the 49th parallel in Korea, and the weightlessness of the International Space Station. It will also have a third of the country’s population watching — but this year it won’t have me.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Feb 02, 2016 Essays 5 minute read

First Friday in Old City (Photo by B. Krist for Visit Philadelphia™)

First Fridays in Philadelphia

Come for the drag queens, stay for the art

First Friday used to be a celebration of art — these days, it's a hook for marketing departments.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Jun 10, 2014 Articles 3 minute read

What breed of dog am I? ("NICO Looks at Himself," Georgia Pinaud; rights released.)

Online personality quizzes

Who am I?

Think twice before you assess “What Disneyland theme park do you belong in?” Is knowing, scientifically, that you’re an Epcot type worth the price of your privacy?

Jackie Schifalacqua

Apr 10, 2014 Essays 3 minute read

Sibling rivalry: Brian Osborne (left) and Jeb Kreager

'True West' at Theatre Exile

The yin and yang of the artistic process

Theatre Exile, with its nuanced actors, is probably the best equipped of all Philadelphia troupes to handle Shepard’s one-dimensional drama.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Feb 11, 2014 Articles 3 minute read

Mary Matalin and James Carville doing the Naw'lins thang.

Carville and Matalin's 'Love and War'

Twenty years later, James Carville and Mary Matalin’s dog and pony show has morphed into hackneyed dialogue suitable for reality TV.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Jan 23, 2014 Articles 3 minute read

Lady Mary: Back in black

Downton Abbey Season 4

Immune to Lady Mary's charms

Downton Abbey is merely the latest soap set in the great homes of Britain to take America by storm. What's the appeal?

Jackie Schifalacqua

Jan 04, 2014 Articles 3 minute read

Ingram in ‘Boardwalk II’: At last, a grownup.

Lessons from the Cape May Film Festival

Those who can, do; those who can’t, attend film schools

Why do America’s many film schools produce so few good movies? And why are the best films made by school dropouts with real-world experience? To ask the question is to answer it.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Oct 29, 2013 Articles 2 minute read

What if I had lived with Indians?

Charles Whitecar Miskelly's "The Cape'

Whites and Indians in 17th-Century New Jersey

More than 70 years after it was handwritten by a shipbuilder and chicken farmer, a fantasy vision of New Jersey's earliest settlers has surfaced.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Aug 31, 2013 Articles 3 minute read

Tracy Martin (left) and Sybrina Fulton: Righteous indignation got in the way.

Trayvon Martin's mother and the rush to judgment (1st comment)

Unintended consequences: A mother's love and Zimmerman's acquittal

Some people blame the victim for George Zimmerman's shooting of Trayvon Martin. What about the victim's mother? Her emotional reaction, while understandable, undermined the careful investigation that this case required. As a result, Zimmerman is free and we'll never know what really happened the night of the killing.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Jul 16, 2013 Essays 4 minute read

Respectful of women, to a fault.

Two male authors, at opposite extremes

Wet dreams and clean pants, or: What do women want from men?

One best-selling male author writes books about a neutered man; another about a stallion near a mare in perpetual heat. When I see the kind of books that women read, I feel embarrassed for my gender.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Jun 11, 2013 Articles 3 minute read

Cape May sunset: Not a mugger or bureaucrat in sight.

One more time: Freedom vs. security

The road to serfdom runs nowhere near my house

Dan Rottenberg mocked me for abandoning his stimulating streets of Philadelphia for the storm-ravaged coast of New Jersey. Hey, each of us cherishes a different version of the American dream.

Jackie Schifalacqua

May 07, 2013 Essays 3 minute read

Cape May beach: The count is three-and-two, and who's the umpire?

Waiting for Sandy in Cape May

Denial and destiny by the sea

To every life comes a moment of truth. Mine arrived Monday as Hurricane Sandy approached Cape May, where my family had summered for more than a century. Should I flee or should I stay?

Jackie Schifalacqua

Nov 03, 2012 Essays 3 minute read

Rachel Camp as Natalie, James Barry as Dan: Suffering boobs. (Photo: Mark Garvin.)

"Next to Normal' at the Arden (2nd review)

Up from normality

Diana, the obsessively grieving mother in Next to Normal, has more than her share of hangups. But she's far less dangerous than the “normal” relatives and mental health professionals who attend her.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Oct 16, 2012 Articles 3 minute read

'Crescendo': Is that sun rising or setting?

Stan Sperlak's "Rising' at Cape May

How you gonna keep 'em down in Provence after they've seen Cape May?

Stan Sperlak's Cape May County pastels almost make you believe there's no difference between southern Jersey and southern France. Almost, but not quite.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Oct 08, 2012 Articles 3 minute read

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