Saying A Long-Distance Goodbye To My Grandmother

Also: These Young People Wrote Their Own Stories ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  [View in Browser]( | [Donate [WBUR]]( [WBUR](  [WBUR]( February 28, 2021 Dear Cog Readers, Last year, as Jodie Noel Vinson’s grandmother began to ease toward death in her Iowa farmhouse, the pandemic kept Jodie on the East Coast. Instead, Jodie spoke to her grandmother on FaceTime, describing the traits they shared, thanking her and saying goodbye. Later, Jodie realized it hadn’t mattered that she couldn’t be in the room with her grandmother. Her grandmother, eyes closed, was only taking in voices. “As our minds grapple with ways to be with each other across unfathomable distances, my last call to my grandmother reminds me that, just as there is technology to carry our voices across the spaces between us, there are miraculous and mysterious ways to be present with those we love,” [Jodie writes](. Also this week: [Julie Wittes Schlack]( writes about the inspiration of working with young people writing their college essays. [Dr. Sushrut Jangi]( describes comforting COVID patients in their own languages. [Jeffrey M. Berry]( probes why Republican Governor Charlie Baker remains so popular in a blue state. And in the wake of Tiger Woods’s crash, [Peter May]( remembers a long-ago golf great who returned to play after a terrible car accident. — Kathleen Burge and Cloe Axelson Cognoscenti editors newsletters@wbur.org Must Reads url['What Mattered Was That I Had Been Present': Saying A Long-Distance Goodbye To My Grandmother]( As our minds grapple with ways to be with each other across unfathomable distances, writes Jodie Noel Vinson, there are miraculous and mysterious ways to be present with those we love. [Read more](.   #%23%23[Twitter](  #%23%23[Facebook](    [These Young People Wrote More Than College Essays. They Wrote Their Own Stories]( Julie Wittes Schlack volunteers with 826 Boston's College Essay Bootcamp. In the dark days of the pandemic and the pre- and post-2020 election vitriol, these kids have been an unfailing source of inspiration, she writes. [Read more](. [Charlie Baker Has Made Plenty Of Mistakes. Why Is He Still So Popular?]( Despite the governor's shortcomings -- most recently, the rollout of the COVID vaccine -- none of the state's highest profile Democrats show any interest in challenging him in 2022, writes Jeffrey M. Berry. [Read more](.  Support the news ['The Hospital Is A Lonely Place': Comforting COVID Patients In Their Own Language]( The virus is good at separating us, writes Sushrut Jangi. But we have been saying, "Take a deep breath," in every possible language, hoping that our words might reach each other. [Read more](. [I Feel Lucky I Got The Vaccine Early. But Now I'm Angry]( If we cannot improve the vaccination roll-out, writes Dr. Will Spears, we passively choose some lives over others. [Read more](. [Why Tiger Woods Will Have A Hard Time Matching Golf’s Original Comeback Kid, Ben Hogan]( Hogan's name has been trending after Woods's horrible car accident this week. But Hogan's return to golf -- from a near-death experience to win seven majors -- will be tough to match, writes Peter May. [Read more](. What We're Reading "It wasn't easy — I felt like I had lost not only my job but my social standing. But there isn't much time to sulk or stew when you have little kids, and at some level I wanted to model for my children what a strong woman looks like, whether she is a newspaper editor or a stay-at-home mom ..." (The Boston Globe, "[I was proud of my job. My kids were, too. What would I do when I lost it?]( "'Electrify everything' is a rallying cry for the climate movement ... But the long, cold blackouts in Texas raise the question of whether there are other ways, besides electrification, to make home cooking and heating safer for humans and the climate." (Grist, "[After the Texas freeze, people are asking: Is electrifying buildings risky?]( "[T]he steady drumbeat of good news about the vaccines has been met with a chorus of relentless pessimism ... This pessimism is sapping people of energy to get through the winter, and the rest of this pandemic." (The Atlantic, "[5 Pandemic Mistakes We Keep Repeating]( “ 'I'm scared,' she told me, 'that my daughter's going to come home and die.' — Sushrut Jangi, "[']( Hospital Is A Lonely Place': Comforting COVID Patients In Their Own Language]( ICYMI [‘Straddling The Fault Lines Of Work, Family And Sanity’: How We Can Keep Women At Work]( On my worst day, writes Jane Swift, I embraced my own experience and did something I wouldn’t have done 20 years – or maybe even 20 days – ago.       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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