Cognoscenti
@cogwbur.bsky.social
We are the ideas and opinion section of @WBUR, Boston’s @NPR station. We share stories that make you feel part of something bigger.
"On the surface, we had little in common — think Neil Young breaking bread with Robert Duvall’s character in 'Apocalypse Now,'" writes David Tanklefsky, of his high school principal. "But we forged a real relationship." spr.ly/63321CEEJN
What my high school principal taught me about being young — and growing up
Recently, for reasons both generational and chronological, I find myself looking back at people who have helped shape my life, writes David Tanklefsky. Some of them know their impact, but not all.
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December 15, 2025 at 12:33 AM
"On the surface, we had little in common — think Neil Young breaking bread with Robert Duvall’s character in 'Apocalypse Now,'" writes David Tanklefsky, of his high school principal. "But we forged a real relationship." spr.ly/63321CEEJN
Reposted by Cognoscenti
Here's a nice Saturday morning read for you! @hhharlow.bsky.social writing for @wbur.org @cogwbur.bsky.social
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In 2025, I got by with a little help from these books
I find even the “hard” books, the ones that reflect our world, are bearable because great novels also work in the beautiful things that make us human, writes Hannah Harlow, co-owner of independent boo...
www.wbur.org
December 13, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Here's a nice Saturday morning read for you! @hhharlow.bsky.social writing for @wbur.org @cogwbur.bsky.social
www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...
www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...
Between now and the end of the century, climate change will trigger a cascade of rapid, irreversible environmental changes that will make it impossible for people to establish a sense of place, writes Frederick Hewett. spr.ly/63322CBX4p
What ghost forests tell us about ecological belonging
Between now and the end of the century, climate change will trigger a cascade of rapid, irreversible environmental changes that will make it impossible for people to establish a sense of place, writes Frederick Hewett.
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December 13, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Between now and the end of the century, climate change will trigger a cascade of rapid, irreversible environmental changes that will make it impossible for people to establish a sense of place, writes Frederick Hewett. spr.ly/63322CBX4p
"All of a sudden, my social media feed has been taken over by pigeons," writes Tove Danovich. "It was enough to make me look more closely at these birds and what I found delighted me." spr.ly/63325CEDsF
Is the humble pigeon a mascot for our time?
All of a sudden, my social media feed has been taken over by pigeons, writes Tove Danovich. It was enough to make me look more closely at these birds and what I found delighted me.
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December 12, 2025 at 6:08 PM
"All of a sudden, my social media feed has been taken over by pigeons," writes Tove Danovich. "It was enough to make me look more closely at these birds and what I found delighted me." spr.ly/63325CEDsF
"Sometimes books find us at the right time and place, and sometimes we have to go out and find the books for this time and this place," writes Hannah Harlow, co-owner of independent bookstore The Bookshop of Beverly Farms. spr.ly/63324CEDee
In 2025, I got by with a little help from these books
I find even the “hard” books, the ones that reflect our world, are bearable because great novels also work in the beautiful things that make us human, writes Hannah Harlow, co-owner of independent bookstore The Bookshop of Beverly Farms.
spr.ly
December 12, 2025 at 3:08 PM
"Sometimes books find us at the right time and place, and sometimes we have to go out and find the books for this time and this place," writes Hannah Harlow, co-owner of independent bookstore The Bookshop of Beverly Farms. spr.ly/63324CEDee
I’ve probably only taken three books from Little Free Libraries in the past decade, but I always stop at each one I pass to see what’s inside. The literary voyeur in me just can’t resist. spr.ly/63323CBkMZ
The serendipity of Little Free Libraries
I’ve probably only taken three books from LFLs in the past decade, but I always stop at each one I pass to see what’s inside. The literary voyeur in me just can’t resist.
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December 11, 2025 at 12:39 AM
I’ve probably only taken three books from Little Free Libraries in the past decade, but I always stop at each one I pass to see what’s inside. The literary voyeur in me just can’t resist. spr.ly/63323CBkMZ
"Climate change is transforming ecologies faster than human memory can keep pace. In the developing world, the stakes may be life and death. In wealthy countries, the cost is different—we will adapt and survive, but the fabric of life will wear thin." spr.ly/63321CBXFZ
What ghost forests tell us about ecological belonging
Between now and the end of the century, climate change will trigger a cascade of rapid, irreversible environmental changes that will make it impossible for people to establish a sense of place, writes Frederick Hewett.
spr.ly
December 10, 2025 at 8:36 PM
"Climate change is transforming ecologies faster than human memory can keep pace. In the developing world, the stakes may be life and death. In wealthy countries, the cost is different—we will adapt and survive, but the fabric of life will wear thin." spr.ly/63321CBXFZ
"I was aware of the disease and terrified my gay father would get it," she writes. "But I didn’t tell anyone. Now, I’m teaching AIDS literature and AIDS history to students who are the same age I was when my dad first got sick." spr.ly/633247fo8C
‘You are not forgotten’: How teaching AIDS literature honors my father, and so many others
Alysia Abbott was 18 when the first World AIDS Day was observed on December 1, 1988. I was aware of the disease and terrified my gay father would get it, she writes. But I didn’t tell anyone. Now, I’m teaching AIDS literature and AIDS history to students who are the same age I was when my dad first got sick.
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December 7, 2025 at 1:12 PM
"I was aware of the disease and terrified my gay father would get it," she writes. "But I didn’t tell anyone. Now, I’m teaching AIDS literature and AIDS history to students who are the same age I was when my dad first got sick." spr.ly/633247fo8C
"In my childhood home, we struggled, surviving on what other people didn’t want or need," writes Meaghan Shields. "But my mom was the most generous person I knew. And that generosity extended to me — in the form of books." spr.ly/633257fW7L
There is more than books in my Little Free Library
In my childhood home, we struggled, surviving on what other people didn’t want or need, writes Meaghan Shields. But my mom was the most generous person I knew. And that generosity extended to me — in the form of books.
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December 6, 2025 at 1:17 PM
"In my childhood home, we struggled, surviving on what other people didn’t want or need," writes Meaghan Shields. "But my mom was the most generous person I knew. And that generosity extended to me — in the form of books." spr.ly/633257fW7L
What Mark Twain understood about himself is what he also knew to be true about the nation, writes Ann M. Ryan: that we are a flawed, fractured, haunted people, that our scars have the power to inspire our humanity.
Ghosts, heroes and Mark Twain
Cruelty and compassion, sin and forgiveness, cowardice and heroism, these are the conjoined twins that, for Mark Twain, structure the rhythms of American history, writes literature professor Ann M. Ryan.
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December 2, 2025 at 5:58 PM
What Mark Twain understood about himself is what he also knew to be true about the nation, writes Ann M. Ryan: that we are a flawed, fractured, haunted people, that our scars have the power to inspire our humanity.
What I’m trying to remember, in the blur of parenthood and work and change, is that while I can continue to try to record time as it passes me by, I still won’t have any control over it, writes Sara Shukla. spr.ly/633247WwMC
The gift of marking time
What I’m trying to remember, in the blur of parenthood and work and change, is that while I can continue to try to record time as it passes me by, I still won’t have any control over it, writes Sara Shukla.
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November 30, 2025 at 1:39 PM
What I’m trying to remember, in the blur of parenthood and work and change, is that while I can continue to try to record time as it passes me by, I still won’t have any control over it, writes Sara Shukla. spr.ly/633247WwMC
Jon M. Chu, who directed the movie adaptation of "Wicked," has said the story, at its core, is about friendship, and Sara Schruer agrees. Watching the relationship between the two witches develop offered me a new lens for my oldest friendship, she writes. spr.ly/633287Wwu4
On ‘Wicked,’ friendship and being changed for good
Jon M. Chu, who directed the movie adaptation of "Wicked" has said the story, at its core, is about friendship, and Sara Schruer agrees. Watching the relationship between the two witches develop offered me a new lens for my oldest friendship, she writes.
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November 28, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Jon M. Chu, who directed the movie adaptation of "Wicked," has said the story, at its core, is about friendship, and Sara Schruer agrees. Watching the relationship between the two witches develop offered me a new lens for my oldest friendship, she writes. spr.ly/633287Wwu4
As we searched for a way to continue our annual holiday ping-pong tournament virtually, writes Sharon Brody, my mom surprised us all. (From 2020) spr.ly/633207WwpI
Thanksgiving without ping-pong was unthinkable. Could my 88-year-old mother salvage it this year?
As we searched for a way to continue our annual holiday ping-pong tournament virtually, writes Sharon Brody, my mom surprised us all.
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November 27, 2025 at 3:12 PM
As we searched for a way to continue our annual holiday ping-pong tournament virtually, writes Sharon Brody, my mom surprised us all. (From 2020) spr.ly/633207WwpI
"The legacy of my great-grandmother and grandmother could tell me nothing about my own. Even if I wouldn’t be a perfect mom, maybe I could be a good one. Or at least a good enough one," writes Ruthie Ackerman. spr.ly/633217UxRd
There are so many ways to make a family
When Ruthie Ackerman first decided to use a donor egg to conceive, she worried there could be a lingering, lifelong wedge between her and her child, because they wouldn't share genetic material. But today Ruthie knows something she only understood intellectually before: Family isn’t biology or genetics. It’s devotion. It’s showing up. It’s caretaking.
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November 26, 2025 at 7:12 PM
"The legacy of my great-grandmother and grandmother could tell me nothing about my own. Even if I wouldn’t be a perfect mom, maybe I could be a good one. Or at least a good enough one," writes Ruthie Ackerman. spr.ly/633217UxRd
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. spr.ly/633297WwkU
This year and every year: Your favorite Thanksgiving traditions
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 this year.
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November 26, 2025 at 3:11 PM
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. spr.ly/633297WwkU
Ethan Gilsdorf's sister recently gave him their mother's beat-up copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Leafing through its stained pages, Mom and her cooking returned to me, he writes. (From May 2025) spr.ly/633227Wwlj
My mom, Julia Child and me
Ethan Gilsdorf's sister recently gave him their mother's beat-up copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking." I had not laid eyes on the book in decades — at least since my mother’s death in 1997, he writes. Leafing through its stained pages, Mom and her cooking returned to me.
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November 25, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Ethan Gilsdorf's sister recently gave him their mother's beat-up copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Leafing through its stained pages, Mom and her cooking returned to me, he writes. (From May 2025) spr.ly/633227Wwlj
In an essay in "The New Yorker" Tatiana Schlossberg says she has acute myeloid leukemia. spr.ly/633257WwHL
Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of JFK, says she has a rare terminal cancer
In an essay in <em>The New Yorker</em>, Tatiana Schlossberg says she has acute myeloid leukemia. She also criticized her relative, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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November 24, 2025 at 11:51 PM
In an essay in "The New Yorker" Tatiana Schlossberg says she has acute myeloid leukemia. spr.ly/633257WwHL
The country is in a terrible mood. According to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, two-thirds of Americans think the country is "pretty seriously off on the wrong track." Cognoscenti's editors call out some blue sky amidst the darkening clouds. spr.ly/633247WJ5p
Looking for blue sky
The country is in a terrible mood. According to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, two-thirds of Americans think the country is "pretty seriously off on the wrong track." Cog's editors call out some blue sky amidst the darkening clouds.
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November 24, 2025 at 5:26 PM
The country is in a terrible mood. According to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, two-thirds of Americans think the country is "pretty seriously off on the wrong track." Cognoscenti's editors call out some blue sky amidst the darkening clouds. spr.ly/633247WJ5p
"I’m not interested in pressuring women to carry their babies with Down syndrome to term. I am interested in providing a counter-narrative about Down syndrome." spr.ly/633227iF0p
What prenatal testing can't tell you
Having a child with Down syndrome has been an irrational, unprovable good, writes Amy Julia Becker. In a world of increasing mechanization, measurement and merit, people like my daughter can help return us to our humanity.
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November 23, 2025 at 1:02 PM
"I’m not interested in pressuring women to carry their babies with Down syndrome to term. I am interested in providing a counter-narrative about Down syndrome." spr.ly/633227iF0p
My brain is always on overdrive and listening to my “oldies” — loud, gritty, feel-it-all, flannel-soaked melodies — is like visiting an old friend, writes Katie Kurtzman. spr.ly/633247YEfq
Chasing the soundtrack of my youth — one concert at a time
Katie Kurtzman’s 40th birthday featured flannel, Dr. Martens and a ’90s cover band. It felt like finding something I didn’t know I needed, she writes. Since then, I’ve been chasing the high of that night by buying tickets for every beloved ’90s band performing within driving distance.
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November 21, 2025 at 8:31 PM
My brain is always on overdrive and listening to my “oldies” — loud, gritty, feel-it-all, flannel-soaked melodies — is like visiting an old friend, writes Katie Kurtzman. spr.ly/633247YEfq
"Our task is not to make vulnerable populations more adaptable to injustice, but to make the powerful more accountable for it," writes Jehane Sedky. spr.ly/633287YEQy
Resilience is no substitute for justice
The development sector's embrace of “resilience” redirected attention away from governments as duty bearers, writes Jehane Sedky, and made it easier for donors to fund a patchwork of NGO projects rather than invest in the public systems that genuine resilience requires.
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November 21, 2025 at 7:01 PM
"Our task is not to make vulnerable populations more adaptable to injustice, but to make the powerful more accountable for it," writes Jehane Sedky. spr.ly/633287YEQy
Having a child with Down syndrome has been an irrational, unprovable good, writes Amy Julia Becker. In a world of increasing mechanization, measurement and merit, people like my daughter can help return us to our humanity. spr.ly/633237iFvh
What prenatal testing can't tell you
Having a child with Down syndrome has been an irrational, unprovable good, writes Amy Julia Becker. In a world of increasing mechanization, measurement and merit, people like my daughter can help return us to our humanity.
spr.ly
November 20, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Having a child with Down syndrome has been an irrational, unprovable good, writes Amy Julia Becker. In a world of increasing mechanization, measurement and merit, people like my daughter can help return us to our humanity. spr.ly/633237iFvh
Reposted by Cognoscenti
Essay: Seasonal affective disorder was clinically recognized by psychiatrists in the mid-1980s, but the link between the seasons and our moods has been observed for millennia — one article I read on the topic referenced a Chinese text from 300 B.C., writes Cloe Axelson.
The winter blues are here again
Seasonal affective disorder was clinically recognized by psychiatrists in the mid-1980s, but the link between the seasons and our moods has been observed for millennia -- one article I read on the top...
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November 17, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Essay: Seasonal affective disorder was clinically recognized by psychiatrists in the mid-1980s, but the link between the seasons and our moods has been observed for millennia — one article I read on the topic referenced a Chinese text from 300 B.C., writes Cloe Axelson.
Reposted by Cognoscenti
Having a child with Down syndrome has been an irrational, unprovable good. In a world of increasing mechanization, measurement and merit, we need people like our daughter among us to return us to our humanity. Grateful to write for @cogwbur.bsky.social
www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...
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What prenatal testing can't tell you
Having a child with Down syndrome has been an irrational, unprovable good, writes Amy Julia Becker. In a world of increasing mechanization, measurement and merit, people like my daughter can help retu...
www.wbur.org
November 18, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Having a child with Down syndrome has been an irrational, unprovable good. In a world of increasing mechanization, measurement and merit, we need people like our daughter among us to return us to our humanity. Grateful to write for @cogwbur.bsky.social
www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...
www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...
Seasonal affective disorder was clinically recognized by psychiatrists in the mid-1980s, but the link between the seasons and our moods has been observed for millennia — one article I read on the topic referenced a Chinese text from 300 B.C., writes Cloe Axelson. spr.ly/633227eqRw
The winter blues are here again
Seasonal affective disorder was clinically recognized by psychiatrists in the mid-1980s, but the link between the seasons and our moods has been observed for millennia — one article I read on the topic referenced a Chinese text from 300 B.C., writes Cloe Axelson.
spr.ly
November 17, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Seasonal affective disorder was clinically recognized by psychiatrists in the mid-1980s, but the link between the seasons and our moods has been observed for millennia — one article I read on the topic referenced a Chinese text from 300 B.C., writes Cloe Axelson. spr.ly/633227eqRw