Black History Month, celebrated in February, commemorates the 15th Amendment that granted African Americans the right to vote and acknowledges the role played by them throughout history. In Philadelphia, Black History Month is especially significant because of the abundance of Black-owned businesses, museums documenting African American history and historical sites that one can visit to […]
Photo: David Maialetti / Philadelphia Inquirer As a fresh-off-the-boat South Asian, I used to feel a surge of pride whenever I saw American people struggling with spicy food. Bolstered by the ill-founded confidence a new, westernized palate (mostly french fries and mac and cheese) gave me, I was a self-proclaimed “spice-queen” of sorts in my […]
We are not born with culture, but we are born into it. As we grow from babies into children into teenagers and finally adults, we collect memories, languages, behaviors, and customs. In this Freely Free Write, we asked writers to tell us a story from childhood in 10 minutes. Here are the responses… Chick By […]
Photo: Chronicle/Darryl Bush “People without a sense of humor are not very smart,” author Marjane Satrapi said during a candid, heart-to-heart conversation at the Annenberg Center of Communication, the University of Pennsylvania on Thursday. An audience of over 300 students, academics and fans broke into applause. Satrapi is a widely loved French Iranian author who […]
Illustration: Sana Kewalramani A swarm of people was huddled in Montgomery Auditorium at Parkway Central Library on Wednesday, Feb. 6, their eyes keenly following every nuance of DaMaris B. Hill’s calculated hand gestures as she read out excerpts from her recently published poetry collection. Accompanying her at this special author event was community activist and […]
What prompted my foray into Philadelphia’s Halal food scene was an impromptu trip to Chick-fil-a on a hot June afternoon. As someone who tries to follow a strict Halal diet, meat, specifically good meat is rare to come by. Being an insanely picky eater, I didn’t particularly like the very questionable looking slabs of overcooked […]
There was a hiccup, a cough, and the jumbled clip-clop of high heels and work boots. I was surrounded by a seething mass of humanity closing in at me from every angle, jolting me and rocking me until I became one with it. In that moment of unity, I felt a sense of freedom I […]
