A few years ago a friend moved to the suburbs after decades in Philadelphia. Last week she came over for dinner, and she joked about a chicken bone she stepped over on the sidewalk on her way to our West Philly door. There’s nothing like chicken bones to let you know you’re back in the
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It was a few hours after a meeting with Grid contributor Constance Garcia-Barrio that I had a realization that startled me. Her hand, the same one I had shaken earlier in the day, had been touched by someone who was born a slave. Our handshake connected me to Constance’s great-grandmother, Rose Wilson Ware, born around
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I came to publishing magazines as a result of the intersection of three personality traits. First, I love to share things that excite me. I get that from my dad, who is always pushing something, using hyperbole to describe a horseradish sauce, a sugar cookie or a TV show. He doesn’t rest until he’s cornered
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There are two letters from readers sitting on my desk, each one tugging at me, competing for my mood and mindset. I may be an optimist, but I’ll start with the more negative of the two. It comes from a reader in Oreland, a response to editor’s notes I had written about the ill-conceived idea
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Around 20 years ago, I was in San Francisco, attending a music conference as a publisher of magazines for independent record stores. The music industry was awash in money, and Warner Bros. was famous for throwing the most decadent parties. This particular year, they had rented the entire island of Alcatraz, the infamous prison, and
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Propped up in my cousin’s casket were two baseball cards—Brad Lidge and Dave Hollins, if you are a sports fan. Sean had forgone the typical burial suit and chose instead to wear a gray Phillies hoodie. Much to my regret, I didn’t know my cousin well. In retrospect, his life had many parallels to my own.
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When rethinking the economy, small steps won’t cut it. That’s one of the critical points made by the indispensable Naomi Klein in her latest book, “No Is Not Enough.” She argues that a vision needs to be offered that is radically different from what we currently have, and it must provide a blueprint for a
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To everything, there is a season The winter outlines of bare trees against the sky always look particularly beautiful when dusk briefly passes behind them—the elegant and intricate silhouettes are otherworldly. That they are the same creatures who only months ago were abundant with leaves fluttering in warm sun is fascinating. In this part of
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Rest up. There is much work to do in the new year. By Heather Shayne Blakeslee During the holidays, most of us plan to take some time to reconnect with ourselves and our families. A break is in order after a year of the world feeling particularly topsy-turvy. It’s time to check in with our
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The holiday gift-giving season is upon us- make a star of your local makers It’s become something of a sport to call out how much earlier each year stores begin to put up tinsel and displays announcing the holiday gift-buying season. I started seeing Facebook posts as early as mid-October from unsettled friends who went
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Walls and Windows by Heather Shayne Blakeslee We’ve long debated what makes us human. But as our understanding of other species becomes richer and more complex, brick by brick we’re dismantling the imaginary wall that separates us from the natural world. We’ve learned that we are not the only species to have verbal language (whales),
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