Essays
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Page 95
Ringling Brothers Circus at the Spectrum
See the elephants dance (while you still have the chance)
The sight of ten elephants standing on their hind legs and spinning around brings a smile to my face, and to my son's and virtually everyone else's at the Ringling brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. If a lawsuit alleging cruelty to these animals succeeds, this may be our last opportunity to watch this stunt.
Essays
2 minute read
Urban oasis: The Lombard Swim Club
Summer camp for urban grownups
Summers in the city can be tough on the soul. But on a hot evening at the Lombard Swim Club, with the carnival lights flickering and Jimmy Buffet crooning, it's easy to believe you are not in Center City at all, but on a cruise ship.
Essays
3 minute read
"Wallander': Swedish noir on PBS
For whom Kurt Wallander's bell tolls
Kurt Wallander— complex, intuitive, sad and self-loathing— is the Swedish detective, created by Henning Mankell, whose saga is being presented by PBS in a three-piece series starring Kenneth Branagh. He's also a walking personification of the discontents of modern industrial democracies— Sweden's as well as our own.
Essays
4 minute read
Hanging out in the '50s
Rites of passage, 1958: What our parents didn't know
The thrill of hanging out in the '50s lay primarily in that word “out.” “Out” meant away from the family. It meant away from the confining, conformist, predominant 1950s cultural attitude that scorned all non-grade-bettering, non-money-earning, devil-courting idleness.
Growing up at the Palestra, 1958
The way it was (1958): Growing up and growing old at the Palestra
In the days of Montgomery bus boycotts and Little Rock desegregation, Temple University fielded more black basketball players than Philadelphia's other city schools combined. It also had the Jews. As a 15-year-old fan who rooted out of his own discomforts and hurts and shortcomings, my allegiance was cemented.
Shopping for wine on line (Part 1)
By the time I get to Chaddsford, or: The next big thing: Wine on line
Wine-buying on-line is still pretty much in its infancy. Part of the problem is the law. But technology is overcoming that obstacle as well as many others. And even if you don't shop on-line, you can learn plenty.
Essays
3 minute read
Our not-so-golden years
Home not alone, or: I am Al Gore's worst nightmare
My husband has decided that this medical procedure is the perfect time to quit the stress of working and start enjoying life. But what about the stress on me, not to mention the ozone layer?
Essays
5 minute read
Steak sandwiches B.C. (before cheese)
The way it was (c. 1958): Philly before the cheese steak
Enough, already, about the venerable Philadelphia cheese steak. Is there no one else still living who recalls, as I do, a time when Philadelphians relished steak sandwiches without cheese?
FDR's Hundred Days: Two books
FDR's Hundred Days, vs. Obama's
As we near the completion of President Obama's first hundred days in office, I've just read two books about Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous hundred. Of the many volumes written about FDR, only these two focus on those first days. One is worth reading; the other is infuriating.
Essays
5 minute read
Pro athletes: Warriors, or jerks?
Stupido: The code of the phony sports warrior
Somewhere along the line, sports in general and pro basketball in particular blurred the distinction between athletes and entertainers. Today's phony “warrior culture” is a part of that fuzzy showbiz landscape.
Essays
4 minute read