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“Marley was dead: to begin with.”
The plummy voice of Julie Andrews rings out through the Grand Court of Center City Philadelphia’s Macy’s store every hour on the hour throughout the month of December. As children (and more than a few adults) crowd for seats on the floor of the Grand Court, Andrews invites them to enjoy the Christmas Light Show,…
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On Rereading Gatsby
For well over a decade, I’ve been listing F. Scott Fitzgerald as one of my favorite authors. I went through an intense Fitzgerald phase in high school, enthralled by his descriptions of flappers and bootleggers whooping it up during the Jazz Age while unconscious of the troubles ahead of them. In retrospect, I have to…
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Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!
It’s only October 29, but Philadelphia got a good dose of snow today. Things started out rainy this morning … But by early afternoon, it was truly snowing. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, this is only the third time since 1884 that the city has experienced a measurable snowfall in October. It’s a bit bizarre…
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Questions and Answers
“Is it good to be home?” “Do you miss California?” “Which do you like better, the East Coast or the West?” I’ve heard all of these questions, each one multiple times, since I arrived in Princeton at the end of the summer after three years in Southern California. I never really know how to answer,…
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Selling Thin in China
After stating in my very first post here yesterday that I wanted this space to be about more than just China, I’m going to jump in with a short piece about … China. Today is the National Organization for Women’s Love Your Body Day, an event designed “to send a positive message to women and…
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Opening Day
Does the internet really need another blog? Probably not. And yet here I am. Initially, I wasn’t planning to have a blog on this site; I simply wanted to build a space on the web where I could share a bit about my education and interests as well as link to pieces I had written.…