Essays
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The Trump regime’s cultural cuts have come for our poetry
The national Poetry Out Loud program’s anthology looks very different this year.
The anthology for students participating in the annual nationwide Poetry Out Loud program now excludes poems by Langston Hughes and many others. Anndee Hochman looks closer.
Essays
6 minute read
The boos at the Linc are the sound of self-hatred. David Lynch knew better.
When the Eagles self-destruct, what do we learn about us?
Growing up in Paris, Julien Suaudeau knew how to stand behind his team. Why are the fans in his adopted city so quick to turn on theirs? They don’t understand Philly the way David Lynch did.
Essays
5 minute read
As 2026 approaches, why does Philly enforce health and safety codes, but not access codes?
Without access plans for America’s 250th anniversary in Philly, we risk exclusion, liability, and crisis.
Disability Pride PA leader Vicki Landers asks why the City can enforce health and safety violations, but ignores chronic shortfalls in disability access. As 2026 looms, time is running out to avert a crisis for locals and visitors alike.
Essays
5 minute read
Philadelphia proves that no executive order can stop the arts, or our courage
Amy Sherald goes to Baltimore, and stays on Sansom Street
Amy Sherald’s American Sublime was supposed to open in DC this month, but she withdrew it rather than face censorship. Meanwhile, Philadelphians can see Sherald right at home. Anndee Hochman considers.
Essays
5 minute read
Dungeon Master Sarah Knittel’s clown realm guide to the 2025 Philly Fringe
Here’s thy map to the fauna of the Fest
Sarah Knittel has been lurking in the darkest corners of the Philly Fringe for years, and she brings light to your quest for the freshest, weirdest, most dangerous, and hilarious solo artists of this year’s fest.
Essays
5 minute read
A dance critic hits the studio for Philadelphia Dance Day 2025
Dancing well enough … for a writer
Dance critic Melissa Strong observes performances with an expert eye, but she enjoys the challenge of taking dance classes herself alongside hobbyists and professionals alike at the annual Philadelphia Dance Day. Here’s what she learned.
Essays
4 minute read
Philly’s sports triumphs are thawing our cultural divide
Eagles fans and orchestra patrons meet at the Mann
Stephen Silver says Philly sports fans and arts patrons, once at odds over the Rocky statue, are increasingly joining forces as the Phillies and the Eagles make historic wins. This week, everybody's heading to the Mann.
Essays
4 minute read
Discover the best new books for young readers with Philly author Eric Smith
Stock your shelf with these great kid-lit reads just in time for the new school year
Award-winning local author Eric Smith, whose latest YA novel will be featured at the National Book Festival of the Library of Congress later this summer, rounds up his favorite new books for young readers, all by Philly-area writers.
Essays
4 minute read
In today's America, parenting itself can be an act of patriotism.
Parenting toward what I know our country can be.
As a kid, Jill Ivey loved donning American flag fashion for the Fourth of July. Today, with her own child born between two Trump administrations, she marks the holiday in a different way, as a parent resisting injustice.
Essays
5 minute read
Books are dangerous. That’s why we need the freedom to read them.
This Fourth of July, I’m reading something radical.
Anndee Hochman grew up reading Judy Blume, unaware of how controversial her books were. Today, after raising her own daughter, she knows what book-ban proponents do not: reading is a fundamental freedom.
Essays
6 minute read