Longform
How Questlove Became the Defining Drummer of His Generation
The following is an excerpt from the book Backbeats: A History of Rock and Roll in Fifteen Drummers, released on November 11th. The 41st Grammy […]
Phila and Rachel Lorn’s Trick to Success? Desperation
I. This one time, not too long ago (but also kinda forever ago), Phila Lorn was in Idaho. In Sun Valley, Idaho, which is not […]
How One Store Became Ground Zero for West Philly’s Gentrification War
The song of the summer on Baltimore Avenue this year was a lament, a Greek chorus that started as a whisper and just kept getting […]
Politics, AI, and Stress: Why Teaching in Philly Has Never Been Harder
There was a moment in 2020, in the midst of COVID — that dark year when so many schools were closed and so many parents […]
A Century Later, the Parkway’s Grand Vision May Finally Come True
One day, nearly a decade ago, Mike Carroll sat down for a quotidian meeting of city officials at the Philadelphia Streets Department. Next to him […]
Can Mussels Save Philadelphia’s Waterways?
“Feeding time,” says Shannon Boyle, pushing back her chair and pulling her attention away from the microscope she’s been bent over for the better part […]
The High Cost of Underfunding Philly’s Parks
It’s high noon on a 98-degree day in early summer, but Justin DiBerardinis doesn’t seem to know it. Wearing dark blue jeans and layered T-shirts […]
50 Years of Fresh Air: An Oral History
In college she wanted to be a writer, but the words refused to sparkle like her heroes’. Teaching was a disaster. The middle-school kids mocked […]
Inside the Mind of Nick Sirianni
On a steamy afternoon in late May, I’m sitting inside the Wells Fargo Center, listening to the Super Bowl–winning coach of the Eagles talk about […]
Inside Pennsbury High’s Legendary Prom: The Most Epic School Dance in America
There’s a boat in the lobby of the high school. It’s not a real boat, of course; it’s a 16-foot replica made of Styrofoam. The […]
In College Sports’ Billion-Dollar Arms Race, Philly Schools Are Being Left Behind
Villanova athletic director Eric Roedl is not wearing a green tie this early May morning as an homage to his former employer, the University of […]
Calder Gardens Is Coming to the Parkway — and It’s Unlike Anything You’ve Ever Seen
“You know, I was on the brim of Billy Penn’s hat,” Sandy Rower recalls, pointing to the William Penn statue atop City Hall, hoisted up […]
How Philly Took Over Your TV
Before a single scene of the Kensington-set Long Bright River was shot, Liz Moore gathered her writing team and issued a kind of warning: Authenticity […]
In Kensington, Hope Is Hard-Won — But It’s Growing
One afternoon in April, a beautiful spring day, I drive with Eddie and Anthony from the Last Stop in Kensington to Graffiti Pier on the […]
Josh Shapiro’s Next Big Step
On a pleasant, sunny weekend last fall, three weeks before Donald Trump would win Pennsylvania and every other swing state across America, three months before […]