Instead of distracting ourselves, what happens when we grasp our new reality?

The only way out is through

One of the most challenging things in the COVID-19 pandemic is trying to be okay when everything around us is not. After facing her own grief, Michelle Chikaonda finds that rather than merely managing the disorientation, we can lean directly into it.

Michelle Chikaonda

Apr 12, 2020 · Essays · 5 minute read

Meditation practice comes through in a crisis—and it’s not too late to start

Ten days later

Christina Anthony tried to meditate for years, until a Vipassana retreat in Vietnam reset her perceptions. Here’s what she learned.

Christina Anthony

Apr 06, 2020 · Essays · 4 minute read

This Sexual Assault Awareness Month, I acknowledge survivors' complicated feelings

Me too, with love

Daralyse Lyons experienced sexual abuse at a young age, and then she experienced other people’s assumptions about how she should feel about it. How did she navigate recovery?

Daralyse Lyons

Apr 06, 2020 · Essays · 4 minute read

In the pandemic, these video games keep us connected to life—and each other

Gaming in quarantine

While the COVID-19 pandemic has many of us mired at home, video-gaming has seen a massive surge. Even folks who have never tried it have plenty of reasons to give it a shot. Matthew John Phillips has tips.

Matthew John Phillips

Apr 05, 2020 · Essays · 5 minute read

A comprehensive list of what not to do as COVID-19 hits Philly

Keep Ben Franklin out of this

After more than two years of isolation (or is it two weeks?) due to the novel coronavirus, it starts to feel tough to separate fact from fiction. Nick Kupsey is here for you.

Nick Kupsey

Mar 30, 2020 · Essays · 3 minute read

Writers can do justice to characters outside their own identities. Here’s how.

Under other skins

Writing in the voice of a character who doesn’t share your identity takes a lot of learning and soul-searching, finds author Constance Garcia-Barrio, but it can be done well.

Constance Garcia-Barrioand Illustration by Hannah Kaplan

Mar 24, 2020 · Essays · 5 minute read

Are authors bound to write only within their own identities?

Rendering lives that aren’t yours

Writer Anndee Hochman—a queer Jewish white woman, the descendant of immigrants—grapples with which stories are really hers to tell.

Anndee Hochmanand Illustration by Hannah Kaplan

Mar 24, 2020 · Essays · 5 minute read

One dance critic answers the eternal question: Are you a dancer?

So you think you can write about dance?

Does a dance critic need to be a dancer? Dance writer Melissa Strong has spent years answering that question for herself.

Melissa Strong

Mar 23, 2020 · Essays · 4 minute read

Thank you for not hugging me— now or ever

No contact before it was cool

Everybody loves a hug! It's good for you! No so fast. Some folks, like Roz Warren, have been dodging hugs since long before it was the health directive du jour.

Roz Warren

Mar 17, 2020 · Essays · 3 minute read

Here’s what happened in my 2nd-grade classroom as COVID-19 became a pandemic

Poetry in the time of coronavirus

“We’re not closing,” a local K-5 principal told teaching writer-in-residence Anndee Hochman. But things changed more quickly than anyone could believe.

Anndee Hochman

Mar 17, 2020 · Essays · 5 minute read