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Crankcase

stuff after you die
City Life

What’s Going to Happen to All the Crap I’ve Accumulated When I Die?

Not too long ago, we had guests over to the house — a rare event anymore, even as we all slowly reenter the World of […]

snow days
City Life

2020 Even Ruined Snow Days. Great.

It’s the winter of 1964. I’m eight years old, in the second grade, living with my parents and three siblings in Glenside, a sleepy Montco […]

house spiders
City Life

Now That I Never Leave My House, I’m Getting to Know All About the Spiders Who Live Here With Me

Late in summer, I was sitting at my kitchen table, right in the spot where I’ve sat every morning for the past 10,423 days. It […]

company names
City Life

There’s Not a Company Name Cute Enough to Mask the Dark Side of Corporations

In 1963, when I was in second grade, I entered the classroom one day with my fellow students following our usual rousing session of morning […]

home renovation marriage issues
City Life

I Wanted New Wall-to-Wall Carpet. He Wanted a New Sidewalk. 25 Years Later, We Have Neither

Marriage is a mystery. The notion that anyone should ever be able to find another human being with whom to happily spend, oh, say, 40 […]

christmas cards
City Life

Hey, How About We Just Let Christmas Cards Die?

My dad retired from his job when he turned 60, which was way too young. I know it was too young because he spent the […]

philly dogs
City Life

Philly Used to Be a Cat Town. Now It’s Gone to the Dogs.

When I moved to this city fresh out of college in 1978, I brought with me my cat, Julio, who’d been living (illicitly) in my […]

millennials sleep with stuffed animals
City Life

Millennials! Get Over Your Blankies and Stuffed Animals and Grow Up Already!

I was leafing through my copy of Us Weekly the other day — hey, I’m trying to save a dying industry here — when I […]

City Life

Food Expiration Dates Are a Hoax and You’re Dumb to Believe Them

Not long ago, I was in what the kids at work call the “cafe” but I call the “lunchroom,” retrieving my yogurt from the refrigerator, […]

City Life

How Alexa Ruined My Marriage

My husband Doug and I were watching the halftime show of a nationally televised Sixers game when he squinted at the screen. “Who’s that on […]

City Life

Freaks and Geeks

Back in August, this magazine moved its offices from 19th and Market to the Curtis Center at 6th and Walnut, home for decades to the […]

City Life

Crankcase: Happily Never After

There was something oddly familiar about David Sills’s story. Oh, in many ways, his life is one-of-a-kind. Maybe you remember how he soared to fame […]

City Life

This Is How We Do It

A few summers back, my daughter Marcy and her brand-new husband Basil spent their honeymoon with our extended family in Ocean City, New Jersey, in […]

City Life

How Millennials Are Ruining the Workforce

As a boomer, I have a special interest in millennials. It’s the same sort of interest I have in car wrecks: I don’t want to […]

City Life

Caitlyn Jenner, Rachel Levine, and the “Joys” of Womanhood

“It’s called a ‘lob,’” my daughter Marcy says a little shyly, turning to model 360 degrees of her new haircut. “For ‘long bob,’ you know?” […]