Essays
1090 results
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I met James Earl Jones when I was six, on TV together thanks to our shared language
In the lap of James Earl Jones
By the time she started grade school, Anndee Hochman was known as the girl who learned
to read when she was three—and whose talent landed her (literally) in the lap of iconic actor James Earl Jones.
to read when she was three—and whose talent landed her (literally) in the lap of iconic actor James Earl Jones.
Essays
5 minute read
I won’t turn my back on Chinatown: Black and Asian people must stand together in Philly
A Black elder protests the proposed Sixers arena
As a woman in her 70s, West Philly native Constance Garcia-Barrio finds protest marches challenging, but she knew she had to turn out for Chinatown at the No Arena in the Heart of Our City rally on September 7, 2024.
Essays
4 minute read
I loved Les Misérables as a teenager. Now it’s back in Philly, and I want to rediscover it.
Singing the desire for a better world
Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer spent her teen years devoted to big books and theater. Seeing Les Misérables all by herself in Philly in 1988 was a formative experience. Now she’s going back to explore what it still means to her.
Essays
6 minute read
Remembering BSR writer Margaret Darby
Musician, linguist, writer, librarian, and beloved friend
Cameron Kelsall remembers BSR writer Margaret Darby, who died in April. She was a musician, linguist, and librarian; an astute yet generous journalist and critic; and a beloved colleague and friend.
Essays
3 minute read
Alamo Drafthouse theaters have a new owner. It’s time for them to come to Philly.
The need for screens
The popular Austin-based movie-theater chain Alamo Drafthouse (recently acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment) has spread to cities across the country, but never to Philly. Stephen Silver asks if it’s time to change that.
Essays
3 minute read
The hardest thing about stuttering isn’t stuttering at all: it’s how people react to it.
If I want your help, I’ll ask.
Samuel Dunsiger has a speech disability, but the hardest part about talking to others isn't his stuttering; it's the assumptions people make.
Essays
4 minute read
A UArts student speaks: “It’s clear that I’ll have to settle, no matter where I go.”
A young writer promises that his school’s demise won’t silence his craft.
Jay Clark was a rising junior at UArts and this year’s winner of the school’s Creative Writing Poetry Prize. On May 31, he got a tuition bill. The same day, news broke of the school’s closure. What’s next for him and hundreds of others?
The Wilma’s Hilma does not do justice to Hilma af Klint’s art, life, or legacy
Women artists still deserve better
A new opera about the visionary but little-known painter Hilma af Klint perpetuates longstanding dismissals of women artists and may be a keen disappointment to fans of her work. Melissa Strong considers.
Essays
5 minute read
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These basement singalongs queer the Broadway canon and help me reclaim my voice
The soundtrack of our way out
When Anndee Hochman was 13, a teacher told her she couldn't sing. Decades later, a basement Broadway singalong in Manhattan's West Village taught her something new.
Essays
5 minute read
A University of the Arts professor speaks: “Knowing it’s the last time I’ll be here is unbearable.”
Students and faculty pledge to keep creating despite their school’s "unconscionable" demise
Philly novelist Elise Juska founded the creative writing program at UArts, where she taught for 24 years. She brings us inside her last days at the university, alongside her irrepressible students.
Essays
6 minute read