philadelphia | The Smart Set

The Children of Julia Child

A.D. Amorosi — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 12:30:00 +0000

For two streaming seasons at HBO, the vividly colorful life, innovative culinary skills and cultural change-making of the late Julia Child (1912-2004) have been on display for all to enjoy as much as they would a fine bouillabaisse or cassoulet. As an American-born chef and author who taught the world an approachable way into worldly […]

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The Inner Voice of Books

John Capista — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 17:41:00 +0000

In the tangled web of my teenage years, farther back than I care to admit, I had the uncanny ability of always knowing what was best for me. Or so I thought. When my parents told me it wasn’t unreasonable for them to expect me home by midnight after a night out with friends, I […]

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Of Time and the City

John Capista — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 12:30:00 +0000

History begins at ground level, with footsteps. Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life It was midday, lunchtime. I was working near Sixth and Market Streets in Philadelphia. Every so often the explorer in me asserts itself and I have to set out for parts unknown. This particular day, it was going to be […]

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Get Us To The Jersey Shore — Quick!

Stephen Gambescia — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 11:30:00 +0000

Once summer hits, newbies to the Philadelphia area hear our peculiar expression to “go down the shore.” We don’t go “to the beach;” we go to the beach, once we are down the shore. By now, these transplants to the region have toured the historic sections of the city; visited the list of museums; saw the Liberty Bell; ran up […]

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Nourishing Young Writers in Philadelphia

Kiara Santos — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 11:30:00 +0000

Mighty Writers is a non-profit organization. With the mission of “Think clearly and write with clarity,” their food and literacy programs respectively have served over 3,500 kids in low-income inner-Philadelphia neighborhoods. The organization emphasizes how conscious effort towards low-income children is necessary to nourish them in multitudes — to nourish them in ways that aren’t […]

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In Search of Lost Summers

John Capista — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 12:30:00 +0000

When I was a child, everything moved toward summer. The gradually warming weather of spring promised lazier days. The celery-green of grass hinted of the deeper shades to come. Heavy coats were pushed to the back of the closet to hang there undisturbed for months. The leaden days that had weighed me down all winter long gave way to a pleasant lightness that made each new day […]

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Getting Inked

Paula Marantz Cohen — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 12:30:44 +0000

When I saw that the Tattoo Convention was underway at the Philadelphia Convention Center recently, I decided to take a look. I wanted diversion, and I’m a sucker for conventions. Having attended The Board Game Convention, The Flower Show, and The Home Show, why not the Tattoo Show? All these events had been crowded and lively, but the Tattoo Convention was the most colorful: decorated human flesh being more eye-catching than Pandemic, peonies, and patio furniture. I was an interloper at […]

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What’s In The Mix?

John Crawford — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 12:30:39 +0000

My 2004 Toyota Corolla is well-traveled. The dashboard is dusty, the floor mats dirty. Trinkets and toys are tossed about the backseat. Some 135,000 miles of road have rushed under its wheels. This is the car we brought our daughter home from the hospital after she was born, the car in which I’ve taken countless […]

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Everything Desirable

John Capista — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 11:30:16 +0000

As the years pass I find myself wondering more and more if what I remember about my childhood are the events themselves or merely a memory of those events. There is a half-awake feel about these memories, a sense of being twice-removed, as if somewhere along the way the direct chain of cause and effect […]

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Swanee River

Leonard Kress — Mon, 06 May 2019 11:30:44 +0000

All the world is sad and dreary In a talk about her development as a poet, Louise Gluck relates the time when she, as a young girl, created a competition for the greatest poem ever based on what she had read so far. She chose Blake’s “Little Black Boy” and the song “Swanee River” as the […]

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