Editorials
525 results
Page 29
What price victory?
If you build it . . . then what?
Why is a mediocre sports team like the Phillies prospering in its new home while great artistic and educational institutions struggle in their new venues?
Editorials
6 minute read
Back to basics with ISIS
Ten (rhetorical) questions for ISIS
America and its allies enjoy overwhelming superiority when it comes to air power and drones. But ISIS seems to be winning the war for the hearts and minds of the young and impressionable. Here’s my contribution to the rhetorical war in the Middle East.
Editorials
3 minute read
French anti-Semitism: Another view
Are the French anti-Semitic?
I don’t love all French people, any more than I love all Americans. But I do love what France stands for — which isn’t necessarily better than what America stands for, but is most assuredly different.
Editorials
5 minute read
The wimp factor
Who you calling a wimp?
What’s a testosterone-obsessed national leader to do when someone calls him a wimp? In the Internet age, when perception trumps reality, our old reliable giants of classical literature, drama, and cinema offer precious little guidance. Satirists must pick up the torch.
Editorials
5 minute read
Comcast’s spokesman confronts God
David Cohen meets his maker
Sometime in the future, a new arrival from Philadelphia stands at the entrance to the pearly gates, awaiting his admission interview.
Editorials
5 minute read
Putin vs. Peter the Great
What’s wrong with this analogy?
Western pundits seem convinced that Vladimir Putin is modeling himself after Peter the Great. But in one very important respect, these two Russian rulers are poles apart.
Editorials
4 minute read
Ratings mania
We’re Number Ten!
What’s the world’s greatest novel, movie, or orchestra? Who’s the greatest painter or composer? In any matters involving personal taste, who knows? And why do even rabbis buy into this listing mania?
Editorials
5 minute read
Pam Sommerfield’s unique theatrical life
She did it her way, in Philadelphia
Aspiring actors usually head for Broadway or Hollywood and hope some director will notice them. Pam Sommerfield left London for Philadelphia — where she created her own unique theatrical niche.
Editorials
4 minute read
Sign up for our newsletter
All of the week's new articles, all in one place. Sign up for the free weekly BSR newsletters, and don't miss a conversation.
Through history with Philadelphia Magazine
On trivializing Ed Rendell (not to mention Lincoln)
In keeping with its tradition of skewering local sacred cows, Philadelphia Magazine this month produced a special section on overrated local icons. The puncturing of Ed Rendell particularly caught my eye.
Editorials
4 minute read
Neshaminy’s high school press dispute
An open letter to three high school editors
The editors of a high school paper in Bucks County have discovered that adults don’t really know what they’re doing. Fortunately, a solution to their quandary is at hand. My cousin Andy tried it more than 40 years ago, with inspiring results.
Editorials
6 minute read