Essays
1096 results
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Coming of age with Sinéad
We need Sinéad O’Connor’s spirit more than ever
When Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer heard about Sinéad O’Connor’s death this summer, she became her 21-year-old self, sustained against harassment and injustice by a singular voice.

Essays
4 minute read

Prison, hospital, burger joint, cathedral: does art transcend the space it’s in?
Art on the horizon
When art isn’t created for any particular site, how does it relate to the space where it’s exhibited, whether it’s a gallery, a prison, or a house of worship? Treacy Ziegler considers secular art in sacred places.

Essays
5 minute read

No house lasts forever, including our own bodies. We keep moving as long as we can.
Good-enough bones
While Anndee Hochman faces treatment for osteoporosis, she remembers the different homes we live in, from our bones to our houses, and everything we’ll do to keep them standing.
Essays
5 minute read

My therapist broke up with me—and I don’t know how I feel about that.
Trials and terminations
Fredricka R. Maister felt grateful to find a therapist when she needed one most at the height of the pandemic. Their relationship wasn’t perfect, but should it have ended the way it did?

Essays
5 minute read
What grieving the Eagles loss taught me about how to come home
It’s a Philly thing
Heather Joelle Boneparth says the Eagles’s Super Bowl loss felt heavier than it should have: more grief was lurking, but also a new understanding of home, with a Philly flair.
Essays
6 minute read

The heartbreaking luxury of home hospice care
Earthy, real, and worth every moment
Emily B. Schilling cared for her dying mother at home and, about a decade later, she faced a similar goodbye to her husband. Hospice is exhausting and heartbreaking, but she doesn’t regret one moment of it.

Essays
6 minute read

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.

Essays
6 minute read

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.

Essays
5 minute read

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?
Essays
5 minute read

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.
Essays
5 minute read