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2 weeks ago | 
broadstreetreview.com | Alaina Johns
Recently, some major US newspapers including the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a third-party book list supplement—not vetted by anyone, apparently, even the person who “wrote” it—that was AI generated. The AI described a bunch of books that don’t even exist and everyone involved was like, cool, who needs to check what we publish? Let’s get that sucker right into print!! Do you want book coverage written by professional human beings who are part of your community?
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2 weeks ago | 
broadstreetreview.com | Alaina Johns
Coming up on one year in his role as Opera Philadelphia’s general director and president, Anthony Roth Constanzo says he got a lot of resistance to his big idea for the 2024-25 season: pick-your-price tickets starting at $11 for all seats. “Many people, some on my staff, some on my board, many people in the industry, said this is crazy, you’re going to lose audience, you’re going to lose people,” he says.
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1 month ago | 
broadstreetreview.com | Alaina Johns
Each spring, we in the Philly arts and culture community steel ourselves to rally against perennial cuts in the mayor’s proposed budget. With the Philadelphia Citizen reportingin April that Mayor Parker’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget would cut arts and culture funding by almost 35 percent, a familiar dismay set in.
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1 month ago | 
chestnuthilllocal.com | Alaina Johns
Neighbors across northwest Philly and beyond can look forward to a whole weekend of local spring festivals this Saturday and Sunday, including Mt. Airy Day and Downtown Glenside’s Arts Festival on Saturday, May 3; and the Chestnut Hill Home + Garden Festival on Sunday, May 4. Mt. Airy Day, happening from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Germantown Avenue between Johnson and Upsal Streets — including Cliveden Trust and Upsala Mansion — has a long history in the neighborhood.
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1 month ago | 
broadstreetreview.com | Alaina Johns
Jered McLenigan and Matteo Scammell trade off roles each night in this two-hander, with McLenigan playing Outside Brother and Scammell playing Inside Brother on the reviewed opening-night performance. (Ticket-buyers can return to see the opposite actors for a discounted price of $12.)Twenty-six years, inside and outWhen we meet them, Outside Brother is a senior English major whose burgeoning alcoholism endangers his scholarship.
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2 months ago | 
broadstreetreview.com | Alaina Johns
Among thousands of people pouring around Philadelphia City Hall on April 5, 2025, I noticed someone wearing a mask, a bandana covering their head, moving slowly with the help of a walker. A sign mounted on a stick taped to their walker simply said this: “Without MA & SSDI I WILL DIE. This is EUGENICS.” MA is Medical Assistance, also known as Medicaid. SSDI is Social Security Disability Insurance, which supports people who are unable to work because of a disability.
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2 months ago | 
broadstreetreview.com | Alaina Johns
Long Bright River, the new TV series based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Philly author Liz Moore, will debut on the streamer Peacock this Thursday, March 13. In advance of the premiere, stars of the show joined showrunner Nikki Toscano, Moore, and Philly-based consultants like Savage Sisters Recovery founder Sarah Laurel for two panel discussions at FringeArts. Moore’s novel follows Mickey, a young mom and Philadelphia police officer patrolling modern-day Kensington.
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Mar 4, 2025 | 
broadstreetreview.com | Alaina Johns
I was deeply moved by Anndee Hochman’s recent essay about her answer to a friend who claimed that there’s no point in protesting anymore now that Trump is back in office. To me, that is an astonishingly short-sighted view, especially for a Philadelphian. Our city’s history is full of people who fought for their entire lives to give us the rights we have today. They did not give in to grief. Will we? Let’s briefly meet a few of them—particularly those whose legacies have been neglected today.
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Feb 11, 2025 | 
broadstreetreview.com | Alaina Johns
Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire, edited by Alice Wong. There is, of course, plenty to say about ableism and the politics of desirability in the world of dating, sex, and romance. But this collection digs much deeper than romantic partnership. In paradigm-shifting vignettes, we explore friendship, parenting, caregiving, kink, art-making, activism, and academic research as vital forms of intimacy. Like the disability field itself, this collection touches all of us.
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Feb 11, 2025 | 
broadstreetreview.com | Alaina Johns
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