Essays
1093 results
Page 85
SEPTA: The tragedy and the prevarication
Slouching toward Albania: SEPTA confronts an emergency
SEPTA had a tragedy when a woman was killed on the tracks at the Bryn Mawr station. It compounded it by leaving stranded passengers to fend for themselves, and then lying about the mess it left them in.
Essays
3 minute read
On not pitying Palestinians
Anti-Semitism turned inside out: On not pitying Palestinians
Nothing on earth seems more politically correct than pitying Palestinians. I have done my own share of it, but no more. Among stateless or secessionist peoples, they are the least deserving of sympathy, and if we actually want to do them good, we should tell them so.
Essays
7 minute read
Martha Nussbaum's ivory tower
Do as I say, not as I do: Martha Nussbaum defends the humanities
Professor Martha Nussbaum deplores the decline of liberal arts education, which she sees as the engine of democracy. And she champions Socratic dialogue as the stimulant for the liberal arts. So why was her recent Free Library appearance more monologue than dialogue?
Essays
4 minute read
Coach John Wooden: A remembrance
A coach's tone of voice
UCLA's legendary basketball coach John Wooden won ten championships and hundreds of games. But one of his lowly substitutes remembers Wooden for a small gesture of acknowledgment.
Essays
2 minute read
Canoeing through the Meadowlands
Up shit's creek (with nothing but a paddle)
Searching for the ultimate battleground in the endless war between Man and Nature, an obsessed artist finds himself paddling in a canoe through the notorious New Jersey Meadowlands, whose ground is literally constructed of garbage.
Essays
5 minute read
Double jeopardy: A Philadelphia scandal
‘Vengeance is mine,' saith the DA
The recent double jeopardy prosecution of William J. Barnes for a crime he'd already served his sentence for shows that the vengeful spirit of Lynne Abraham is still alive and well in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. Although Barnes was acquitted this time, the story, alas, doesn't end there.
Essays
5 minute read
High Diver: A Wildwood memory, 1954
Tricks of the diving trade: 'Supermen' at Wildwood, summer of ‘54
High Diver had been a water bug all of his relatively short life. Then at age 15 he joined the Aqua Follies at Wildwood and was introduced, for the first time, to the highest of high dives.
Essays
10 minute read
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The forgotten MOVE victims
A tale of two bullets, and one blaze: Justice in Dallas, justice for MOVE
Twenty-five years after the Osage Avenue bombing and more than 30 years after the Powelton shootout, Philadelphia's bizarre MOVE math remains clear: One police officer killed, nine life sentences; 11 men, women, and children killed, no indictment ever issued.
Essays
6 minute read
Robin Roberts: Gentle warrior
Robin Roberts finishes one last game, principles still intact
This was the great lesson I learned from Robin Roberts: Whether you're mowing the lawn or writing a book, you finish what you start. On the field and off he remained the same unique symbol of baseball's bygone integrity.
Essays
5 minute read
A new soccer team's fight song
Julia Ward Howe, call your office
Woody Guthrie's “Union Maid,” the unofficial anthem of the American labor movement, has now been appropriated by Philadelphia's new professional soccer franchise. Of course, it could have been worse: They could have chosen "La Marseillaise."
Essays
3 minute read