A GI Christmas carol (memoir)

Brief encounter in Seoul: A GI Christmas Carol

I was a lonely GI in Seoul on Christmas Day. Then I met a beautiful woman who introduced me to beautiful music. That's all it took.

Bob Ingram

Dec 19, 2009 · Essays · 10 minute read

Aunt Millie's legacy

In the blood: My aunt's legacy

While her younger sisters climbed the financial and social ladders of money and respectability, my Aunt Millie was content with her little row home and her job as an accountant. She managed to leave something of value nevertheless.

Jackie Schifalacqua

Dec 15, 2009 · Essays · 3 minute read

The making of a terrorist, 1984

‘I am a man': The making of a terrorist, 1984

Daood the Philly bartender claimed to be a Shiite. He claimed to own an arsenal of guns. He also claimed to have a sure-fire tip on the Super Bowl. Patrons at the Khyber Pass North used to laugh at him. No more.

Joy Tomme

Dec 09, 2009 · Essays · 4 minute read

How to save the Mummers Parade

Farewell, Dad Vail— But now let's save the Mummers

So Philadelphia may have lost the Dad Vail Regatta to Rumson, N.J. The beloved but dwindling Mummers Parade could be next. How can it be saved? By turning the parade around.

Franklin Roberts

Dec 02, 2009 · Essays · 4 minute read

The trouble with government arts grants

Arts funding: It's all fixed (and everyone prefers it that way)

So you think the new Pew Fellowships procedures are flawed? Try negotiating the political thicket of government arts councils. For one thing, taste is never objective. For another, great artists aren't necessarily good citizens or even nice people. Small wonder that most art contests are implicitly fixed in the first place.

J.T. Barbarese

Dec 01, 2009 · Essays · 8 minute read

A cell phone adventure

Reach out and touch someone (for mature audiences only)

My cell phone was a source of constant irritation, mainly because it constantly reminded me how old and technically challenged I am. But it did open up a new world to me, although not the way you might think.

Reed Stevens

Nov 29, 2009 · Essays · 7 minute read

Help me make it through the night

A hard rain, and no escape: The forgotten man's lament

When you're a blue-collar guy living paycheck-to-paycheck, without a sophisticated worldview or even a car or credit cards, how do you respond to impending natural disaster or nuclear holocaust? For that matter, what do you do when the military sends you to fight overseas?

J.T. Barbarese

Nov 24, 2009 · Essays · 6 minute read

My Pew Fellowships application

Dear Pew Fellowships: Why are you being so difficult?

Under the new guidelines for the Pew Fellowships in the Arts, we artists can't apply directly for grants. So I guess I'll just have to file my application here and hope that some of the Pew's “anonymous nominators” are reading.

Anne Hamilton

Nov 23, 2009 · Essays · 4 minute read

Why I despise the Eagles

A yuppie treadmill, or: Why I despise the Philadelphia Eagles

I watch every Philadelphia Eagles game religiously, hoping in my inner heart that they will lose. From their yuppie owner to their corporate coach to their passionless quarterback, is this a team you really want to root for?

Bob Ingram

Nov 21, 2009 · Essays · 4 minute read

The Pew Fellowships go top-down

A vision derailed: The Pew giveth, and the Pew taketh away

Under a visionary program, since 1991 the Pew Fellowships have distributed $12 million directly to 237 outstanding and singular artists, many of whom would have been overlooked by establishment "experts" if not allowed to submit their own applications. But under the Pew's newly announced procedures, deserving artists must wait to be anointed by a panel of 30 anonymous nominators. If there's a good reason for this change, the Pew hasn't revealed it.

Jonathan M. Stein

Nov 15, 2009 · Essays · 8 minute read