Running Broad Street

And here I am.

I’ve disagreed with Dan almost since I began my career in Philadelphia’s publishing world as a Philadelphia Magazine intern roughly 25 years ago. I read the Welcomat when it arrived on my doorstep every week, and when he left his position as its editor and it became the Philadelphia Weekly, I copy-edited and wrote features and theater reviews for them, sparring with Dan in the comments section of the paper’s AOL channel. I regularly picked up and pored over Dan’s next venture, Seven Arts Magazine, and then, once BSR went live, as a theater critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, I scoured its theater coverage, sometimes weighing in, often picking fights, often with Dan.

When Judy Weightman took over editorship of BSR, I thought I might give it another try. So, I wrote one piece, then another, and before I knew it, I began to see BSR as the place I could go when I had something to say that didn’t fit anywhere else.

Soon, I even started to get along with Dan. We might not always agree, but I respect his desire to keep learning, to question himself and others, to admit when he’s wrong (!), and to keep providing forums where Philadelphians may engage in ongoing discussions about the subjects that keep us from throwing bricks at our campaign-season televisions and driving off bridges.

Arts criticism gives us context and helps us make sense of the world. It provides a haven where we can burrow into ideas and enjoy their reminder that life’s minutiae aren’t what make us human. After all, ants manage to stay busy building colonies, but we invented architecture. The desire to make art and to divine meaning from art creates better humans; I'm honored to continue serving that cause.

I hope to carry on the work started by Dan and advanced by Judy and our excellent Associate Editor, Alaina Mabaso. I plan to institute a new BSR channel that examines the intersection between the arts and parenting (because parents, even sleep-deprived ones, still need their synapses snapped); plus, I hope to introduce some new writers, introduce more ways to communicate with you, and offer new lenses through which to view the region’s cultural landscape.

It’s a particularly symbolic honor to take the helm of Broad Street Review the day after somehow, very slowly, finishing my fourth Broad Street Run. I hope we can represent the best this city has to offer, in all its diversity, from one end to the other, with all the good stuff in between.