He was a mentor, a storyteller, a fire-breather. He was more passionate than anyone we’ll likely come across again. Of course, you know this already. Because if you read his stuff, you know the man. Everything in his writing is everything he was in real flesh-and-blood life.
NEWS AND OPINION > STEVEN WELLS 1960-2009
By Steven Wells
Our friend and colleague Steven Wells died Wednesday of the cancer he had documented so well in two cover stories for Philadelphia Weekly. On June 14, he submitted this column.
NEWS AND OPINION > STEVEN WELLS 1960-2009
By Billy Bragg
Swells could be hurtful in what he wrote, but his contrarian stance was never mere posturing. It was underpinned with an unswerving belief that things could be better—culturally, politically and globally.
NEWS AND OPINION > STEVEN WELLS 1960-2009
By Everett True
Swells was funny and opinionated and smart enough to realize his limitations and work within them. He did it for himself. He was from the fanzine world. He was a tastemaker critic, for sure. People took notice of his opinions, and acted upon them. He challenged people’s opinions, led them, changed them—most of this by default, by sheer force of his personality and peerless ability to entertain. If something was wrong, it was wrong. Didn’t matter what anyone else thought. Of course, Swells might then change his mind the next day.
Oh yeah, this is going to work out great: If the foreign forces are not seen so by Afghans already, they are on the cusp of being regarded as occupiers, with little to show people for their extended presence, fueling wild conspiracies about why they remain here. The feeling is particularly acute in the Pashtun south, but [...]
My conservative collaborator Ben is fond of warning about the unintended consequences of new laws and regulations, and hoo boy, do they have some in California right now: Veterinarians who did not want cities meddling in their business persuaded the state Legislature to bar local governments from banning the practice of declawing cats — beginning in [...]
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