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If the election were held today, it would be best for the country if everyone stayed home and refused to vote until we got some candidates worthy of their office. None of the men running for president–including the man currently in the White House who I and many of you voted for–deserves our vote. If [...]
My parents were Socialists and civil rights workers, so I was raised with the core belief that everyone is equal. It’s imbedded in my DNA. As a consequence, I am always stunned when people I otherwise respect show themselves to be bigots. I felt that shock on Monday while listening to NPR as I do [...]
In Philadelphia, the new year started much like the old one ended. Between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning there were more than a dozen reported shootings and six murders. For residents of the 14th and 39th Districts, this was nothing new. Both districts are among the city’s top ten for violent crimes. Last week, as [...]
If you love Philadelphia, you hate Arlene Ackerman. It’s difficult to imagine a more despised figure in recent city history than former School Superintendent Ackerman, who has bilked Philly school kids of millions since she landed her half-million-a-year job with the School District. At the height of the controversy over former dog-killer Michael Vick being [...]
When Republicans and Democrats join forces on reproductive issues, women always lose. Such was the case last week. President Obama decided to go the anti-science route and refute an FDA finding on Plan B while the Pennsylvania legislature voted in SB732, which will likely further restrict abortion in Pennsylvania. Both measures were cited as “protections” [...]
When Joe “JoePa” Paterno’s weekly press conference was cancelled Tuesday mere minutes before he was scheduled to speak, Pennsylvanians following the sex abuse scandal that has rocked Penn State and the national college football scene knew it was over–JoePa’s legendary career, that is. The weekly press conference was cancelled by president Graham Spanier who is [...]
I’ve been watching the Occupy Philly actions with avid attention over the past few weeks. I’m in that middle-age demographic that has mostly been complaining that there’s no focus, no leadership, no direction, no end game to the protest. As one friend explained, “These are middle-class kids with the privilege to hang out night and [...]
CAN MY NEIGHBORHOOD BE SAVED? by Victoria A. Brownworth The November election can’t come soon enough for me. It will end what has been one of the worst, most damaging plagues on my neighborhood of lower Germantown–the reign of Donna Reed Miller in City Council. We’ve withstood a lot down here in the no man’s [...]
It’s a hot, sticky, summer-won’t-let-go kind of September Sunday afternoon. Just the kind of day to mull over two topics I am passionate about: the politics of race and the politics of writing. I didn’t just read something about these two confluent issues in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Nor was there anything [...]
Sometimes I feel like one of the few remaining leftist progressives in Philadelphia. The consensus for Democrats in the city regarding political candidates, be they local, state or federal, is to just accept whatever political candidate is proffered, regardless of how anti-progressive they might be. Each time I have criticized President Obama for his right-wing [...]
