Culture
Long ago -- when Halloween was for kids, not infantile adults — costumes were home-made, at least in my low-income South Bronx neighborhood. No one had money for store-bought costumes, had they existed. At most you could get a cardboard face mask — a witch or a goblin or a ghoul or
Culture
Adding to California's reputation as America’s nut basket, a new law requires large retailers to create neutral gender sections within toy departments. It seems to be another move on the part of pin-headed progressives to erase differences between the sexes, despite us knowing many differences are hard
Culture
My friend missed the Eagles game because he had to attend a wedding. He is a member of an minor ethnic minority that sees nothing unusual about a wedding late Sunday afternoon. For obvious reasons, I will not identify the ethnic group. For the purpose of this column I will
Culture
As a journalist, and social critic, my role is to observe, analyze, evaluate, and criticize. When I got my first assignment to be a critic for a newspaper, Mom said, “It’s nice you will now be paid for something you have always done for free.” Love you, Mom. The
Culture
One Liberty Place is beautiful — and I was wrong. It was shortly after I moved here in 1966 that a controversy erupted over Philadelphia’s “gentleman’s agreement” (so sexist!) that no building could be higher than the statue of Our Founder © William Penn atop City Hall. A lot of
Culture
This is a story about a plumber, no wise cracks. (Pardon the pun.) While most of us just stared dumbly at the crazy cold that brought Texas to its knees, turning out the lights and bursting the water pipes, Andrew Mitchell was spurred to action. He reacted when he saw
Culture
When you think of America’s “most glamorous cities,” Philadelphia might not be in the top 5 — but are we really less glamorous than. . . Cleveland? That is not my opinion, I get it from an online outfit called LawnStarter which does a lot of this kind of pop “research.” Mostly
Culture
I hope this doesn’t come across as defensive or grumpy (God forbid), but isn’t there something wrong with Valentine’s Day? [Husband Alert! It’s Friday, guys.] Valentine’s Day is named after Valentin, a priest who was executed by the Romans in about 270 A.D. He
Culture
Some years ago, in my role as a Daily News entertainment/gossip columnist, I would join the movie critics of my paper and the Inquirer in “predicting” Oscar winners. My batting average generally equalled those of the pros, despite the fact that I was not encumbered by actually having seen
Culture
Using blackface is a sin, in a secular sense, but should it be a crime? City Councilwoman Cindy Bass thinks so, and has introduced a bill to make wearing blackface a crime, with a $75 fine. She thus reduces something really hateful to something like a parking ticket. This issue
Culture
Yeah, I watched the Golden Globes, which are more “honest” in the fandom of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than are the Oscars of the (clearing my throat) American Motion Picture Association. The Oscars pretend to award quality, while massive lobbying belies that. Globes generally go to actors the reporters
Culture
(A portion of this story has been retracted. See later post.) Audiences were sparse at Wednesday’s Mummers Parade — the largest spontaneous folk celebration of American racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and peanut allergies. What I just wrote is sarcasm, directed to those, mostly among the young(er), who