When joy unexpectedly finds us

Also: How should kids spend their summer? Not in AP classes [Donate ❤️]( [View in Browser](  July 9, 2023 Dear Cog reader, I celebrated July Fourth on the beach, where I spent a lot of time observing children explore the threshold between sea and shore. Watching them chase one wave out only to be chased back by the next coming in never gets old — at least when it’s not your kid, and you don’t have to enforce nap-time or reapply their sunscreen. I’m especially amused by the kids who spend hours rolling around and digging in the sand, unbothered by looking like a panko-crusted cutlet. It's a study in joy. My favorite beach activities involve a little less movement and a lot less sand. I also love that liminal space where the beach ends and the ocean begins. I carry my chair, a beer and a book down there, let my toes sink into the sand while I turn the pages. After I drag my chair home, an outdoor shower under the shade of our fig tree is one of summer’s great pleasures. That’s the kind of joy I expect at the beach. What I wasn’t expecting this week was to feel joyful doing chores. We hosted brunch for our entire block. The party prep necessary to feed 40 people gave me plenty of time to interact with every member of my family. My husband and I planned the menu. My mom and I went grocery shopping. My brother and I repaired a bench. We had long, meandering conversations while we worked, and laughed so hard my belly hurt. But joy can be unpredictable like that. Just ask Tracey Palmer, a 59-year-old woman with two grown daughters who wrote this week about [the pure joy of being a superfan of BTS](. Tracey originally set out to write about the K-pop boy band’s first official book, but ended up writing a story about how she went from skeptical to singing BTS songs at the top of her lungs in a language she doesn’t speak. Or ask Rich Barlow, whose piece about [the joy of driving an impractical sports car]( might inspire you to attend “[Miata Day]( at Brookline’s Larz Anderson Auto Museum later this morning. You could even ask Ellen Braaten, a child psychologist, who extolls [the joys of a summer job for teens]( As Tracey explains in her piece, these pleasures aren’t about escapism. They’re about life. I find it reassuring these stories can coexist with complicated conversations around [affirmative action]( and [free speech]( wildfires and war. And I’m proud that Cog makes space for them. Thanks for reading, Kate Neale Cooper Editor, Cognoscenti [Follow]( Support the news   Must Reads [I drove my Mazda Miata for 13 years. Then life intervenedÂ]( Life takes many of us from two-seaters, road trips and impromptu nights out to family cars, playdates and college funds. This is called growing up, writes Rich Barlow. It brings new pleasures and, yes, new burdens. [Read more.]( [I drove my Mazda Miata for 13 years. Then life intervenedÂ]( Life takes many of us from two-seaters, road trips and impromptu nights out to family cars, playdates and college funds. This is called growing up, writes Rich Barlow. It brings new pleasures and, yes, new burdens. [Read more.]( [The pure joy of being a grown-up BTS superfan]( It started with a dance video, and 2 1/2 years later this passion still consumes me, writes Tracey Palmer. I’m a 59-year-old professional with two grown daughters and a husband of 33 years, and I am 100% obsessed with everything about this K-pop boy band. [Read more.]( [The pure joy of being a grown-up BTS superfan]( It started with a dance video, and 2 1/2 years later this passion still consumes me, writes Tracey Palmer. I’m a 59-year-old professional with two grown daughters and a husband of 33 years, and I am 100% obsessed with everything about this K-pop boy band. [Read more.]( [How should kids spend their summer? Not in AP classes]( Many kids have too much pressure — the emotional stress parents and society put on children — and not enough responsibility, writes Ellen Braaten. [Read more.]( [How should kids spend their summer? Not in AP classes]( Many kids have too much pressure — the emotional stress parents and society put on children — and not enough responsibility, writes Ellen Braaten. [Read more.]( [The surprising win in the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling]( The court's decision is a regression, but all is not lost, writes Oren Sellstrom. Colleges and universities can still consider applicants' race. [Read more.]( [The surprising win in the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling]( The court's decision is a regression, but all is not lost, writes Oren Sellstrom. Colleges and universities can still consider applicants' race. [Read more.]( What We're Reading [C]hildren today have more say over what they eat and wear than kids have had through much of history — just very few opportunities for 'some degree of risk and personal responsibility away from adults,' as a trio of researchers recently put it. "[The Gravitational Pull of Supervising Kids All the Time]( The Atlantic. "Smith was in prison for the Battle of Stalingrad, and the liberation of Auschwitz. He was in custody during Elvis’s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, the opening of the first McDonald’s franchise, the wars in both Korea and Vietnam, and the moon landing. ... Almost everyone he knew before he went away is dead." "[Frank Smith was locked up for eight decades. At 98, what would it mean to be free?]( The Boston Globe. "People assume that going backward is impossible, but why? There’s little evidence that all this extra consumption has made us particularly satisfied, and more than a sneaking suspicion that it’s done the opposite — social scientists estimate that Britons were at their most content in 1957, and even before the pandemic only a third of Americans said that they were happy, according to one survey." "[To Save the Planet, Should We Really Be Moving Slower?]( The New Yorker. "Exactly a year after my obsession began, I was on a plane from Boston to Los Angeles." — Tracey Palmer, "[The pure joy of being a grown-up BTS superfan]( ICYMI [The best beach books have 5 things in common]( I’m not a snob about books, writes Laura McTaggart. But I do have standards, and even my beach reads must meet them. In fact, I have even higher standards for my beach reads, because everything about a summer reading experience should be idyllic. [Read more.]( [The best beach books have 5 things in common]( I’m not a snob about books, writes Laura McTaggart. But I do have standards, and even my beach reads must meet them. In fact, I have even higher standards for my beach reads, because everything about a summer reading experience should be idyllic. [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 © 2023 WBUR-FM, All rights reserved.