Opinion
96 results
Page 7
A walk in the woods, with the wrens, makes me wonder: if things were simpler, when?
Where do house wrens go home?
A photo of a common bird gives flight to Kile Smith’s thoughts on technology and gratitude. Were things really simpler “back then”? What do we witness nowadays, and how?
Essays
5 minute read
As Pennsylvania moves to ban abortion, fight the rhetoric that threatens our rights
We need language and the law
Alaina Johns has found that even in pro-choice spaces, the rhetoric around abortion can be hard to separate from the facts. But we all need to sharpen these skills, especially as Pennsylvania legislators work to ban abortion here.
Editorials
6 minute read
When your disability is often invisible, it can be hard to claim your identity
Living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
Journalist Daralyse Lyons was living with the symptoms of a rare connective-tissue disorder long before she had a word for it, but her official diagnosis led to an important life decision.
Essays
4 minute read
As a retired librarian who loves to read books, I’m all for giving kids screen-time
Welcome to iPad Land
As a bookworm kid who became a librarian, Roz Warren used to assume screens were bad news for youngsters. But now she takes a different view.
Essays
4 minute read
Why I joined a Pride march with the church I avoided for almost 20 years
Small-town Pride
As an atheist and a divorced woman who supports gender justice, Alaina Johns definitely doesn’t belong in the church that raised her. But when the church’s more inclusive community members planned a Pride protest, she wanted to be there.
Editorials
6 minute read
On Independence Day 2022, is our democracy failing? Not if we listen to our children.
We have to grow up. So does our country.
SaraKay Smullens knows a thing or two about adolescence: she’s a social worker, a family therapist, and a mother. Things in the US seem pretty bleak, but she argues that this is our adolescence, and we can still seize a bright future.
Essays
6 minute read
When home leaves you: a Father’s Day foray into holding on and letting go
Packing up my parents’ house
When Anndee Hochman’s parents moved to the Philly suburbs in 1965, it was a compromise. Almost 60 years later, the house holds a departed father’s heart. It’s time to say goodbye again.
Essays
5 minute read
Losing your sight means adaptation, in life as well as music. I seize the rhythm.
A drummer’s Pride and joy
Delight is something writer and musician Danie Ocean wants more of, and that means picking up a new instrument. It’s a career move, but also a move for Black, queer, blind, nonbinary joy.
Essays
2 minute read
Children on the edge: a fourth-grade poetry teacher mourns Uvalde
They were fourth graders.
Anndee Hochman is a parent. She remembers what a horrible day for schoolkids used to mean: sniffles, the dentist’s chair, lima beans for dinner. Today, she teaches fourth graders. The fourth graders who are still alive.
Essays
6 minute read
My comedy career was taking off, but so was my anxiety. Here’s how I learned to handle it.
Losing sleep over laughs
Christina Anthony thought she was good at coping with stress, until she discovered she wanted to be a stand-up comic.
Essays
5 minute read