http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/monica_yant_kinney RSS Feed for Inq Col Monica Yant Kinney en-us Sun, 27 May 2012 13:21:57 GMT http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/monica_yant_kinney/20120527_Lynn_rsquo_s_testimony_is_a_losing_gamble.html http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/monica_yant_kinney/152746435.html On a March morning in 2009, Tyree Bush fired a 9mm weapon at a man heading to a corner store in Overbrook to buy Pampers. The timid teenager was a lousy shot, striking the victim in the hand. Bush, a gentle loner with an IQ of 52, had no clue what he was doing except following orders from a menacing neighborhood drug dealer. For the next three years, state and local officials found themselves equally perplexed about how to punish, and release, an unlikely felon at a time of dwindling resources for the intellectually disabled. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/monica_yant_kinney/20120520_Catholic_families_chafe_at_schools_mergers.html So many parents and alumni of St. Denis Catholic School in Havertown supported merging with friendly CYO rival Annunciation B.V.M., the marriage should have gone off without a hitch. Instead, parishioners hoping to embrace the past and future in a name were told the regional school would honor the late Cardinal John Foley. The decision was, in their pastor’s words, “nonnegotiable.” http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/monica_yant_kinney/20120516_Hotel_doorman_lends_city_style_a_white-gloved_hand.html The dapper doorman did not set out to class up the city single-handedly with his blinding-white nylon gloves. But since he has, and since I asked, Leroy Mickens II shares that the key to that gleam is a nightly soak in Dawn detergent, a morning scrub (one gloved hand washing the other), and air drying. “I have eight pairs, so I always have a spare with me if they get dirty,” Mickens says between taking requests from guests at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel across from City Hall. Having been voted the “Neatest” and “Best Dressed” member of the Class of 1961 at Norwayne High in Goldsboro, N.C., Mickens adheres to a sartorial philosophy that defines a life spent serving others: http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/monica_yant_kinney/20120513_Giving_landlords_access_to_tenants_rsquo__bank_accounts.html To dwell in an apartment is to be free of snow shoveling but beholden to a company that raids your savings and invades your privacy. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/monica_yant_kinney/Running_to_continue_a_political_legacy.html When Democratic congressional candidate Shelley Adler bumps into ex-Eagle-turned-U.S. Rep. Jon Runyan in a Bordentown TV studio, the exchange is reminiscent of the first time Rocky Balboa got a look at mountainous Russian foe Ivan Drago. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/monica_yant_kinney/150361985.html “Did you win?” In the 18 months since I started running semi-seriously, that’s all my kids ask when I call (or crawl) home after a race. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/monica_yant_kinney/20120506_Another_Philadelphia_casino__It_rsquo_s_a_game_for_suckers.html The Valley Forge Casino Resort is neither in Valley Forge Park nor, at a glance, a resort. It is, however, impressively busy on a Thursday at 3 p.m. Especially the $15 blackjack tables. I know this because, unlike politicians who tout gaming spoils as a public panacea, I actually hang around casinos observing the side effects of this so-called miracle drug. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/monica_yant_kinney/20120502_Hardware_sold_in_the_old-fashioned_manner_in_Fern_Rock.html They come for the humblest of plumbing products, the brass shower stem. From New York, New Jersey, Delaware, or just around the corner, old home lovers and cost-conscious flippers program their GPS units for the intersection of Fifth Street and Champlost Avenue seeking an $11 or a $19 solution to a leaky faucet. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/monica_yant_kinney/20120429_Monica_Yant_Kinney__Taking_daughter_to_work_isn_t_much_excitement_for_the_young_one.html The assignment was a killer: Show my daughter a typical day of work when there is no such thing, in a job where much of what I encounter is not age-appropriate.