Even our roads reflect our racism. In December 2018, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) issued a report called “Crashes and Communities of Concern in the Greater Philadelphia Area.” They undertook the study as a means to investigate anecdotal evidence suggesting that people of color were more likely to be victims of severe car
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When I was a kid—we’ll call this long ago time “the ’70s”—seatbelts hung unused while Mom’s arm reached across our bodies any time our car came to a sudden stop. Beer and soda were packaged in aluminum cans and had what was called a “pull-tab,” or “ring-tab.” You would put your finger through the ring
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Dan Lavin returned from his friend Chuck’s wake feeling troubled. Lavin and his now-deceased husband had met Chuck and his wife in a support group for people with cancer. “Chuck was a really sharp-witted, spitfire kind of guy,” Lavin says. In the throes of his illness, Chuck bought a Corvette with a license plate that
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I love food. I feel like I need to say that because last month we did a vegan issue and I wrote a diatribe about Facebook’s failure to recognize that they are publishers, and how they shirk their responsibilities to society. Since publication, I’ve tried Vannah Banana’s vegan ice cream and it is delicious. This
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On February 1, The Philadelphia Inquirer put a stop to reader comments on the majority of its online articles. They will continue to provide a public forum for sports stories, so feel free to share your opinion on the departure of Carson Wentz, but you can’t comment on the news. Some Inquirer posters bemoaned the
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Everyday when I commute to work on my giant orange bike, American cultural values are on full display. There in the bike lane, a UPS truck has come to a halt. An Uber driver is looking at their cell phone, waiting for a passenger. A moving truck is slowly filling up with a lifetime’s worth
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My dad used to say, “If you have a simple answer to a complicated question, you’re probably wrong.” In my youth, I strongly disagreed with that sentiment, and, for the most part, still do. Some things are crystal clear, black and white, right or wrong. Saying an issue such as systemic racism or our dependence
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I was stunned twice when, in 2018, I read an essay in The New York Times entitled “A Forest of Ancient Trees, Poisoned by Rising Seas.” The author writes about the 400 and 500 year-old black gum trees along the Delaware Bay in South Jersey doomed by climate change, then proceeds to catalog reports from
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What happens to a dream deferred? … Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? Langston Hughes, “Harlem” In the aftermath of the police killing of Walter Wallace, a 27 year old black man suffering from bipolar disorder, I think the answer to Langston Hughes’ famous question is both: It exacts
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I was saddened to learn the news that Dana W. Tobin, a Grid subscriber, recently passed away. I knew him only through a few email exchanges and one phone conversation, but even with that limited interaction, it was easy to see that he was a kind, thoughtful and modest person who possessed a curious mind
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