The magic of our writers

Also: Your college kids will be fine [Donate ❤️]( [View in Browser](  August 20, 2023 Dear Cog reader, The soul of Cognoscenti lives in our writers. They bring us their stories, their expertise, their visions and, sometimes, glimpses of a world we might otherwise never see. [Frederick Hewett]( one of our regulars, often transports us through his environmental writing. He’s taken us rowing on the Charles, inside labs hoping to resurrect the wooly mammoth and back in time to the raging dustbowl of the 1930s. Fred, who has written more than 80 commentaries for Cog since 2016, is passionate about protecting our Earth. It's a love borne from growing up on the Maine coast and hiking in the White Mountains. He and his wife were even married at Walden Pond — in the middle of winter. Fred wrote last week about the [devastation on Maui]( after the wildfires that burned more than 3,000 acres, the deadliest in more than a century in the U.S. He showed us how human activities from 19th-century plantations degraded the island’s ecosystem and set the stage for a climate-induced tragedy. Fred, a software engineer who retired early, brings a strong sense of knowing to his pieces. For every word he writes, he’s read hundreds more on the topic. His interests are eclectic. Recently, he’s been researching John Coltrane. Next spring, he’s planning to lead a seminar on Coltrane’s role in jazz at Harvard’s Institute for Learning in Retirement. One of my favorite Fred essays was probably his most personal. He wrote a meditation about [rowing on the Charles River at dawn]( clouds piled in “billows of steel and silver,” a blue heron fishing along the shore. It’s an aching piece about savoring the world’s beauty even as you grieve its eventual disappearance. To see his essay come to life, watch the related video, “[When Climate Change Comes Home]( (which won a regional Murrow Award). “We need to talk about climate change as an opportunity to do something good in the world,” he says in the video. “ ... What we have is precious and it’s also vulnerable.” We’re grateful for our writers and the magic they create for Cog. We hope they challenge you to think: about our neighbors, our country and our planet. As always, thanks for reading. Kathleen Burge Editor [Follow]( Support the news   Must Reads [One by one, our five kids finished school on their own terms. Now, we’re all finding our way]( Each of our children has chosen a different path, moved at their own pace and, in the process, found themselves, writes Linda Button. And for the first time in 10 years, Button and her partner won't be dropping off a kid at college, but she has advice for those who will. [Read more.]( [One by one, our five kids finished school on their own terms. Now, we’re all finding our way]( Each of our children has chosen a different path, moved at their own pace and, in the process, found themselves, writes Linda Button. And for the first time in 10 years, Button and her partner won't be dropping off a kid at college, but she has advice for those who will. [Read more.]( [Don’t underestimate the kids who spend their summers in theater camp]( When you’re a kid, or a teenager, it can often feel like adults aren’t taking you seriously. Theater camp wasn’t like that, writes Amy Sokolow. We all had jobs to do, and we stepped up to the challenge. [Read more.]( [Don’t underestimate the kids who spend their summers in theater camp]( When you’re a kid, or a teenager, it can often feel like adults aren’t taking you seriously. Theater camp wasn’t like that, writes Amy Sokolow. We all had jobs to do, and we stepped up to the challenge. [Read more.]( [When we damage ecosystems like Maui’s, we give climate change more power to destroy]( The island was primed for a climate-induced catastrophe, partly because of myopic disruptions of its environment over the past 150 years, writes Frederick Hewett. [Read more.]( [When we damage ecosystems like Maui’s, we give climate change more power to destroy]( The island was primed for a climate-induced catastrophe, partly because of myopic disruptions of its environment over the past 150 years, writes Frederick Hewett. [Read more.]( [Why the Hollywood strike matters to all of us]( Generative artificial intelligence is an existential labor problem, writes Ethan Marcotte, the author of "You Deserve a Tech Union." The labor strike in Hollywood has broad implications for Silicon Valley and beyond. [Read more.]( [Why the Hollywood strike matters to all of us]( Generative artificial intelligence is an existential labor problem, writes Ethan Marcotte, the author of "You Deserve a Tech Union." The labor strike in Hollywood has broad implications for Silicon Valley and beyond. [Read more.]( [When we teach Black history, facts matter — and so does narrative]( Florida's new standards for teaching slavery are appalling, writes Caty Taborda. They're dangerous, too, because they're part of a broader racist narrative. [Read more.]( [When we teach Black history, facts matter — and so does narrative]( Florida's new standards for teaching slavery are appalling, writes Caty Taborda. They're dangerous, too, because they're part of a broader racist narrative. [Read more.]( What We're Reading "Now many Americans find themselves stuck in states that are enacting conservative policies they do not support, but where real estate is cheap." "[Right Price, Wrong Politics]( The Atlantic. "In effect, Trump is on trial in D.C. for trying to break democracy and, in Fulton County, Georgia, for trying to set aside Black votes. ... Smith reminds us what the country nearly lost, and Willis recalls what Black voters have almost never won." "[Trump’s Last Two Indictments Complement Each Other Perfectly]( Slate. "Forcing millions of people into the same shared conversation is unnatural, requiring aggressive curation that in turn leads to the type of supercharged engagement that seems to leave everyone upset and exhausted." "[We Don't Need a New Twitter]( The New Yorker. "Behind the character shoes, pasted-on smiles and feather boas are some pretty badass kids." — Amy Sokolow, "[Don’t underestimate the kids who spend their summers in theater camp]( ICYMI [I returned to medicine after my opioid addiction. What I learned can help patients — and other physicians]( My story is a cautionary tale, writes Peter Grinspoon. If we don’t address burnout and moral injury soon, we won't have enough doctors left; and those who remain won't be mentally healthy, available or useful. [Read more.]( [I returned to medicine after my opioid addiction. What I learned can help patients — and other physicians]( My story is a cautionary tale, writes Peter Grinspoon. If we don’t address burnout and moral injury soon, we won't have enough doctors left; and those who remain won't be mentally healthy, available or useful. [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? 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