Category: Thinking

  • In Praise of September Baseball

    I know many of you enjoy the start of foot­ball sea­son. It con­jures thoughts of fall: crisp air, sweaters, chili and Sun­days with friends, hud­dled around the TV. I love those things, too, but I feel like Sep­tem­ber base­ball gets lost in the fray. It’s the per­fect time of year for casu­al fans to get excit­ed.…

  • A Further Word on Vacation

    Any­one who has issues with pay­ing tax­es to sup­port a gen­er­ous wel­fare state clear­ly does­n’t under­stand the val­ue of vacation. The rest of the indus­tri­al­ized world laughs at our pal­try week at the beach.

  • Pitchfork’s Top Track of the 1990s

    What? You were expect­ing “Sum­mer Babe?” I spent the bet­ter part of the day talk­ing about how fun­ny it’d be if the top 20 of their list were just crammed with tracks like this. The mem­o­ries came flood­ing back. Remem­ber Dish­wal­la? Could “Tubthump­ing” make the top 20? For my mon­ey, it’s a shame that they won’t. If…

  • In Case You Forgot How Bad the ’90s Were

    Antho­ny Mic­cio and I have rhap­sodized this song at great length. Heck, I even wrote about Secret Samad­hi once for Sty­lus. If you grew up any­where in Penn­syl­va­nia in the ’90s, Live were inescapable. Think of it as a post-grunge Dave Matthews Band. You know, the sort of band that believes they are sav­ing the…

  • An Open Letter to Mayor Michael Nutter

    Dear May­or Nutter, I vot­ed for you because I thought you best rep­re­sent­ed what the City need­ed. I had my doubts, but thought that you’d be the best man for the job. I felt sure of it when I shook your hand after your vic­to­ry at City Hall sta­tion on my way to work. A year…