Are Philly arts-goers incapable of silencing their phones?

Even Yannick has had it.

At last week’s Philadelphia Orchestra concert, Yannick Nézet-Séguin was so frustrated by repeatedly ringing phones that he stopped the music. What’s behind the growing smartphone scourge? Alaina Johns considers.

Alaina Johns

May 09, 2023 · Editorials · 5 minute read

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, the movie, joins a modern movement for lifelong sex ed

Reading is a human right

A fairly faithful adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic 1970 novel is hitting theaters. It expands the stories of three generations of women, reminding us that it’s not just tweens who are in transition. Alaina Johns considers.

Alaina Johns

May 02, 2023 · Editorials · 5 minute read

This April, help autistic people by promoting acceptance, not awareness

A new adage for April

Because of inaccurate and stigmatizing “autism awareness” campaigns, it took writer and educator Bridget Scanlan a long time to learn that she herself is autistic. Now, she advocates a new paradigm of acceptance.

Bridget Scanlan

Apr 10, 2023 · Essays · 5 minute read

Do we need a child’s humanity to see unhoused people?

Everyone was seven once

Anndee Hochman remembers her daughter’s childhood in a home that was open to others who needed it. But eventually, the little girl asks: who is that person on the street?

Anndee Hochman

Mar 28, 2023 · Essays · 5 minute read

As a young trans woman, I honor my inner child by being true to myself today

Giving myself a girlhood

Joan Rittberg grew up as a boy, but from the time she was a teenager, she knew something wasn’t right. Now, instead of wishing she had transitioned earlier, she focuses on loving the woman she is today.

Joan Rittberg

Mar 13, 2023 · Essays · 5 minute read

Philadelphia Theatre Company's Empathitrax is an unrealistic and irresponsible portrayal of mental illness

Spreading the anguish

The regional premiere of Empathitrax, now onstage at Suzanne Roberts, deals in troubling tropes of depression without preparing its audience. Alaina Johns considers.

Alaina Johns

Feb 21, 2023 · Editorials · 6 minute read

Puppies, love, and chocolate: how to live on life’s knife edge

Love here, love now

Anndee Hochman was never a dog person … until her daughter brought home a poodle puppy who got into the chocolate. How do we live and love when catastrophe is always waiting?

Anndee Hochman

Jan 31, 2023 · Essays · 5 minute read

Black, queer, disabled self-love is a necessary act of rebellion and healing

The power of equanimity

Writer and musician Danie Ocean Jackson has learned how hard it can be to sense the world from the inside out rather than the outside in, but it’s more necessary than ever.

Danie Jackson

Jan 31, 2023 · Essays · 5 minute read

Here’s how I embraced the path out of my eating disorder

Hungry for authenticity

By the time she was 26, Daralyse Lyons had been hospitalized for her eating disorder 18 times. But she was finally finding her path to recovery, and knows that others can, too.

Daralyse Lyons

Jan 31, 2023 · Essays · 5 minute read

Legendary DJ Jerry Blavat spun a whole new world for Philly teens in the 1960s

Live from Wagner’s Ballroom

Local music icon Jerry Blavat, a South Philly native, passed away on January 20, 2023. Susan Schaefer remembers how a whole new world opened up when she danced to Blavat’s tunes at Wagner’s Ballroom in the 1960s.

Susan Schaefer

Jan 24, 2023 · Essays · 5 minute read