Essays
1093 results
Page 50
Does social media cause illiteracy?
Is Twitter the dumb chicken or the dumb egg?
The current debate about the effects of social media often steers us toward assertions like that shovel is evil. Doesn’t that really depend on what you do with the shovel?
Essays
5 minute read
New Year’s Resolutions
A snarky message from a former mentor leads to taking stock, which turns out to be a good thing.
Essays
4 minute read
Social media's effect on English literacy
2b or not 2b, that is the ?
Are social media dumbing down the English language? Is Shakespeare getting squeezed out?
Essays
2 minute read
Corporate sponsorship on KYW radio
Traffic troubles for my ears
KYW Newsradio changed the name of its Traffic Center. Does everything have to have a corporate sponsor?
Essays
2 minute read
What Does George Fox Say?
New Age Quakers
The YouTube parody “What Does George Fox Say?” rocks the precepts of the Society of Friends. New Age seekers of truth, listen up!
Essays
3 minute read
Just a Couple of Trees Talking on Tu B'Shvat
Tu B'Shvat: If you're a gentile, secular Jew, or almost any Jew other than a highly observant one, you're forgiven if your immediate response is: Tu B'sWhat?
Essays
2 minute read
Gun control a year after Sandy Hook
Try to Remember the Kind of December
Despite the outrage after the Sandy Hook massacre, not a darned thing has changed about our gun laws.
Essays
1 minute read
The Year I Became a Philadelphia Eagles Fan
Across the street, neighbors fly a flag bearing the logos of both the Steelers and Eagles and the legend “A House Divided.” (Where did they get that?) I don’t think it applies to me anymore.
Essays
4 minute read
Worthless weather forecasts
When there’s a 30 percent chance of a Hail Mary
Weather forecasters are good at drawing on big boards and stormtrackers, but often miss on their predictions.
Essays
2 minute read
A Mummer memory, circa 1950
High heels, a blue sequined gown, and hair on his chest
When I was a blue-collar kid growing up in Kensington, a contingent of Mummers would parade up Kensington Avenue each year just a few weeks after their New Year’s march up Broad Street. That’s where I got my first look at a cross-dressing man, up very, very close.
Essays
4 minute read