It's not too early for Christmas

Holiday kerfuffles

I’m singing Christmas carols already, and it’s more than a week before Thanksgiving. You may not think the holiday season has started yet, though. And that’s your choice.

Tara Lynn Johnson

Nov 18, 2014 · Essays · 3 minute read

Response to Ezekiel Emanuel's "Atlantic" essay

Don't walk away from a good thing

Ezekiel Emanuel is telling us we should turn down one of the biggest gifts modern science has handed us.

Tom Purdom

Nov 16, 2014 · Essays · 5 minute read

How smart do you have to be to go to the theater nowadays?

When we go to see a play based on events real or imagined, should we have to do research to understand what we’re watching?

Naomi Orwin

Nov 16, 2014 · Essays · 5 minute read

Ten ways to lose an argument

Show of hands — who made it through the election season without getting sucked into at least one infuriating argument on Facebook?

Kile Smith

Nov 08, 2014 · Essays · 5 minute read

Fighting words

If a couple of small-town activists can’t settle a dispute without slugging each other, what hope is there for all the blood-wracked corners of the world — North Philadelphia, Ferguson, Gaza, Guerrero? For any of us?

Anndee Hochman

Nov 04, 2014 · Essays · 6 minute read

Alma Sánchez-Eppler’s ‘They Extract!’

Toward a transparent creative process

Playwright Alma Sánchez-Eppler is simultaneously working on both a play and a larger artistic experiment, by sharing the artistic process on social media in real time.

Samantha Maldonado

Nov 03, 2014 · Essays · 6 minute read

Vandalism in the national parks

The impulse to defile

What’s art, what’s vandalism, and when is it just time for the human race to put a lid on itself? The story of the woman who decided to leave her very personal imprint on some of our greatest national parks raises the question anew.

Robert Zaller

Oct 28, 2014 · Essays · 5 minute read

Witches in popular culture

Witches didn't disappear in the modern era — they're still alive and well in popular culture.

Chris Predmore

Oct 28, 2014 · Essays · 5 minute read

Trigger unhappy: warnings that get in the way

Last spring, the concept of “trigger warnings” — long used in feminist chat rooms and self-help blogspaces to flag users about graphic content related to sexual assault or rape — spilled over to the academic world. Is our sensitivity to others' trauma really helping?

Anndee Hochman

Oct 24, 2014 · Essays · 5 minute read

Walmart and seat belts

Tracy Morgan and Princess Diana

If we had learned anything from Princess Diana's death, would Tracy Morgan have been wearing a seat belt when his limo was mowed down by a Walmart truck?

Susan Beth Lehman

Oct 21, 2014 · Essays · 4 minute read