Imagining A Friendlier Boston. We Can Do It

Plus: The end of the GOP? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  [View in Browser]( | [Donate [WBUR]]( [WBUR](  [WBUR]( January 5, 2020 Dear Cog reader, Our contributor, Laura Everett, is an avid bike commuter in Boston. (Her Twitter feed is [full of pictures]( of our fair city from the perch of her two wheels.) This week she wrote that one of her intentions in 2020 is to say "hello" more to strangers on the street. On a trip to North Carolina last year, Everett noticed the ubiquitous friendly banter on the sidewalks. “In the 30 minutes I wandered their streets,” [she writes]( “more strangers spoke to me than had in the last 11 months in Boston.” Response to this piece was fast and furious. Some people echoed Everett’s call for a friendlier Boston: “Something as simple as a smile and a ‘How are you?’ can turn a day around,” wrote one reader. Others preferred many New Englanders’ taciturn aloofness: “I moved from Massachusetts to Colorado and I was horrified by all the chit chat.” Whatever your stance on saying, “hey,” this nugget of Everett’s argument will stay with us: “Acknowledgment in public is more than just friendliness, it’s an affirmation of worth.” Also this week: Anita Diamant [reflects]( on her 50th high school reunion, Rich Barlow [forecasts]( the end of the modern Republican Party and Sarah Ruth Bates [examines]( the ethical conundrums of gene editing. Happy new year! — Cloe Axelson Co-editor, Cognoscenti newsletters@wbur.org Must Reads url[You Can Say 'Hello' On The Street, Boston. We'd All Be Better For It]( I am trying to unlearn all the icy tendencies I’ve developed over years in New England, writes Laura Everett. The only way I know to “love thy neighbor” is to start by acknowledging that your neighbor exists.   #%23%23[Twitter](  #%23%23[Facebook](    [The End Of The Grand Old Party]( The Lincoln Project is too little, too late, writes Rich Barlow. Nothing can save the modern Republican Party. [Rewriting Our Genes Is Easier Than Ever. That Doesn't Mean We Should Do It]( Gene-editing technologies have huge potential to alleviate human suffering, writes Sarah Ruth Bates. But, like all very powerful technologies, they also carry enormous risks if used improperly.  [Taking Measure Of My Life, 50 Years Since High School]( In reflecting on the girl I was and the women I've become, writes Anita Diamant, I found plenty of changes and even more consistencies. Bookmarks “You will recall that the race began with well over 20 candidates, forcing the party to hold two-night debates. The rules were designed to winnow the field, and they did the job — perhaps all too well. Diversity is among the collateral damage.” (“[Democrats Are Starting To Look Like A ‘Whites Only’ Party]( The Washington Post) “On one of these fateful days Jacobs saw ‘a mother lead seven children to the auction-block. She knew that some of them would be taken from her; but they took all.’ The slave trader who took the children wouldn’t tell her where he was taking them because it depended on where he could get the ‘highest price.’ Jacobs said she would never forget the mother crying out, ‘Gone! All gone! Why don’t God kill me?’ ” ('[The Slaves Dread New Year's Day The Worst': The Grim History Of January 1]( Time) “Ms. Sacks wanted to learn about wealth creation, but ‘the only videos that were available to me to learn about these subjects were these 12-minute-long, unedited disasters of men with no charisma and no point of view,’ she said. ‘They were literally writing on whiteboards with their back to the camera. It was so bad and so boring. And it was all men.’” (“[Smashing The Finance Patriarchy With Memes]( The New York Times) “ I am devoted to Boston. But we have a chip on our shoulders, and most often, a scowl on our faces. — Anita Diamant, "[You Can Say 'Hello' On The Street, Boston. We'd All Be Better For It]( In Case You Missed It [Cognoscenti's Top 21 Stories In 2019]( Cog published nearly 450 pieces this year. Here are the pieces that attracted the most readers, and took up the most space in our hearts and brains.       If you’d like to write for Cognoscenti, send your submission, pasted into your email and not as an attachment, to opinion@wbur.org. Please tell us in one line what the piece is about, and please tell us in one line who you are. 😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up [here](. 📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org 📨 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. 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