Essays

1090 results
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The Philly skyline at a cloudy dusk, tiny near the horizon, over the teeming roofs of South Philadelphia.

It’s their city, too: Philly’s young people deserve to take up space

Kids are the future, not the enemy

Headlines about mobs of disruptive teens are dominating Philly this year. Why won’t we invest in spaces that welcome youngsters and keep them safe? Camille Bacon-Smith considers in a conversation with the office of City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas.
Camille Bacon-Smith

Camille Bacon-Smith

Essays 6 minute read
Looking up, a view of a tree full of pinkish white frothy-looking cherry blossoms, with blue sky behind them.

This April, help autistic people by promoting acceptance, not awareness

A new adage for April

Because of inaccurate and stigmatizing “autism awareness” campaigns, it took writer and educator Bridget Scanlan a long time to learn that she herself is autistic. Now, she advocates a new paradigm of acceptance.
Bridget Scanlan

Bridget Scanlan

Essays 5 minute read
Photo of a person completely wrapped in a peach & blue colored blanket, lying on a city sidewalk next to a postal service bin

Do we need a child’s humanity to see unhoused people?

Everyone was seven once

Anndee Hochman remembers her daughter’s childhood in a home that was open to others who needed it. But eventually, the little girl asks: who is that person on the street?
Anndee Hochman

Anndee Hochman

Essays 5 minute read
Seen in profile, a little girl in a play dress and bobbed hair stands on the shore of a lake using a kid-sized fishing rod.

As a young trans woman, I honor my inner child by being true to myself today

Giving myself a girlhood

Joan Rittberg grew up as a boy, but from the time she was a teenager, she knew something wasn’t right. Now, instead of wishing she had transitioned earlier, she focuses on loving the woman she is today.
Joan Rittberg

Joan Rittberg

Essays 5 minute read

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Seen from above, tiny brown poodle wears a purple coat, standing on leash with two polka-dot boots visible at bottom of frame

Puppies, love, and chocolate: how to live on life’s knife edge

Love here, love now

Anndee Hochman was never a dog person … until her daughter brought home a poodle puppy who got into the chocolate. How do we live and love when catastrophe is always waiting?
Anndee Hochman

Anndee Hochman

Essays 5 minute read
Danie leans on a bridge’s railing during a walk in the green outdoors. They are smiling & wearing purple pants & blue hoodie

Black, queer, disabled self-love is a necessary act of rebellion and healing

The power of equanimity

Writer and musician Danie Ocean Jackson has learned how hard it can be to sense the world from the inside out rather than the outside in, but it’s more necessary than ever.
Danie Jackson

Danie Jackson

Essays 5 minute read
A wide, shady, mossy path disappearing into an early autumn forest in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.

Here’s how I embraced the path out of my eating disorder

Hungry for authenticity

By the time she was 26, Daralyse Lyons had been hospitalized for her eating disorder 18 times. But she was finally finding her path to recovery, and knows that others can, too.

Daralyse Lyons

Essays 5 minute read
Photo of Blavat, in tan baseball hat, with Schaefer, in a red-patterned scarf. They’re smiling with an arm around each other

Legendary DJ Jerry Blavat spun a whole new world for Philly teens in the 1960s

Live from Wagner’s Ballroom

Local music icon Jerry Blavat, a South Philly native, passed away on January 20, 2023. Susan Schaefer remembers how a whole new world opened up when she danced to Blavat’s tunes at Wagner’s Ballroom in the 1960s.
Susan Schaefer

Susan Schaefer

Essays 5 minute read
A Black woman in lace tights, black leather shorts, and a black-and-white checked blouse stands proudly at the mic.

Voices In Power presents its Poetry Open Mic Experience, featuring Courtney Lynn, Scott Free, and Sunny CeLight

Voices in power and nothing but

At January’s Voices In Power open mic, a monthly celebration of local and national poets in the Fashion District’s REC Philly, hundreds turned up for the show. Chris DeMento was there.
Chris DeMento

Chris DeMento

Essays 4 minute read
A gleaming, low-slung orange Lamborghini with black interior and wheels, parked on a shiny white surface.

I love Greta Thunberg — but why is it ok for her to mock guys with small dicks?

Fame is no excuse for body shame

Misogynist influencer Andrew Tate deserved to be burned on Twitter by climate activist Greta Thunberg, but Roz Warren says it's time to stop the body-shaming.
Roz Warren

Roz Warren

Essays 4 minute read