Over the course of my career, I’ve been able to write about a wide range of subjects that shape our lives in the city and beyond. (Personalities, power, culture, ideas, business, politics, money, wellness, childrearing, food … you name it.) I’ve found an especially happy niche in reported essays, civic-focused journalism, trend and culture reporting, and lifestyle columns.
You Get What You Pay For
If we want to save our country, we might have to start being a little (or a lot) more generous. Philadelphia magazine, 2025
The Quest To Raise Happier Kids
Why giving our city kids more freedom and independence is so vital … and how the city could help. The Philadelphia Citizen, 2024
Et Tu, Halloween?
One by one, holidays have morphed from singe-day celebrations into weeks-long parental endurance tests. Enough! Philadelphia magazine, 2023
Fork You, Mom
Or, how I subjected my nine-year-old son to Main Line etiquette classes in a fevered attempt to save the world. Philadelphia magazine, 2023
The Kids Will Be Alright
Endless screen time. Canceled birthday parties. Mandatory masking. What is pandemic life doing to our kids? Maybe not what we think. (Cover story: Is This the New Greatest Generation?) Philadelphia magazine, 2021
The Bok Evolution
Six years ago, developer Lindsey Scannapieco set out to turn an old South Philly school building into a space for Philly’s creative class. She overcame neighborhood skeptics to become so much more. The Philadelphia Citizen, December 2020
Parent Trapped
Raising kids in the city — during a pandemic — has ruined any illusion that I’m a flawless mom. Philadelphia magazine, October 2020
In Praise of Clutter
The pandemic has me rethinking my quest for minimalism. Philadelphia magazine, August 2020
A Few Good Friends
One of the many things quarantine revealed to us is what deeply social creatures we are — exactly how much we crave interaction with people who aren’t linked to us by blood or law. Philadelphia magazine, June/July 2020
Start Me Up
Allbirds CEO Joey Zwillinger WG10 and nine Wharton alumni founders share the ups and downs of their entrepreneurial journeys and reveal their processes, success secrets, and lessons learned. Wharton magazine, Spring/Summer 2020
Helen Gym Is The Most Popular Politician In Philadelphia
Which is either very good news, or very bad news, depending on where you stand. This profile was a finalist for the 2021 City Regional Magazine Association award for Best Profile. Philadelphia magazine, April 2020
SHORT READ: Face Time
The undeniable allure of skin care in 2020.
Philadelphia magazine, February 2020
The Pastor
Bill Golderer has many gifts — for talking, for listening, for thinking big, for bringing unlikely people together. But is he gifted enough to pull off a Marshall Plan against poverty in Philadelphia? Philadelphia magazine, November 2019
We Are All Puritans Now
There’s plenty to be mad about these days, but somewhere along the way, people started turning everyday issues into sanctimonious ire, pitting Philadelphians vs. Philadelphians as never before. Where do we go from here? Philadelphia magazine, October 2019
The Taxman Bummeth
A thrilling sojourn into the heart of our municipal bureaucracy, featuring a mysterious tax bill, a pregnant woman (me!), a dead guy, computer equipment from the 1980s, and a few clear-eyed insights on why it can be hard to be a citizen of this city. Philadelphia magazine, June 2019
Gives Good Face
How Danuta Mieloch — the force behind New York and Philly’s most beloved spa, Rescue — became the high priestess of America’s new religion: skin care. Philadelphia magazine, January 2019
Meet the New Northeast Philadelphia
How a staid, frayed, forgotten stretch of Philly has become the most interesting (hopeful, complicated, delicious) place in the city. Philadelphia magazine, November 2018
Team Players.
Global food-crisis solutions, sports leadership, behavior modeling, disrupting education — through new cross-disciplinary partnerships, Wharton is making an impact in some unexpected spaces. Wharton Magazine, fall/winter 2018
Hush Money
Designer sweatpants. Meditation rooms. Chicken coops. Being rich in Philly sure doesn’t look like it used to. (Cover Story: The New Rich.) Philadelphia magazine, June 2018
SHORT READ: Dogged Pursuit
Canines may soon be on the front lines in the fight against artifact smuggling. Smithsonian magazine, April 2018
Philly’s Coming Jobs Crisis (Never Mind: It’s Already Here.)
Yes, Philadelphia has been on an upswing for a long time. But if the city doesn’t fix its sluggish growth, it could fall apart, and fast. Philadelphia magazine, June 2017
Natural Wonder
Jim and Nancy Carpenter dreamed of a cabin in the mountains — and built this beautiful, eco-friendly retreat in Livermore. Fort Collins Magazine, summer 2017
The Internet Is Killing Happiness. Can We Stop It?
Our hyper-connected world is wondrous in so many ways — yet we’re all burned out, worn down and miserable. Can we find joy in a time of perpetual disruption? Philadelphia magazine, February 2017
Where Have You Gone, George Washington?
Life in the land of the free and the home of the terrified. Philadelphia magazine, September 2016
The Rowhome Is Us
They’re tiny and they’re towering. They’re gleaming, decrepit, broken, beautiful. They span all eras, classes, races. And even as the model evolves before our eyes, nothing else connects us — or reflects us — so well as the Philadelphia rowhome. Philadelphia magazine, April 2016
The Year in Ideas 2015
Dozens of new, useful and sometimes surprising business insights from the HBS community. Harvard Business School alumni magazine, December 2015
The Tale of Audrey Claire Taichman
Philadelphia knows Audrey Claire Taichman as the spirited, pioneering It Girl behind two of the city’s most successful restaurants. But that’s just the beginning of her story. Philadelphia magazine, September 2015
Being a Philadelphian
We love it. We hate it. We wouldn’t live anywhere else. Philadelphia magazine, December 2012
SHORT READ: I Want Hush Puppies
Musings from Way Up North on the Nashville floods. Nashville City Paper, 2010
SHORT READ: Hot Mamas
Is that a pregnant-woman glow or just a good aesthetician? These days, it’s anybody’s guess. Philadelphia magazine, April 2008
Christine Speer Lejeune 