Distracted (Questions from your kids when they grow up)
Son: Hey Dad, what were you thinking when we lost $100 million in reconstruction money for Iraq? I mean, what do you figure happened? How could we not be able to account for $100...
Father of the bride
It's good to see the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has its priorities in order. At a time when the Church is beset by sex-abuse scandals and declining vocations, Philadelphia's Catholics can rest easy because their...
Redefining Jane
Jane Fonda says she is trying to apologize for allowing herself to be photographed sitting atop a North Vietnamese tank 30 or so years ago. Not coincidentally, she is at the same time trying...
The tomboy
It used to be that any time girls excelled at something that was supposed to be the province of males, they were called "tomboys."
When she was a young girl, Mom threw a baseball better...
Do you skeeve?
You will not find the word "skeeve" in Webster's Dictionary unless you have the South Philadelphia edition. "Skeeve" means to view with extreme distaste or discomfort. You can skeeve practically anything and most South...
The Schiavo case
I have the utmost compassion for Terri Schiavo and her husband Michael, and for her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler. Their family tragedy is one that is enacted many times across the country when...
Everyone has a motive
Or so we assume. I can't help but suspect other motives than the ones our City Council folk stated in their opposition to the most recent smoking-ban legislation.
Councilman Michael Nutter's bill, though cosponsored by...
A public in a parochial world
The earliest memories I have of church as a little boy is of the smell of incense. Religion became something imponderable and mysterious the moment I smelled the burning incense and heard the priest...
The things they carried
The boys of my generation grew up during the draft. It was a given that we were going to have to serve.
And so we grew up wondering if we had the courage to serve...
