A path out of the darkness

Also: Why we’ll need humility to return to the moon [View in browser](    [❤️]( November 20, 2022 Dear Cog reader, I’m going to hand the pen this week to my colleague Sara Shukla. You may know Sara’s name from the essays she’s written for Cog in the last few years – about her husband, an emergency department physician, who [lived on a boat]( for several weeks early on in the pandemic; about her lifelong love of [surfing](. These days, Sara works with Cog as an editor, and she recruited and edited a piece about the mass shooting earlier this week at the University of Virginia, a community she knows well. Here’s Sara: When the unthinkable happens over, and over, and over again, we can find ourselves feeling numb – horrifically, but maybe understandably. Then it hits a place you’ll always call home. I often say a part of my heart still lives in Charlottesville. It’s where I attended undergrad and grad school; where I met my husband; where my family and friends live and work and go to school. It’s also where I met Caitlin Terry, back when she was 12, and I was 21. We were part of a mentoring program that paired middle school girls with undergraduate women, and we’ve been lucky to stay in each other’s lives. She’s known my kids since they were babies, and I got to watch her grow up, go to UVA herself, get married. Caitlin is a high school history teacher now. I asked if she’d be up for writing about how she’s moving through this latest iteration of grief, as a lifelong “wahoo” and as an educator. And as always, Caitlin taught me something. She quotes historian Danièle Cybulskie: “As long as there is life, there is hope that things will get better, and when we focus on that hope, we are already on the path out of the darkness.” My heart’s been back in C’ville all week as I watched the UVA community mourn and honor Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry -- with light in the darkness. Cloe here again. You can read Caitlin's full essay [here](. Also, this newsletter will be taking the next week off for the holiday weekend, but we’ll be back in your inboxes on Sunday, Dec. 4. P.S.— WBUR has a seasonal newsletter full of joyful tidbits. It’s called the “Pick Me Up” and our colleagues have been busy stockpiling all sorts of fun things designed to make you smile. It kicks off tomorrow. You can sign up [here](. Cloe Axelson Senior Editor, Cognoscenti [Follow]( Sara Shukla Editor, Cognoscenti [Follow]( Support the news   Must Reads [At UVA, choosing to believe in a 'path out of the darkness']( These moments of gun violence and school shootings defined my adolescence, and I’m thinking about them as I park my car in the faculty parking lot at the high school where I now teach, writes Caitlin Terry. [Read more.]( [At UVA, choosing to believe in a 'path out of the darkness']( These moments of gun violence and school shootings defined my adolescence, and I’m thinking about them as I park my car in the faculty parking lot at the high school where I now teach, writes Caitlin Terry. [Read more.]( [The unbearable whiteness of being]( I’m raising my sons to be proud of their Blackness, writes John Vercher. But I also know that they’ll benefit from their lighter skin. [Read more.]( [The unbearable whiteness of being]( I’m raising my sons to be proud of their Blackness, writes John Vercher. But I also know that they’ll benefit from their lighter skin. [Read more.]( [Artemis finally launched. But we’ll need humility to return to the moon]( Despite 50 years of technological advance, going to the moon is still hard, writes Joelle Renstrom. [Read more.]( [Artemis finally launched. But we’ll need humility to return to the moon]( Despite 50 years of technological advance, going to the moon is still hard, writes Joelle Renstrom. [Read more.]( [Disdain won’t get us far with election deniers]( Celebrating the politicians who concede their losses in the American democratic tradition, should not preclude curiosity about why so many people have lost faith in our electoral system. [Read more.]( [Disdain won’t get us far with election deniers]( Celebrating the politicians who concede their losses in the American democratic tradition, should not preclude curiosity about why so many people have lost faith in our electoral system. [Read more.]( [The biggest lesson Democrats should take from the midterms]( It’s true the red wave was more of a ripple, but progressives should be wary of overreach. [Read more.]( [The biggest lesson Democrats should take from the midterms]( It’s true the red wave was more of a ripple, but progressives should be wary of overreach. [Read more.]( What We're Reading "The problem is that we were applying this old standard to a candidate who was exploiting it for his own purposes — while seeking to undermine democracy itself." "[If Trump Runs Again, Do Not Cover Him the Same Way: A Journalist’s Manifesto]( The Washington Post. "I think I’m not alone, that a lot of our roads these days can veer into the uneven without much warning." "[How to get to joy this holiday season]( CNN. "The very best thing about your life is a short stage in someone else’s story. And it is enough." "[Michael Gerson: Saying goodbye to my child, the youngster]( The Washington Post. "We can and should ... engage with those who are skeptical about election results." — Robert C. Bordone and Sarah Doktori, "[Disdain won’t get us far with election deniers]( ICYMI ['You don’t have to be like everyone else,' I tell my daughter. I hope she can believe me]( My daughter, John Fetterman and other disabled people are not asking for accommodation, writes Aimee Seiff Christian. They are asking for what everyone wants. [Read more.]( ['You don’t have to be like everyone else,' I tell my daughter. I hope she can believe me]( My daughter, John Fetterman and other disabled people are not asking for accommodation, writes Aimee Seiff Christian. They are asking for what everyone wants. [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.