Essays

1093 results
Page 80

Countdown to Armageddon

The end of the world is near. No, seriously. Are you ready?

Both the Mayan calendar and the radio prophet Harold Camping say the world will end next year. So why not take a few sensible precautions?
Jackie Schifalacqua

Jackie Schifalacqua

Essays 3 minute read
Ted's robe took on a life of its own.

'Tis the season for ungifting

These foolish things remind me of you. Now, how do I get rid of them?

A challenge for the post-Christmas season: Do I really want the ratty Ralph Lauren bathrobe my grumpy ex-boyfriend gave me? Does anyone want it?

Maralyn Lois Polak

Essays 4 minute read
Next to the guys I'd dated, Radha (left) looked good.

A Hare Krishna New Year's Eve

One New Year's Eve that made a difference

After 25 years as a burned-out party girl searching for Mister Right, I finally found serenity. Would you believe it happened on New Year's Eve, at a Hare Krishna ashram, no less?

Tashamaria Tromer

Essays 3 minute read
Funny thing— they look just like Western executives.

How Chinese is China's success story?

China vs. the West: Who has conquered whom?

Has China really won its great battle with the West? In economic terms, maybe. But in the process China has surrendered its identity, while ours remains largely intact.
Benjamin B. Olshin

Benjamin B. Olshin

Essays 4 minute read

Valley Forge reconsidered

To experience Valley Forge as Washington's troops endured it

I've been to Valley Forge National Park many times for jogging, bicycling and picnics. But a new tour program enabled me to see it through the eyes of Washington's soldiers who camped there during the brutal winter of 1777-78.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Essays 4 minute read
Coach Reid (left) with gunslinger Vick: The family that prays together...

A Philadelphia Eagles morality play

All my sons, or: Bread, circuses, the Eagles and us

A coach plagued with two wayward sons finds redemption by embracing a reformed sinner of a quarterback. Is this merely a game, or is this a morality play unfolding before us?

Franklin Roberts

Essays 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.

Beck: Eye contact was a no-no.

My job interview with Glenn Beck

The messiah, back in the day: My job interview with Glenn Beck

All I wanted was a more stimulating job. How was I to know that the humorless manic-depressive who interviewed me would soon be acclaimed by millions of Americans as a modern messiah?
Jackie Schifalacqua

Jackie Schifalacqua

Essays 3 minute read
For the woman who has everything, a flying car.

My Christmas shopping list

Santa darling: What a woman really needs for Christmas

It's amazing, the things I never knew I needed until the December Hammacher Schlemmer catalogue arrived in my mail. Now I'm ready to give Santa my Christmas wish list. For good girls only, of course.

Reed Stevens

Essays 5 minute read

My Greco-Roman Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Charybdis

Christmas is a tough time for Jews, as my ancestors and I can personally attest. But suppose that 2,000 years ago Christianity had flamed out and worship of Zeus had prevailed?
Perry Block

Perry Block

Essays 2 minute read
A Philadelphia Christmas (with apologies to Currier & Ives).

A Christmas Village at City Hall?

It takes a Christmas Village, or: Church and state, perfect together

A Christmas Village was a clever marketing idea in 15th-Century Deutschland. But what is a medieval German shopping mall doing on the property of 21st-Century American taxpayers?
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Essays 3 minute read