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Dec 8, 2024 | 
wbur.org | Sara Shukla
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. A year or so ago, I came across a social media post by a dad who watched a movie with his sons every Friday night.
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Nov 24, 2024 | 
wbur.org | Cloe Axelson |Kate Cooper |Sara Shukla
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. For the moment, set aside any worries you may have about the state of American democracy or the nasty political argument that may break out between your Uncle Marty and Aunt Maxine over turkey next week, and instead think about stuffing. Cranberry sauce. The Macy’s Day Parade. We did a fun thing this week.
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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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Oct 27, 2024 | 
wbur.org | Sara Shukla
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. One of my kids is really into making comic books. He loves “The Simpsons.” He can solve a Rubik’s cube in under 30 seconds. Last year he bought a Duncan yo-yo from a general store in New Hampshire, and about six months later, he competed in a regional yo-yo competition. He’s smart and funny, and really sweet with animals.
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Oct 25, 2024 | 
wbur.org | Sara Shukla
When I sat down to watch “Beetlejuice” with my kids, I tried to remember — is it actually scary? I couldn’t say for sure. I apparently spent my formative years averting my eyes, even as the movie’s ubiquitous presence at Blockbuster Video dominated elementary school sleepovers. I’m happy to report that my kids share no such qualms, and the movie is now a solid Halloween tradition at our house.
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Aug 18, 2024 | 
wbur.org | Cloe Axelson |Sara Shukla
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. Summer in New England has a frantic quality to it. We of the land where it is too often miserably gray and cold for seven months of the year feel pressure to take advantage of the sun and heat while we can. And, if you’re a parent, you know there are approximately 77 days between the last day of school and the first day of the new school year.
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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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Feb 14, 2024 | 
wbur.org | Cloe Axelson |Sara Shukla
Just before Thanksgiving, Cog published a collection of love letters to Boston. After that piece published, we asked our readers to submit stories of their own — and now we hope you'll keep sharing them with us. We’re big fans of the New York Times series Metropolitan Diary, which highlights snapshot moments of life in a time and place. It's got us thinking about what a “Boston moment” looks like. Is it navigating a maze of one-way streets from memory?
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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.
