http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/daniel_rubin RSS Feed for Inq Col Daniel Rubin en-us Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:30:04 GMT http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/daniel_rubin/20120123_Daniel_Rubin__For_couple_in_need_of_health_insurance__good_news_and_bad.html A year has passed since Pennsylvania informed about 40,000 working poor people it was dumping them from the health-insurance program called adultBasic. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/daniel_rubin/20120102_Daniel_Rubin__Checking_back_on_notable_folks_from_2011.html Another year, another 85 columns, which raises the question: Where are they now? Keith Fenimore's efforts to own the world's most recognizable face have not netted success, if you measure his mug against that of, say Muhammad Ali or Angelina Jolie. Or even James Fenimore Cooper. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/daniel_rubin/20111229_Daniel_Rubin__Farewell_to_everything_we_d_rather_forget_about_2011.html Around lunchtime Wednesday in Times Square, a crowd gathered to feed bad memories into a shredder. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/daniel_rubin/20111226_Daniel_Rubin__New_state_law_trumps_Philadelphia_s_ban_against_phoning_while_driving.html Could it be that after two years and 29,418 citations, Philadelphians are learning not to drive with cellphones pressed to their ears? http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/daniel_rubin/20111222_Daniel_Rubin___Layaway_angels__help_make_Christmas_possible_for_many.html Working Christmas week for most of my three decades of newspapering, I've covered all sorts of kindnesses. But nothing like Kmart's Layaway Angels. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/daniel_rubin/20111219_Daniel_Rubin__Brother_s_death_in_Syria_drives_Phila__medical_researcher_to_action.html Hazem Hallak suggested we meet at Town Hall Coffee in Merion Station, where he ordered espresso with steamed milk, his brother's favorite drink. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/daniel_rubin/20111212_Daniel_Rubin__Philadelphia_district_wins_a_green-schools_award.html Here's a quiz: What do you think when you hear the words Philadelphia School District and green? A superintendent best remembered for the way she got paid? http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/daniel_rubin/20111208_Daniel_Rubin__In_cleaning_out_material_in_the_basement__she_finds_a_family_gem.html The box of family heirlooms sat for six years in Susan Cadwalader Johnson's basement, untouched. Over the summer, her husband wanted to claim some space for exercise machines, so Johnson sifted through what she had been unable to face since her mother's death. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/daniel_rubin/20111205_Daniel_Rubin__Not_the_man_he_thought_he_was.html You think you know what you are. Then you get yourself tested and find out you're something else. Me? Russian Jew on three sides, Austro-Hungarian on the fourth. Peasant stock. At least until I heard from an uncle who told me of a relation who sold clothes in Hazleton, Pa., - a cantor who'd come from Germany in the mid-1800s. I didn't know we had any fancy Germans, let alone Pennsylvanians. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/daniel_rubin/20111201_Daniel_Rubin__Penn_State_scandal_drags_up_bad_memories_for_Philadelphia_man.html Greg Bucceroni doesn't keep many things to himself. You run into the victims' advocate around town and he'll eagerly weigh in on the matter of the day, whether it's the psyche of the Kensington strangler or the menace of a flash mob.