Essays
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Page 61
Growing up with Mother Nature
All creatures, great and small (not to mention sharks and spiders)
Mom wasn't one of those overprotective parents who tell their kids, “Don't bring that in here!” Luckily for me, she applied the principles of tolerance and diversity to animals as well as people.
Essays
6 minute read
The day I realized I'd changed
When love sneaks up on you, or: The rest of my life starts now
During a raucous escape weekend with an old childhood buddy, I suddenly realized I'd really rather be home with my wife. Exactly when did that happen?
Essays
4 minute read
Remedial English for public officials
Who will speak up for language?
A recent study provided the alarming news that 75 percent of California community college students need remedial English courses. What the percentage is for public figures we can only guess at.
Essays
3 minute read
They call me the arts king of Sullivan County
Salvation in the sticks
In Philly, I never joined anything. In rural, culturally deprived Sullivan County, Pa., I've been president of the arts council for the last five years. We have no paid staff and no home, but it's strangely satisfying in its hands-on immediacy.
Essays
6 minute read
Adventures with SEPTA
No exit (from Merion)
Trains made the modern city possible, and the modern city made suburbs necessary. Now, SEPTA seems dedicated to the proposition that Philadelphia and its suburbs should be kept as far apart as possible, and the journey between them a penance.
Essays
4 minute read
A day in the life of the home office
It works for me (and my editors, too): One day in the life of a telecommuter
Yahoo's new chief executive, Marissa Mayer, thinks employees are more productive under a supervisor's watchful eye than working at a home. She ought to take a look at my home life as a telecommuter.
Essays
5 minute read
A Baby Boomer gets a haircut
Just call us 'the second-greatest generation'
In the ‘60s, when I was adolescing, it was parents from the “Greatest Generation” who told their Baby Boomer kids to get a haircut. When did the world change?
Essays
3 minute read
The gay "threat' to religious freedom
Help! I'm being oppressed by gay people!
The writer Damon Linker believes gay marriage will threaten the rights of religious conservatives. In a sense, he's right: They'll lose the right to marginalize gay people, and they may wind up being marginalized themselves.
Essays
5 minute read
Two writers, two lovers
Things past: As the world changed around us
Jack was Thomas Wolfe to my Truman Capote. We were would-be writers in love with the idea of each other, young and drunk and 20, and it was enough for that time. When did we change, and how, and why?
Essays
3 minute read
The School District and the Olympics
An idea whose time has come: A modest proposal for the School District
Philadelphia's School District is starved for cash and weak on educational vision but steeped in empty classrooms. The U.S. Olympic Committee needs a large city with a ready-made Olympic village. Here's a sure-fire idea for some bright real estate developer.
Essays
4 minute read