Opinion
112 results
Page 8
How did Philly's media cover the PMA strike, and why does it matter?
What is the arts writer’s beat?
Last week, the BSR team chose not to cross the PMA picket line, and did not attend a preview event for Matisse in the 1930s. We were in the minority, but we weren’t alone. Alaina Johns reflects.
Editorials
5 minute read
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.
Essays
6 minute read
What getting my first tattoo taught me about body acceptance
The last one in South Philly without a tattoo
Alaina Johns always admired others’ permanent body art, but she didn’t think she could ever make the jump to get tattooed herself, even though everyone else in the neighborhood is. This summer, something changed.
Editorials
5 minute read
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?
Essays
5 minute read
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.
Essays
5 minute read
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.
Essays
5 minute read
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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