🥳 We’re turning 10!

Also: How art reminds me illness is part of our shared landscape [View in browser](    [❤️]( October 2, 2022 Dear Cog reader, It probably won’t be surprising to learn that your Cognoscenti editors are fans of the writer George Saunders. Early in the COVID pandemic, on the eve of so many cataclysmic changes in how we understand and experience “normal,” he wrote a letter to his students that [I love](. Saunders told them: “It’s only when we expect solidity — non-change — that we get taken by surprise. (And we always expect solidity, no matter how well we know better.)” My mom’s been saying so forever: “The only constant is change, Cloe.” In the midst of all the upheaval and uncertainty of the last few years, we have a happy certitude to share: Cognoscenti is turning 10, and we’re excited to celebrate. From now until the end of the year, we’ll be sharing retrospective notes ([like this one]( and featuring special guests in our newsletter. We’re also producing several essays for WBUR’s Morning Edition and organizing a special event in October at [CitySpace](. There is so much more to come. In preparation for all this, we’ve been taking ourselves on a little tour of our own archives. The work we’ve published in this last decade – some 4,700 pieces, by 1,100 authors – is, in part, a living record of how we grapple with the constant of change. It’s how we’ve wrestled with the non-solidity of the human experience in community, politics, medicine, parenting, love, health … even baseball. (Funny enough: our [very first essay]( published July 5, 2012, began: “Baseball is our house religion.”) We’ve evolved over the years, of course. But a decade on, Cog has arrived at a place that feels like an inflection point. At our very best, the work we publish is deeply personal, but also adds perspective and depth to important news stories. We scout for pieces that are hopeful, that seek out beauty in all its many forms, and maybe, most importantly, help our readers and listeners feel a sense of connection to one another. Cog has seen a lot in the last 10 years. We’ve shared the voices of women, men, parents, immigrants, politicians, teachers, climate activists, journalists, sons, daughters, and Red Sox fans. We’ve published stories of illness and death, love and connection, hope and despair. (And plenty on Trump and the T and Boston winters, too.) I hope you’ll follow along as we revisit some of our favorites. And don’t worry – even as we’re marking our double-digit birthday, we’ll continue to publish new essays and radio pieces each week. At Cog, we sometimes think of ourselves as a beating heart amidst a din of difficult news. We hope you feel that way too. Thank you for reading, Cloe Axelson Editor, Cognoscenti [Follow]( Support the news   Must Reads [Celebrating 10 years of Cognoscenti]( Over the next few months, we’ll be looking back on a decade of essays and radio commentaries, from parents and immigrants, doctors and teachers, on topics as varied as illness and death, love and connection, hope and despair. Come celebrate with us. [Read more.]( [Celebrating 10 years of Cognoscenti]( Over the next few months, we’ll be looking back on a decade of essays and radio commentaries, from parents and immigrants, doctors and teachers, on topics as varied as illness and death, love and connection, hope and despair. Come celebrate with us. [Read more.]( [Art reminds me that illness is part of our shared landscape]( Illness is a part of every life, in one form or another, writes Jodie Noel Vinson. We just have to be open to seeing it. [Read more.]( [Art reminds me that illness is part of our shared landscape]( Illness is a part of every life, in one form or another, writes Jodie Noel Vinson. We just have to be open to seeing it. [Read more.]( [How do we fathom the Holocaust's devastation? One name at a time]( Ken Burns’ new documentary reaffirmed my responsibility to humanize the incomprehensible number of 6 million murdered, writes Karen Kirsten, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. [Read more.]( [How do we fathom the Holocaust's devastation? One name at a time]( Ken Burns’ new documentary reaffirmed my responsibility to humanize the incomprehensible number of 6 million murdered, writes Karen Kirsten, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. [Read more.]( [NASA crashed into an asteroid! Nerds like me are in heaven]( We've been dreaming about blasting space rocks from the sky for decades, writes Ethan Gilsdorf. Sci-fi and reality have truly collided. [Read more.]( [NASA crashed into an asteroid! Nerds like me are in heaven]( We've been dreaming about blasting space rocks from the sky for decades, writes Ethan Gilsdorf. Sci-fi and reality have truly collided. [Read more.]( [I've loved driving for 76 years, but it's time for my 'moving kingdom' to leave the road]( Pat Lowery Collins was 14 when she got her driver’s license, so she could drive herself to acting jobs in Hollywood's radio studios. Many years — and many cars — later, she writes about the choice to hang up her keys. [Read more.]( [I've loved driving for 76 years, but it's time for my 'moving kingdom' to leave the road]( Pat Lowery Collins was 14 when she got her driver’s license, so she could drive herself to acting jobs in Hollywood's radio studios. Many years — and many cars — later, she writes about the choice to hang up her keys. [Read more.]( What We're Reading "In furiously racing to rebuild on this same foundation, America sets itself up to collapse once more." "[The Pandemic’s Legacy Is Already Clear]( The Atlantic. "For trans children, the stakes of those conversations — whether held in statehouses or in living rooms — are literally life and death." "[What’s so scary about a transgender child?]( Vox. "[T]he court is marching on toward fresh territory, taking on race, gay rights and the fundamental structures of democracy — this even as the shock waves of the abortion ruling reverberate." "[You thought the Supreme Court’s last term was bad? Brace yourself.]( The Washington Post. "[I]t isn’t the media’s job to match tough stories on one president to those on another." — Karen List, "[Good journalism doesn't mean covering Biden and Trump equally]( ICYMI [How I became the matriarch of my Cuban family in New England]( The resilient women before me bridged two cultures and two countries, protecting the mother tongue with ferocity, writes Ana Hebra Flaster. Now it's my turn. [Read more.]( [How I became the matriarch of my Cuban family in New England]( The resilient women before me bridged two cultures and two countries, protecting the mother tongue with ferocity, writes Ana Hebra Flaster. Now it's my turn. [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? 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