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Jan 13, 2025 | 
wbur.org | Kate Cooper
Editor's Note: This essay appeared in Cognoscenti's newsletter of ideas and opinions, delivered weekly on Sundays. To become a subscriber, sign up here. I have found my dream job. (Sorry, WBUR.) Until I worked with Jane Rosenzweig on an essay about a letter she wrote to Jimmy Carter as a child this week, I had no idea the Office of Presidential Correspondence (OPC) — one of the biggest and oldest offices in the White House — even existed.
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Nov 22, 2024 | 
wbur.org | Cloe Axelson |Kate Cooper |Sara Shukla
Editors' note: Turkey. Football. Toasts. Naps. Movies. Turkey trots. The Macy’s Day Parade. Expanding the table for “orphans.” These are just some of the cherished Thanksgiving traditions Cognoscenti readers shared with us. Whether you are celebrating with 30 people or a more intimate crew, we wish you a happy and peaceful holiday. As a child, my family and I typically drove up to Redding, California, from the Bay Area to spend Thanksgiving with our family friends.
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Nov 22, 2024 | 
wbur.org | Cloe Axelson |Kate Cooper |Sara Shukla
Your StoriesWe asked, you answered: Your must-have recipes for a happy ThanksgivingA Thanksgiving party table setting featuring stuffed turkey, roasted potatoes, cranberry sauce, Vvegetables and pumpkin pie. (Getty Images)Editors' Note: We invited readers to share their favorite go-to Thanksgiving recipes. We learned all about braised cabbage and corn pudding and apple pie.
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Nov 17, 2024 | 
wbur.org | Kate Cooper
Cog's Weekly NewsletterWhy I turn to poetry in tough timesLeaves floating on the water, in the rain. (Getty Images)Editor's Note: This essay appeared in Cognoscenti's newsletter of ideas and opinions, delivered weekly on Sundays. To become a subscriber, sign up here. I don’t know much about poetry, in an academic sense. But I’ve loved it for as long as I can remember.
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Oct 20, 2024 | 
wbur.org | Kate Cooper
Editor's Note: An excerpt of this interview appeared in Cognoscenti's weekly Sunday newsletter of ideas and opinions. To become a subscriber, sign up here. Ethan Gilsdorf is a regular Cog contributor. He’s the author of the award-winning memoir, “Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks” and his essays have been selected for textbooks and anthologies. He teaches writing at GrubStreet and LitArtsRI and is on the faculty of the Solstice MFA Program at Lasell University.
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Oct 18, 2024 | 
wbur.org | Kate Cooper
When my maternal grandfather, Gilbert Frank Schneider, died in 1996, my mother returned to her hometown of Spokane, Washington, to go through his things. There were few physical mementos among all his papers and photos, but she was able to find a keepsake for each of his four grandchildren. She found a framed watercolor of a mountain lion that he painted and gave it to my brother Tom. My grandfather was an avid hunter and fisherman, so she gave my brother Jim his beloved wicker fishing creel.
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Aug 2, 2024 | 
wbur.org | Cloe Axelson |Sara Shukla |Kate Cooper
Editors' note: We’re nearing the halfway point of the Summer Olympics and the games have already produced some unlikely heroes and joyful moments. All of this might’ve happened in Boston, of course. But the city pulled its bid from consideration to host the Olympic games. (That’s a good thing, according to our very unscientific survey.)Among the swirl of dramatic and difficult news at home and abroad, the Olympics have been a blessed mid-summer distraction and delight.
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Dec 21, 2023 | 
reviewcanada.ca | Tania Branigan |Kate Cooper |Christopher Moore
There is no court of appeal for book prizes. A jury’s decision is final — and not just about who wins. With new members every year, and not much in the way of binding precedent to guide them, juries have a lot of latitude as to what kinds of books their prizes will honour. The Pulitzer Prizes have separate honours for history and biography and non-fiction, and from the lists of finalists it’s not always easy to tell how the juries match the books to the categories.
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Dec 21, 2023 | 
wbur.org | Cloe Axelson |Kathleen Burge |Kate Cooper |Sara Shukla
It’s always an interesting exercise for my fellow Cog editors and me to look back on the year that was, and remember where we were and what we were doing when we worked on certain pieces. In a way, it’s become part of how I mark time. I remember reading Geri Denterlein’s first draft of her beautiful essay about losing her husband, beloved Boston Globe journalist Jack Thomas. I read it around the same time my own father-in-law was entering the final weeks of his life.
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Dec 13, 2023 | 
wbur.org | Kate Cooper
Advertisements on wbur.org help support the news. Please consider a donation today!CommentaryThe soundtrack to our stories: The 2023 Cog PlaylistMusical artists featured in Cognoscenti essays in 2023 include (left to right) Beyoncé, Noah Kahan, Taylor Swift and Min Yoongi (aka SUGA/Agust D) of BTS. (AP and Getty Images)It's easier than ever to only listen to music that exists in our own highly personalized acoustical algorithm.
