How to forget you’re in the middle of a city

Also: The Juneteenth holiday revises history [View in browser](    [❤️]( June 19, 2022 Dear Cog reader, Many of my colleagues in WBUR’s newsroom are still working mostly from home. I am too. But I have been to the station a couple of times in the last two weeks — it’s fun to chat with coworkers and buy lunch (oh, how I’ve missed you, Life Alive "forbidden kale" salad) — but it’s also nothing like the bustling newsroom I remember from before the pandemic. Even so, it’s been hard to not pick up on an acute sense of anticipation among my colleagues this week, as we await several potentially landmark Supreme Court opinions, on abortion and gun control in particular, that could transform American life. We’ve also been paying close attention to the Jan. 6 hearings, as the bi-partisan committee shares what they’ve learned about Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn a democratic election and the intense campaign to enlist Mike Pence in that effort. All of this news will undoubtedly continue to unfurl. But we’re taking a step back from all of it this week. First up: Miles Howard writes about a [new 25-mile hiking trail in Boston]( that connects many of the city’s green spaces and urban woodlands. The origin story goes something like this: After a trip to San Francisco, during which Miles hiked the city’s 17-mile Crosstown Trail, it occurred to him that Boston could do something similar. He spent much of this spring pouring over GoogleEarth and AllTrails (a hiking app), trying to figure out how to connect some 25 miles of trails in a single route. Then he went out to actually hike the thing — several times — to make sure what he saw on the maps translated to the reality on the ground. The result is a free online resource, launched this week, called the [Walking City Trail](. Miles writes about how he wants to “guide people through the urban green spaces that are lush and wild enough to make you [forget that you’re in the middle of a city]( and I can attest that he has done so. I went on a hike with Miles last week in Mission Hill. Soon, we’ll share a companion radio story to his essay, as well as more views from the trail.  Second: We have a [personal reflection]( from Harvey Young, dean of the College of Fine Arts at Boston University, to mark Juneteenth on Sunday. He recalls how fun the holiday was growing up, but that he also noticed it wasn’t celebrated universally. In his telling, it sort of felt like July Fourth, except “grocery stores didn’t have Juneteenth sales. ‘Uncle Sam’ was nowhere to be seen. Only ‘urban’ radio mentioned the holiday,” he writes. Young reminds us that Juneteenth doesn’t necessarily recognize a significant historic event, like President Lincoln's emancipation speech. “It remembers the occasion in which enslaved African Americans in a Confederate state learned of their emancipation, two years after Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation.” That itself, he notes, is a sign of oppression. A very happy Father’s Day to all who are celebrating today. P.S.— If you, like me, were disappointed to see the Celtics go down, take heart. Danny Hajjar [reminds us that the Cs were all but counted out last January](. We can be proud of how they fought their way back. And as Laura Everett [wrote earlier this week,]( this team represents "the best of Boston." Only four months ‘til the next NBA season tips off! Cloe Axelson Editor, Cognoscenti [Follow]( Support the news   Must Reads [How the Juneteenth holiday revises history]( There’s a reason it took two years for some enslaved African Americans to learn of their emancipation,writes Harvey Young. [Read more.]( [How the Juneteenth holiday revises history]( There’s a reason it took two years for some enslaved African Americans to learn of their emancipation,writes Harvey Young. [Read more.]( [How to hike through 25 miles of green space in Boston]( During the first pandemic winter, Miles Howard did a lot of walking around Boston. The experience inspired him to plot a 25-mile urban trail — the Walking City Trail — that connects many of the city's green spaces. [Read more.]( [How to hike through 25 miles of green space in Boston]( During the first pandemic winter, Miles Howard did a lot of walking around Boston. The experience inspired him to plot a 25-mile urban trail — the Walking City Trail — that connects many of the city's green spaces. [Read more.]( [There's room for all of us on the Celtics bandwagon]( These Celtics are the best of Boston: communal, bold, brave, and diverse, writes Rev. Laura Everett. Win or lose, it’s been a great ride. [Read more.]( [There's room for all of us on the Celtics bandwagon]( These Celtics are the best of Boston: communal, bold, brave, and diverse, writes Rev. Laura Everett. Win or lose, it’s been a great ride. [Read more.]( [How to live with uncertainty]( The pandemic isn't the only time that we will struggle with our inability to feel secure about our future, writes Smith College President Kathleen McCartney. [Read more.]( [How to live with uncertainty]( The pandemic isn't the only time that we will struggle with our inability to feel secure about our future, writes Smith College President Kathleen McCartney. [Read more.]( [I will never stop fighting for Afghan women]( The Taliban made me a refugee twice in my life, but many other Afghan women are not as lucky, writes Humaira Rasuli. They continue their struggle for women’s rights in the face of brutal oppression and the Taliban’s campaign to erase women from society. [Read more.]( [I will never stop fighting for Afghan women]( The Taliban made me a refugee twice in my life, but many other Afghan women are not as lucky, writes Humaira Rasuli. They continue their struggle for women’s rights in the face of brutal oppression and the Taliban’s campaign to erase women from society. [Read more.]( What We're Reading "Before, I’d been in denial about my gender and my body dysmorphia, but boxing every day forced me to be more physically present than ever." "[I found comfort in my body in a place I didn’t expect: The boxing gym]( The Washington Post. "The reality of long Covid is enough for me as a parent to want to protect my children from getting Covid in first place." "[Why I’ll be vaccinating my 2-year-old for Covid-19 as soon as it’s possible]( CNN. "My journalism degree was more expensive than my wealthier classmates’ degrees because I couldn’t afford to pay in cash." "[Loans got me into journalism. Student debt pushed me out.]( MLK50. "Whenever we face our own mortality, we seek to know the unknowable." — Kathleen McCartney, "[How to live with uncertainty]( ICYMI ['Night is now falling': This is what dying looks like]( About a year after her cancer diagnosis, Grace Segran decided to stop treating the disease. Her hope is to get back to the business of living — for at a limited time at least, until the cancer takes over. [Read more.]( ['Night is now falling': This is what dying looks like]( About a year after her cancer diagnosis, Grace Segran decided to stop treating the disease. Her hope is to get back to the business of living — for at a limited time at least, until the cancer takes over. [Read more.]( 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. [Check out all of our newsletter offerings.]( Support the news     Want to change how you receive these emails? Stop getting this newsletter by [updating your preferences.](  I don't want to hear from WBUR anymore. Unsubscribe from all WBUR editorial newsletters [here.](  Interested in learning more about corporate sponsorship? [Click here.]( Copyright © 2022 WBUR-FM, All rights reserved.