Essays

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Page 1
Pen-and-ink caricature of three smiling girls with flowing hair, heads bobbing in a triangular composition.

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.
Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey

Essays 5 minute read
View of the grand stone entrance of the NYC Public Library, with a giant Pride flag with “Protect the Freedom to Read” on it.

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.
Anndee Hochman

Anndee Hochman

Essays 6 minute read
Book cover. Title in white, surrounded by illustrated orange flames, on a turquoise 18th-century engraving of ships at sea.

The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution, by Zara Anishanslin.

The little-known patriots whose art helped spark a Revolution

Some American patriots fought with words or swords, but others aided and abetted the Revolution with their art, both in the Colonies and abroad. They are illuminated in The Painter’s Fire, a new book by Zara Anishanslin. Gail Obenreder reviews.
Gail Obenreder

Gail Obenreder

Essays 4 minute read
Nixon speaks into a megaphone in the center of a large crowd of people with slickers and umbrellas in the pouring rain.

This Fourth of July, we need a narrative revolution.

Writers and artists lead America’s nonviolent fight for justice.

The Trump administration is trying to rewrite reality and history. Cass Lewis says we’re not going to let them, if writers and artists have anything to say about it.
Cass Lewis

Cass Lewis

Essays 5 minute read
A large American flag flies upside down on a flagpole in the wind, against a cloudy sky.

The Untied States: 249 years later, America’s still not great—but it could be.

This is our country’s first real chance at greatness. Will we take it?

The Trump administration has brought the United States to a crisis—but only because it revealed what has been there all along. Lindsay Gary asks if we have the courage to respond by making America great for the first time ever.
Lindsay Gary

Lindsay Gary

Essays 5 minute read

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Close-up on a gavel made of polished dark wood with a gold band, on top of an American flag.

In America today, joining the jury isn’t just a civic duty. It’s an ethical one.

American justice relies on jurors more than ever.

After serving on a jury earlier this year, An Nichols was surprised by her relationship to her fellow jurors, and learned about the outsize impact jurors can have at the local and national level.
An Nichols

An Nichols

Essays 4 minute read
Bookstore table stacked with dozens of thick, heavy, ornately designed hardback romantasy novels.

The romantasy genre subverts women’s agency when we need it the most

Is romantasy regressive?

The new romantasy genre—a mashup of romance and fantasy wildly popular with women—is actually full of regressive themes that deny women’s agency and political stakes. Chhaya Nayyar considers.
Chhaya Nayyar

Chhaya Nayyar

Essays 5 minute read
On a torso mannequin, a two-piece halter-and-shorts swimsuit made from a vintage WWII pilot’s map.

The PMA’s Boom sparks a closer look at women in the art and design of the 1940s

What did the transformative decade of WWII mean for women artists?

Boom, a new exhibition at the PMA surveying American art and design in the global tumult of the 1940s, also offers a chance to reflect on evolving roles for women in American art history. Wendy Univer considers.
Wendy Univer

Wendy Univer

Essays 7 minute read
View from the ground floor of the grand multi-story hall of Macy’s, crowded with people listening to the organ.

Could the Wanamaker Building become a hub for Philly’s 250th anniversary events?

Let’s meet at the Eagle for the Semiquincentennial

When plans got underway for Philly’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday, organizers didn’t know that the beautiful and historic Wanamaker Building would go empty with the closure of Macy’s. Walt Maguire asks if 2026 events could fill it up.

Walt Maguire

Essays 4 minute read
View from the back of a small bare classroom with rows of empty desks facing a blank green chalkboard.

Can you pass this quiz on the first 100 days of Trump’s second term?

See how your knowledge stacks up before education is banned in the US

Essayist Anndee Hochman challenges those of us who may need a break from the news with this quiz about our current federal government.
Anndee Hochman

Anndee Hochman

Essays 5 minute read