Essays

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Page 16
How will your reading stack look after poets, playwrights, and novelists tackle the coronavirus? (Photo by Anndee Hochman.)

Even in a pandemic, there are some questions only storytellers can answer

Surviving on stories; stories on surviving
Stephen King wrote ‘The Stand’ and Camus wrote ‘The Plague.’ They’re not the first or the last to mine rampant sickness for human meaning. Anndee Hochman wonders how our storytellers will make sense of COVID-19.
Anndee Hochman

Anndee Hochman

Essays 4 minute read
A comfortable home for conspiracies…especially if you don’t remember the days before a polio vaccine. (Photo by Paul Becker, via Wikimedia Commons.)

Surviving the coronavirus conspiracy kickoff

Get a grip, friends
Suzanne Cloud was getting more messages than usual—and the contents were worrying. Instead of inhaling vinegar, she’s talking with her friends about some critical thinking in the age of COVID.
Suzanne Cloud

Suzanne Cloud

Essays 4 minute read
Roz Warren is ready to follow the rules—and make sure you do, too. (Photo courtesy of the author.)

An open letter to unmasked runners and bikers who won’t stay six feet away

Behold the Distance Noodle
When you push by Roz Warren without a mask on during your workout, she's tempted to trip you. But she's decided on something a little safer.
Roz Warren

Roz Warren

Essays 3 minute read
What would you have done if you had known the moment before the 1986 Challenger disaster? (Image courtesy of NASA, via Wikimedia Commons.)

When disaster is about to strike, is it a gift not to know?

The moment before
What were you doing in mid-March, when the realization hit you that this pandemic was going to derail the world? Was it like other moments before disaster struck? Anndee Hochman considers.
Anndee Hochman

Anndee Hochman

Essays 5 minute read
For some people, celibacy may be an unfortunate side effect of COVID-19, but don’t despair. (Photo by Alaina Johns.)

How to survive the pandemic when you're home alone and horny

The next sexual revolution is in our hands
Let’s be honest about one of the toughest things in lockdown: unless you live with a partner, your sex life is on hold. Marta Rusek talks to Philly experts on keeping things spicy anyway.
Marta Rusek

Marta Rusek

Essays 5 minute read
Hitting a home office first thing in the morning is part of what keeps this writer mom going. (Photo by Cass Lewis Slattery.)

As a parent and a writer, I’m learning to cope with life in quarantine

Waking, sleeping, keeping up
How do we balance anything during life in lockdown? We don’t. But here’s how writer and mother Cass Lewis Slattery is learning to cope.
Cass Lewis

Cass Lewis

Essays 5 minute read
There’s a growing public appetite for art by people in prison, like this 2013 ink drawing by Jerome Washington, who is in a Pennsylvania state prison. (Image courtesy of the author.)

Can museums present art created inside prisons without retrying offenders?

The exhibition of incarceration
As art by people in prison becomes a sought-after prize for museum exhibitions, Treacy Ziegler wonders how artists, curators, and the public grapple with questions of moral judgment and acceptability.
Treacy Ziegler

Treacy Ziegler

Essays 6 minute read
Organizer Jose de Marco sees the parallels between who’s most affected by the AIDS epidemic and COVID-19. (Photo by Kaytee Ray-Riek.)

Philly is still fighting: AIDS, activism, and COVID-19

What AIDS organizers already know
Longtime ACT UP Philadelphia member Jose de Marco talks with Joshua Herren about what we should learn from AIDS organizers in the COVID pandemic.
Josh Herren

Josh Herren

Essays 6 minute read
Nobody laughs now if you wear a mask to the store and leave your bags out for a few days. (Photo courtesy of the author.)

How does life in the pandemic feel with a lifelong anxiety disorder?

Anxiety, meet COVID
Fredricka R. Maister has lived with anxiety her whole life—and in some ways, it made her better prepared to handle life in a pandemic.
Fredricka R. Maister

Fredricka R. Maister

Essays 5 minute read
Beautiful visuals, unforgettable soundtrack: ‘Sayonara Wild Hearts’ is a top pick. (Image courtesy of Simogo.)

Five great stay-at-home video games that don’t need a console

Chicken soup for the mobile gamer soul
Looking for something fun and relaxing to play that won’t break the bank or take all day? Mina Reinckens curates five suggestions to try right now on your phone.
Mina Reinckens

Mina Reinckens

Essays 5 minute read