Essays
1094 results
Page 97
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.
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.
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?
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?
Essays
5 minute read
Here comes Philly Beer Week
Do beer drinkers have more fun?
Philly Beer Week is evidence of what much of the world already knows: Beer is complex, delightful and an interesting companion to good food. In many cases it's much more exciting than wine.
Essays
3 minute read
The real "soft power': Cultural diplomacy
Dear President Obama: What works better than carrots or sticks?
After eight years of Bush's muscular diplomacy, Obama has embraced the virtues of “soft power” in theory. So why is the U.S. deliberately reducing its use of the arts as a foreign policy tool?
Essays
6 minute read
Death of a restaurateur: René Blaschke, 1997
Love and death in the kitchen: A tale of two restaurants
Each year around this time my thoughts inevitably turn to René Blaschke, an early Philadelphia restaurant pioneer who was literally destroyed by a disastrous Valentine's Day— and, to be sure, by his own mercurial personality. This year I found the antidote at Marc Vetri's Osteria.
Essays
6 minute read
Public TV explains the Crash of "08
The not-so-big picture: Public TV explains the great economic meltdown
Is a global economic meltdown about to consume the planet? Not to worry: Public TV is on the case, with cameras panning the glass canyons of Wall Street in between stints from talking heads and shots of an increasingly beleaguered-looking Henry Paulson.
Essays
5 minute read
The trouble with "Saturday Night Live'
Trying too hard to be funny: Can we talk about ‘Saturday Night Live'?
Some observers contend that Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin breathed new life into “Saturday Night Live.” Well, maybe for a few minutes. This show seems to have forgotten what political humor— or any humor, for that matter— is all about.
Essays
4 minute read
"You'll never be a writer'
'You'll never be a writer,' or: My mother's worst nightmare
Many people say they want to be writers. What's the difference between wanting to do it and doing it? Here's my story.
Essays
4 minute read