Essays

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Page 5
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
A selfie of Melissa, a white woman in her early 40s, by a pond. She wears a puffy coat, glasses, and a blue hat.

Spending the winter holidays alone? You’re not the only one.

The joy of going solo

We often make solo holidays sound like a problem to be solved, instead of an opportunity for personal enjoyment, reflection, and renewal free of others’ expectations. Melissa Strong shares her traditions.
Melissa Strong

Melissa Strong

Essays 4 minute read
A bell tower with thick brown wooden posts and cross-pieces and a small tiled roof, against summer greenery and a cloudy sky.

One man, his van, and 18 hours: Journey to an orphanage in Kyiv

“I drove and got them.”

Philly composer and essayist Kile Smith was traveling in Germany when he met an electrician with an extraordinary story in the months following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Kile Smith

Kile Smith

Essays 6 minute read
A shiny, large old brass phonograph trumpet with floral designs pressed into the metal.

It’s no big deal to get glasses or treat anosmia. Why was it so hard to face my hearing loss?

A sound realization

Anndee Hochman had no problem getting help when her sense of smell or her sight suffered. But somehow, addressing her hearing loss felt different.
Anndee Hochman

Anndee Hochman

Essays 5 minute read
An exterior photo of a hospital with a large vertical sign that says “emergency” in red letters.

I had a life-threatening miscarriage in 1979. Would I have survived the same thing today?

Abortion access saved my life

Fredricka Maister suffered a hemorrhage after she became pregnant in the late 1970s. Abortion access may have saved her life. She worries about the dangers pregnant people face today.
Fredricka R. Maister

Fredricka R. Maister

Essays 6 minute read
A selfie of Anndee, a white woman with short gray hair, wearing a black facemask in an airline cabin.

From Philly to Chile: meeting the pandemic in a whole new hemisphere

How to change the sky

After almost two years of sheltering at home, Anndee Hochman flew to Chile, and experienced a very different response to the pandemic there. What made the difference, and why is it important to witness?
Anndee Hochman

Anndee Hochman

Essays 5 minute read
Infrared NASA image of a spiral galaxy that looks like a swirling gauzy reddish disc with a shining white sphere at center

School reunions in a pandemic make us wonder what could have been, but are we looking in the wrong direction?

The universe inside

A pair of school reunions this year, plus emerging from the shutdowns of the pandemic, restarted Michelle Chikaonda’s habit of wondering who she would be in an alternate universe. But this time, something is different.
Michelle Chikaonda

Michelle Chikaonda

Essays 5 minute read
Adam & Eve are two brown-haired white people standing together in a pond, blooming lilies around them in a colorful diorama

Why a trip to Kentucky’s Creation Museum makes me worry about Pennsylvania’s future

Because the Bible says so

Nowadays, Kentucky’s Creation Museum is starting to feel awfully familiar to the Christian battleground looming in Pennsylvania, thanks to far-right politicians like Doug Mastriano. Rob Laymon considers.
Rob Laymon

Rob Laymon

Essays 5 minute read