For a few years now, I have been avoiding writing an article about freshwater mussels like the one Kyle Bagenstose wrote for this issue. His article airs doubts about the claim that restoring native freshwater mussels can help clean polluted waters — just as efforts are ramping up to breed and reintroduce mussels to our
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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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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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In a recent interview with The New York Times, Chris Rock shared an observation about racism he’s made before. When the color line is broken by a Jackie Robinson or a Barack Obama or some such trailblazer, it isn’t progress for Black people. It’s progress for white people. Rock says, “[T]he real narrative should be
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On the corner of Wyalusing and Belmont avenues, there is an oasis. On a lot where two row homes were left to crumble for almost 50 years, is a small field of grass. In the corner, there’s an explosion of colors, a pollinator garden installed with the help of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Thanks to
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Thank you, Matthew George and Bria Howard of I ♥ Thy Hood, for interrupting the news cycle that produces fear, anger, despair and disbelief. You know what I’m talking about. Is it really possible that a pandemic hit and we are unable to organize ourselves nationally to combat it? It seems likely that hundreds of
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