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I had a “Mister Potato Head” as a kid. Two things were true. It did not have much “play value,” meaning time spent playing with the thing. And I wasn’t thinking about gender norms when I stuck ears on it. I often chose to stick the ears in the
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You ever get a tune stuck in your head, one that comes around like a merry go round, and you can’t shake it? Please don’t come at me with Baby Shark. For me, lately, it’s been “Me and Bobby McGee.” I don’t know why, but it
Sports
Which professional sport produces the biggest major league asshats? I mean players, not fans. (In Philly, you gotta specify.) It's axiomatic that most athletes in the Big Four — baseball, football, hockey, basketball — are coddled, but which sport offers up the characters with the worst character? Which athletes get
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It’s been more than a week since the death of Mary Wilson, one of the three original Supremes, one of the most important groups in American music, and in America. The other two were Florence Ballard and Diana Ross. They were three Black Detroit teens with talent, and the
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This probably will make my former colleague Helen Ubinas mad at me. But the Inquirer columnist has been mad at me, or my opinions, before. Two things we share — our Bronx birthplace and our love of dogs. That’s about it. We disagree that she is a liberal. I once
Racism
Let’s agree there’s more than one way to skin a cat, but no one should want to skin a cat. Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping used to say he didn’t care what color a cat was, as long at it caught mice. Curiously — because cats are curious — this
Race Relations
I grew up steeped in the belief of equality. For a number of years I wore a round lapel pin that was all black except for an = symbol in white. It was a simple, powerful message, a product of the Urban League. In recent months, maybe longer, I noticed the
Guns
On the third anniversary of the Parkland school mass murder, President Joe Biden released a sweeping, pie-in-the-sky plan to overhaul gun sales, law, and control. It tries to do too much. It is a scattergun when a target rifle is required. Its 13 pages devolve into minutia. Follow the above
Politics
I did not vote for Donald J. Trump. He was my president. I did not vote for Joe Biden. He is my president. The person who we elect as president of the United States is president of all the States — the Blue, the Red, the Purple, and all who live
Politics
Most Democrats, especially those in the North, are averse to guns, which are officially known as firearms. Far fewer Democrats (18%) own shooting irons than Republicans (50%), according to statista.com. Included in the 18% of Democrats who own guns are West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, former D.A. Lynne
Journalism
A news story based on a report of racial imbalance at the Philadelphia Inquirer carefully avoids the word “racist,” which is the inescapable conclusion. I know this will cheer critics of the newspaper, who are numerous here. No accusation of racism ever cheers me, but it does make me think
Jim Kenney
For the past couple of years, as we sailed into October, I noticed the city put out a notice that City Hall would be closed on the second Monday, for “a holiday.” It did not mention the name of the holiday. Sssssh. Columbus Day. Mayor Kenney now has abandoned flying