Editorials
529 results
Page 24
Woodrow Wilson — scapegoat?
Wilson and Princeton: Perfect together
Princeton University’s current Woodrow Wilson controversy provides a convenient distraction from the larger issue, which is not Wilson’s racial bigotry but the exclusionary culture that until recently characterized Princeton University itself.
Editorials
6 minute read
An open letter to ISIS
Dear ISIS: Don’t shoot— I give up!
To ISIS I say: We Americans are just as angry as you are. So why not reach out to us? The results may surprise you!
Editorials
5 minute read
Tony Lyle: The Don Quixote of academia
Penn’s unreasonable man, R.I.P.
As editor of Penn’s alumni magazine, the late Tony Lyle was a difficult boss who often fired staffers for failing to live up to his impossibly high standards. He also produced a superb magazine for 24 years before he himself was fired.
Editorials
6 minute read
Presidential debates as improv theater
If 12 candidates were stranded on a desert island…
The trouble with the Republican presidential debates so far is that they haven’t really been debates — more like multiple press conferences. If the moderators would get out of the way and just let the candidates argue among themselves, we’d get much more useful insight.
Editorials
5 minute read
The Orchestra and the Eagles
It ain’t the talent— it’s the chemistry
What do the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Philadelphia Eagles have in common? Both are discovering that, in music as in sports, hiring talent is the easy part. The trick is getting great performers to play together.
Editorials
5 minute read
Blood, destiny, and ‘Disgraced’
You’ve got to be taught
Are Muslims (not to mention the rest of us) doomed to stew in the resentments of the past? In the process of contending that blood is destiny, Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced provokes us to prove him wrong.
Editorials
5 minute read
The campus diversity quandary
Too many smart Asians?
Shouldn’t the best and brightest high school students get first crack at America’s top universities, regardless of their race, creed, or nationality? Not necessarily. Consider, for example, Columbia University’s unfortunate Class of 1964.
Editorials
5 minute read
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Death of the 'City Paper'
Alternative weeklies: The final chapter
After 34 years, the City Paper's final issue appears this week. But this alternative weekly survived much longer than it should have. As its former competitor, I observed the saga from a front-row seat.
Editorials
4 minute read
Bikes vs. pedestrians on the Schuylkill Trail
In a flash, his life changed
A collision on Philadelphia’s popular new Schuylkill River Trail landed BSR music critic Tom Purdom in the intensive care unit. Polymath that he is, Tom prefers to focus on the larger urban policy implications rather than the recklessness of the biker who blindsided him.
Editorials
5 minute read
My favorite religious jokes
The Pope and a rabbi walk into a bar…
How will Philadelphia survive the Pope’s visit? The same way humankind has survived most of its crises: with humor. To help you endure Papal Week, here are some of my favorite religious jokes — Catholic and otherwise.
Editorials
9 minute read