Essays
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Page 10
Here’s how my Jewish great-grandparents’ Philly bakery lives in me today
The food chain
While braiding and baking the Friday challah, Anndee Hochman imagines her great-grandmother’s journey from Russia. What did she carry with her? Are those things alive today?
Essays
4 minute read

What being a caregiver in the pandemic taught me about real revolution
When anger isn’t enough
Before the pandemic hit, Michelle Nugent defined herself by her work as a teacher and writer. But a necessary shift to caregiving taught her more about our moment than she expected.
Essays
5 minute read

Who’s behind the lights of Philly’s most iconic nighttime landmarks?
Light at heart
Just like any major city, Philly wouldn't be the same without the lights dotting its skyline. Camille Bacon-Smith talks to the people who keep them on.

Essays
5 minute read

Philly’s pandemic-era arts reckoning gives leaders a choice
Will we survive? It’s up to us
The current controversies on our arts scene didn’t begin with the pandemic—but life in lockdown forced the community to reckon with its true priorities. Tenara Calem explores the choice arts leaders must make.

Essays
7 minute read

How do protests and a pandemic invite us to rediscover play?
The power of play
Danie Jackson knows that taking a walk is safer for some bodies than for others—but there are still ways to stay open to the good in the world.

Essays
4 minute read
Deep in the pandemic, can a neighborhood’s character survive?
Still the one who walks
Before a virus turned the world upside down, Anndee Hochman was a familiar figure to her neighbors as she walked Germantown Avenue. What has changed? What is perennial, even in a pandemic?
Essays
5 minute read

When the pandemic hit, what was your beloved community?
The city is my home
What might Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision for beloved community look like in pandemic-era Philadelphia? Melissa Strong considers.

Essays
5 minute read

What’s next for the Frank Rizzo statue?
A real monument to the people
The Frank Rizzo statue is in city storage. What did the bronze body and its removal signify, and what comes next? Helen Walsh considers.

Essays
4 minute read

After fostering a cat in quarantine, I had to rethink my relationships
Lucky’s legacy
The pandemic led Christina Anthony to foster a homeless cat for two weeks, and she remembered that our relationships with animals can say a lot about our relationships to people.

Essays
5 minute read

I grew up in South Philly. Here’s what heritage means to me.
What happens to cultures that stand like statues?
Is it Delaware Avenue or Columbus Boulevard? Dan Gold grew up in South Philly, and with the Rizzo statue gone and Columbus in a box, he wonders what his neighbors are defending.

Essays
4 minute read