Name: Cotter Interactive
Price range: $

Blue Steel in quarantine. (Photo by Jillian Markowitz.)

I couldn’t cope with isolation. Then I began taking costume suggestions online

Behind-the-scenes with Quarantween

Philly writer and comedian Jillian Markowitz was spiraling as COVID-19 news spread. But a chance social media post spawned her Quarantween Costumes, now a hit destination on Instagram.

Jillian Markowitz

Apr 17, 2020 Essays 5 minute read

Eerily empty: SFO Terminal B at 8pm on April 4. (Photo by Roz Warren.)

What was it like to fly to California and back during the coronapocalypse?

Braving essential travel

The CDC guideline was clear: no nonessential air travel. But Roz Warren didn't have a choice when she got the call from California.

Roz Warren

Apr 17, 2020 Essays 5 minute read

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

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

In 2019, for the first time, writer and storyteller Daralyse Lyons publicly shared her experience around sexual abuse for the RISK! Podcast. (Image via RISK! on YouTube.)

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

When the world shrinks, we can explore: a view from ‘The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.’ (Image courtesy of Nintendo.)

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

When things get foggy and lonely in Philly, you need info you can trust. (Photo by Alaina Johns.)

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

Illustration by Hannah Kaplan for Broad Street Review.

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.