Opinion
84 results
Page 1
Six tips for news and social-media sanity in the 2024 election cycle (you won’t believe #6)
The news is stressful. Here’s how to stay engaged while keeping your cool.
Our democracy, our climate, our rights, our health, our wars and protests—it’s hard to look at any news at all without feeling like the world is ending. Spend seven minutes with Alaina Johns now and get six tips to help you navigate today’s media.
Editorials
7 minute read
Three free road trips from Philadelphia offer a treasure-hunting trifecta
Hit the road (or the river) to discover fossils, Jersey diamonds, and petroglyphs
Writer Bart Stump is a seasoned local adventurer. He recommends three summer destinations for all kinds of Philly-area treasure hunters, with itineraries in Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Essays
4 minute read
I’m a Jewish dramaturg, and The Last Yiddish Speaker taught me a lot about the spaces we need to develop Jewish plays.
Why does culturally specific play development matter?
As Deborah Zoe Laufer’s The Last Yiddish Speaker premieres at InterAct, Philly dramaturg and writer Alix Rosenfeld shares her role in developing the play, and why culturally specific spaces matter for marginalized artists, including Jewish ones.
Essays
5 minute read
Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis could remind us to stop projecting our own fears of illness and death.
Before and after, for Kate and for me
Princess Kate’s cancer announcement brought up Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer’s own memories of fighting cancer as a mom in her late 30s. This news is an opportunity for us all to look inward and stop projecting our fears about illness and death.
Essays
5 minute read
The man who called me an optimist: remembering writer Tom Purdom
“This is my editor.”
In January, the BSR community lost one of our founding members: science-fiction and music writer Tom Purdom. Near the end of his career, he never balked at having a youngster for his editor. Alaina Johns remembers a treasured friend and colleague.
Editorials
7 minute read
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I’m an editor, but I want 2024 to be the year we stop harping on typos
Everyone makes mistakes. Why are we so anxious to point them out?
One drawback of working in the media is that your smallest mistakes are extremely visible to the public. Everyone loves to point out typos and errors, but only some of us are helping. Alaina Johns wonders why it matters so much.
Editorials
5 minute read
Thirteen ways of looking at a war zone: Poetry as vital pause
“I feel allergic to the show of taking sides. I want to be on the side of a just peace.”
Anndee Hochman was at an artists’ retreat on October 7, 2023, making things with words. She remembers how poetry works, even as atrocities rage.
Essays
6 minute read
At the darkest time of year, horror movies bring me unexpected healing
Falling for the darkness
Melissa Strong used to leave the lights on after watching The X-Files, and hated doing anything risky or scary. But when she pushed herself to begin watching horror movies, she experienced a surprising change.
Essays
5 minute read
BSR Behind the Scenes: An inside look at our editorial process
Going backstage at BSR: How do we publish so many writers?
Did you know that BSR is Philly's top destination for professional arts journalism ... and that we're a small, independent nonprofit made up entirely of remote-working part-timers? Here's how we do it.
Editorials
4 minute read
Menstruation is a part of life, but pain doesn’t have to be
Why don’t we take women’s pain seriously?
Despite studies that show women experience pain more acutely, we wait longer for diagnosis and pain relief than men do—if we get relief at all. Isabel Soisson considers.
Essays
5 minute read