Editorials
533 results
Page 36
Secrecy, enlightenment and the Masons
Mozart, the Masons and the wages of secrecy
How could Mozart— not to mention Washington and Ben Franklin— take a mystical secret society like the Masons seriously? Perhaps because, every few centuries, secrecy comes in handy, at least in the short run.
Editorials
8 minute read
Four notables who crossed my path
They touched my life
What did the mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens, the film critic Roger Ebert, the Countess of Bessborough and the placekicker Pat Summerall have in common? All crossed my path at some point over the past 60 years.
Editorials
9 minute read
Mike Rice: Scapegoat of the week
A method to their madness: A few kind words for abusive coaches
Rutgers University's basketball coach, Mike Rice, was fired this month for cursing his players and throwing basketballs at them. I think I know how anyone who was coached by Milt Breenberg at Camp Takajo in Maine would react to this uproar: “What a bunch of wusses!”
Editorials
less than a minute read
Herb Lipson's good old days
Through a glass darkly, with Philadelphia Magazine's chairman
For 50 years, Philadelphia Magazine's chief has been kvetching about the sad state of his city. Now he misses the city he used to kvetch about.
Editorials
6 minute read
The Supreme Court evades gay marriage
‘This is my job'— isn't it?
The Supreme Court justices' reluctance to decide a case before them last week reminded me of the one time I appeared in a courtroom as a defendant.
Editorials
5 minute read
Obama the chess player
Obama and those speeches that ‘failed'
The Inquirer's Trudy Rubin scolds President Obama for wasting his time in the Middle East on speeches to students. Please remind me: Who was behind the Arab Spring, which seemingly no one but Obama expected?
Editorials
3 minute read
Philadelphia Magazine on "being white'
The terror and the tedium: On being white in Philadelphia
Like most white Philadelphians, I could feel my heart thumping excitedly when I saw the headline on Philadelphia Magazine's March cover story: “Being White in Philly.” At last, I thought, they're doing a story about me!
Editorials
4 minute read
Toby Zinman and her critics
The critic and her critics
Arts critics usually fall into one of three categories: journalists, academics and groupies. Toby Zinman, the Inquirer's current lead drama critic, defies such easy categorization, which is mostly to her credit. But a lack of formal grounding can cause great pain when you're suddenly thrown into the pool without it.
Editorials
6 minute read
The trouble with papal infallibility
The unbearable lightness of being infallible
To some observers, the pope is a rare modern example of an absolute dictator. Yet far from enhancing the pope's power, the doctrine of papal infallibility locks every pope in to the rulings of his predecessors. How did a church that once attracted the brightest minds in Christendom wind up with such shallow leadership?
Editorials
7 minute read
Johnny Deadline, composer (parody)
They call me Johnny Deadline, or: No country for old composers
The Pope, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban and the Quakers were all breathing down my neck for a piece of my creativity. Could I take the pressure? For a deadline composer, it was just another day at the office.
Editorials
5 minute read