Opinion
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FeaturesTHE LOCAL LENS
It has become common to spot large groups of college-age kids bar hopping in Center City. You see them everywhere: on Samson Street, Market, Lombard, South Street. It seems as…
Thom Nickels | 03/28/2016 -
FeaturesTHE LOCAL LENS
When I was 21 years old, I lived at 20 Hancock Street on Boston’s Beacon Hill. The house was a four-story, ostentatious brownstone built in 1805 by Ebenezer Farley. It…
Thom Nickels | 03/21/2016 -
FeaturesTHE LOCAL LENS
If Mayor Kenney gets his way, Philadelphia may have the most expensive soda tax in the world. Forget former Mayor Nutter’s conservative 2 cents to an ounce soda tax proposal…
Thom Nickels | 03/15/2016 -
Features in Northern LibertiesReal vs. Fantasy: Thoughts From a Bench in Penn Treaty Park
What is real and what is fantasy? Sitting on a bench mindfully meditating in Penn Treaty Park is real. But what of the feeling that grace or qi is very…
Jim McGovern | 03/11/2016 -
Community in FishtownOPINION: An Open Letter To the (Possible) Future Owner/Developer of St. Laurentius Church Site
Leo Voloshin, First of all, I want to thank you for being the potential hero in what has been a pretty protracted and emotional journey to save this building. I…
Susan Feenan | 03/09/2016 -
FeaturesTHE LOCAL LENS
I’ve kept a valid driver’s license for years even though the last car I owned was in 1980. That car, a Pontiac Bonneville, was the size of a Philly Ducks…
Thom Nickels | 03/08/2016 -
FeaturesLocal Lens: Does God Have a Political Bias? (And a Bonus Book Review!)
Does God have a political bias? This age old question can be read in the old antiwar song, “With God on Our Side.” But does God really care whether Donald…
Thom Nickels | 02/29/2016 -
FeaturesThe Local Lens
Strap yourself into a time machine set for the 1970s, we’re headed to Upper Darby near the Tower Theater where David Bowie (The Rise of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders…
spiritadmin | 02/23/2016 -
FeaturesThe Local Lens
At first glance, the term “sanctuary city” has a righteous, humanitarian ring. The word sanctuary alone makes most people think of a safe haven in an unfriendly environment. Sanctuary as…
Thom Nickels | 02/15/2016 -
FeaturesLocal Lens
Recently I reread the journals of Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk and author of the best selling book, “The Seven Story Mountain” The book was written shortly after Merton entered…
Thom Nickels | 02/08/2016 -
FeaturesTHE LOCAL LENS
When AIDS became a full-blown epidemic in the early 1980s, times were so frightening that many wished that they could just fall asleep and then wake up when it was…
Thom Nickels | 02/01/2016 -
FeaturesTHE LOCAL LENS
The different arts communities in Philadelphia — theater, painting, poetry and literature — are like individual fish bowls arranged along a wall: Each community is its own enclave. Actors hang…
Thom Nickels | 01/25/2016