Searching for meaning in "March Madness'

Missing Billy Packer: In search of meaning at the NCAA tourney

College basketball has changed exponentially since the 1990s, thanks to increased speed, athleticism and three-point shooting. Many fans today think the game began in 1979, when Magic Johnson matched up against Larry Bird. Amid such flux, who can define tradition, if not a TV commentator?

Robert Liss

Apr 12, 2009 · Essays · 13 minute read

Proposal: A pavilion for the Parkway

New life for the Parkway: A modest proposal

Museums are all well and good, but how can we pump more diverse cultural life onto the Parkway? What about an open-air pavilion for dance, theater and film, at a fraction of the cost of you-know-what?

Lynn Denton

Apr 04, 2009 · Essays · 2 minute read

In search of great bread

Waiting for good dough: Can we talk about Philadelphia bread?

Vie de France is gone from the local scene, leaving Philadelphians no French bread quite so sublime. Whole Foods' version of a baton is primitive— a poor bread on any level. If anyone can give us an authentic French loaf, it ought to be the folks at Metropolitan, and I wonder why they don't. But a few others come close.

Merilyn Jackson

Apr 04, 2009 · Essays · 4 minute read

Venice: Nice place to visit, but"¦.

A room with a phew: Venice without the Venetian blinders

There's no place like Venice to jump-start your romantic gene. But before you move there, remember: The plumbing stinks. And try schlepping groceries, or hauling a suitcase, or finding a doctor or a decent restaurant or a neighbor who's under 50.

Richard Carreño

Mar 31, 2009 · Essays · 6 minute read

Casinos and the Barnes: Perfect together

Gambling with the city's future

Philadelphia is about to get something it doesn't want or need: a giant push toward municipal failure in the form of casino gambling and slots parlors. This heavy-handed movement shares much in common with another potential disaster: the effort to move the Barnes Foundation from Lower Merion to the Parkway.

Robert Zaller

Mar 31, 2009 · Essays · 3 minute read

Shooting Three Mile Island

My big story: I survived Three Mile Island (unfortunately)

The ominous towers appeared on the horizon emitting deadly-looking steam. All the traffic was heading in the opposite direction. I felt noble and brave. Should I perish in an atomic inferno, my name would be immortalized as the gutsiest free-lance photographer in history.

Reed Stevens

Mar 31, 2009 · Essays · 6 minute read

The arts in crisis: Whose fault?

Who's to blame for the arts crisis? (Hint: It isn't the recession)

The president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts recently predicted that the recession could kill off at least 10,000 arts organizations this year. Many of them might have avoided this doomsday scenario had they developed different working cultures. In my experience, not-for-profit enterprises are simply more resistant to self-scrutiny.

Victoria Skelly

Mar 24, 2009 · Essays · 5 minute read

Oppenheimer and the 'guilt-ridden scientist' myth

Move over, Dr. Strangelove: Oppenheimer and the myth of the ‘guilt-ridden scientist'

J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, always rejected popular depictions of himself as a guilt-ridden scientist agonizing over the doomsday weapon he unleashed. How, then, did Oppenheimer wind up as the poster boy for scientific guilt and soul-searching? The answer probably explains more about us than about him.

Mark Wolverton

Mar 17, 2009 · Essays · 7 minute read

Bodybuilders vs. the rest of us

Atlas shrugged, but Arnold didn't: A philosopher defends bodybuilding

Every year more than 165,000 overly muscled men and surgically enhanced women descend on Columbus, Ohio, for Arnold Schwarzenegger's annual fitness weekend. In a land where 60% of the population is obese and only 15% belongs to a gym, should these bodybuilders be viewed as freaks, or as role models?

Jim Rutter

Mar 10, 2009 · Essays · 7 minute read

Newspapers and the Internet

Who'll replace the Inquirer? And how come I'm not worried?

In the Internet age, what will happen to fact-based journalism as daily newspapers fold? Contrary to what you hear from print journalists, the quality of coverage could improve. Which would you prefer: The Inquirer, or a Philadelphia edition of the New York Times?

Richard Carreño

Mar 03, 2009 · Essays · 5 minute read