Essays
1091 results
Page 106
Florida's NCAA basketball victory
As this year’s NCAA championship game wore on, it became clear that Florida was a basketball team, whereas Ohio State was merely an arsenal of impressive individuals.
Essays
6 minute read
The singular life of George Seldes
From World War I to the Age of Nader, the outspoken Philadelphia journalist and critic George Seldes survived more than a century and managed to reach the finish line with his principles intact. How did he do it, and how can we emulate his example?
Essays
6 minute read
Religious relics
Once you start collecting relics, there's no stopping the imaginatively greedy. Now that the bones of Jesus and his family have been found, can his birth certificate and Social Security card be far behind? The Christian obsession with relics is really a pagan exercise, as the Council of Trent readily recognized in the 16th century.
Essays
5 minute read
Sex Ed, 21st-Century style
A reader has accused the editor of the Philadelphia City Paper of the grossest hypocrisy for in effect financing his high-toned editorial content with sex ads in the rear, so to speak, of his alternative paper. An 80-year-old sexual late bloomer suggests: Consider the alternatives.
Essays
4 minute read
Nader Redux: "An Unreasonable Man'
Ralph Nader is an American original, but An Unreasonable Man seems to subliminally exploit an issue that’s deeply troubling in his record. The film is the flawed story of a flawed man who is nonetheless as close to a public hero as we have.
An Unreasonable Man. Film directed by Henriette Mantel and Steve Skovran. At the Bala Theatre, 157 Bala Avenue, Bala Cynwyd, PA 610-222-FILM or
An Unreasonable Man. Film directed by Henriette Mantel and Steve Skovran. At the Bala Theatre, 157 Bala Avenue, Bala Cynwyd, PA 610-222-FILM or
Essays
6 minute read
The high price of recognition
After a lifetime as a foot soldier in the battle for wisdom and truth, I’m finally receiving the acknowledgement I deserve. Just one problem….
Essays
3 minute read
Christie's and "The Gross Clinic'
As a leading art auction house, Christie’s well understands the role of a dummy bidder in jacking up the price of a work. In Jefferson University's recent sale of The Gross Clinic, Christie’s consultants apparently found an unwitting dummy in the Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton. Has Philadelphia’s art community learned anything from this $68 million lesson?
Essays
5 minute read
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'Gross Clinic' post-mortem
The Gross Clinic brouhaha has forced us Philadelphians to confront the irresponsible ways we’ve been trashing our art heritage since the idealism of the Dilworth era cooled. Also the snootiness and dubious logic of our critics. One man's roundup of winners and losers.
Essays
6 minute read
The joy of obituaries
A good obituary not only makes you regret you never ran across its subject, but if it’s really good, you feel like, well, you almost did run into him. Here are some of my favorite sources.
Essays
3 minute read
Camille Paglia's 'Salon' interview
I’ve been mesmerized by Paglia’s capacity to relate the most demotic aspects of our Pop Culture with very esoteric High Culture. She hangs out intellectually with the likes of Bill Maher and Matt Drudge as well as her Yalies. What a talk-show host she could be, if only NPR weren’t so timid.
Essays
4 minute read