Helen Ubinas

1 month ago | inquirer.com | Stephanie Farr |Jenice Armstrong |Will Bunch |Helen Ubinas

When people ask me what my favorite journalism movie is, I think they expect me to say something serious, like Spotlight or All the President’s Men, but it’s actually a lesser-known 1994 Ron Howard film starring Michael Keaton called The Paper. It’s about the ragtag staff of an underdog newspaper, their many, many foibles (Randy Quaid plays a columnist, if that gives you any insight), and their commitment to getting a story right, in order to right a wrong.

1 month ago | inquirer.com | Helen Ubinas

Oh, look — MAGA’s resident Mean Girl is at it again. This time, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has taken over our social media timelines after unleashing the tired, xenophobic insult — “Go back to your country” — on a UK reporter who asked about President Donald Trump’s inept national security team accidentally adding a journalist to a Signal group chat where war plans were shared.

1 month ago | inquirer.com | Helen Ubinas

Sometimes I glance at my penmanship while taking notes and imagine how horrified Sister Margaret Mary would be. One of my most enduring memories from Our Lady of Refuge School in the Bronx during the 1980s is that stern elder nun, her gaze burning through my sheet of crisp loose-leaf paper as I struggled with my assignment. I swear I can still hear her warning that if I didn’t get those lines just right, I could kiss my future goodbye. But that may have just been the judgment in her eyes talking.

2 months ago | inquirer.com | Helen Ubinas

“Speak English!”I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard some version of those words weaponized by xenophobic fools to belittle, exclude, or other someone for having the audacity to speak a different language, to practice the multiculturalism America was built on, to exist while not being white (or at least the right kind of white). Those words have been hurled at me countless times, usually paired with a “Go back to your country!” in response to one of my columns advocating for inclusivity.

2 months ago | inquirer.com | Helen Ubinas

Terrez McCleary had some uncharacteristically choice words for whoever stole the solar lanterns from the memorial garden at the corner of 51st Street and Woodland Avenue, a space built by mothers of homicide victims to honor Philadelphians lost to gun violence. And they deserve every single one. But as I watched the video McCleary posted on Facebook on Wednesday night following the painful moment she discovered the theft, one word echoed in my mind: Why? I’m not naive.