We wrote my children's names in the sand

Also: There’s no one way to be a Boston sports fan [Donate ❤️]( [View in Browser](  September 17, 2023 Dear Cog reader, A couple of months ago, my colleagues at WBUR asked if I’d be willing to write an essay about being a sports fan in Boston. Of course, I said yes. Then I sat down to write the thing. Immediately, I felt overwhelmed by the task of trying to capture what is, for many, an elemental part of being a Bostonian. Around the time I was starting to write, I had a conversation with a friend of a friend who happened to be an award-winning sports columnist for a newspaper in North Carolina. He was a brilliant writer and reporter – the sort of talent who could’ve covered any beat. But as a young journalist, sports captured his imagination. When I asked what about it drew him in, his answer was both surprising and completely obvious: the human dramas that make sport compelling – the last-second heroics, the heartbreak of a loss, the exhilaration of victory – play out right in front of you. It’s the opposite of other subjects, like politics, where what you see is almost never, ever the whole story. With that insight in mind, I sat down to write. And I realized pretty quickly that there’s no singular way to be a Boston sports fan – you can love it for the history or the camaraderie or the mysticism. Turns out, [I love sports in Boston for the memories]( – for how certain games have (unwittingly) become mile markers in my adult life. When I start writing a piece, I don’t always know how it will end. Sport is similar: When a game begins we don’t know how it will end, but the hope of what might happen lures us in. I can’t let you go without mentioning Colin Campbell’s piece this week. His story may be familiar to you: On June 12, 2019, a drunk and high driver going 90 mph T-boned his family’s car. Campbell and his wife, Gail Lerner, survived. Their children, Ruby (age 17) and Hart (age 14), did not. Colin’s ability to write about his loss is stunning. His ability to articulate the [evolution of his grief]( from solitary process to communal activity, is incredibly generous. Any attempt on my part to synthesize would cheapen the grace and art of his words. So, please. Just read it. P.S.— This week our newsroom colleagues unveiled a big project they’ve been working on for quite a while: [The Field Guide to Boston](. Whether you’re a native or a newbie, this collection of guides is designed to help you navigate the city and uncover all the gems that make Boston so special (the sports included). After all, we’re out in the field, getting the scoop from your neighbor, your mayor and even your mail carrier. Every single day. Cog will be pitching in, too, with essays about this remarkable place we call home in the coming weeks and months. We hope you love it as much as we love this city. Cloe Axelson Senior Editor, Cognoscenti [Follow]( Support the news   Must Reads [We spelled my children’s names in the sand]( Colin Campbell's children were killed by a drunk and high driver. Three months later, he celebrated his 50th birthday. Ruby and Hart’s deaths had rendered the past 50 years of my life meaningless, he writes. He asks: How was I going to get through my birthday? How could I possibly celebrate? [Read more.]( [We spelled my children’s names in the sand]( Colin Campbell's children were killed by a drunk and high driver. Three months later, he celebrated his 50th birthday. Ruby and Hart’s deaths had rendered the past 50 years of my life meaningless, he writes. He asks: How was I going to get through my birthday? How could I possibly celebrate? [Read more.]( [‘Everything will change’ — except the music we fall in love with when we’re young]( Sara Schreur discovered Death Cab for Cutie when she was 13 -- right when she needed them. Watching them perform the same album 20 years later, she writes, in the sea of 5,000 swaying and singing bodies, she doubts she was the only one navigating a complex nostalgia. [Read more.]( [‘Everything will change’ — except the music we fall in love with when we’re young]( Sara Schreur discovered Death Cab for Cutie when she was 13 -- right when she needed them. Watching them perform the same album 20 years later, she writes, in the sea of 5,000 swaying and singing bodies, she doubts she was the only one navigating a complex nostalgia. [Read more.]( [A letter, a flag, a Spider Man keychain: the relics first-year college students carry from home]( In a small seminar about the lived experience of mental illness, psychiatrist Nancy Rappaport asks her students — all in their first year — to share one object they've brought from home to help ease the transition to college. Their answers always offer her comfort. [Read more.]( [A letter, a flag, a Spider Man keychain: the relics first-year college students carry from home]( In a small seminar about the lived experience of mental illness, psychiatrist Nancy Rappaport asks her students — all in their first year — to share one object they've brought from home to help ease the transition to college. Their answers always offer her comfort. [Read more.]( [There’s no one way to be a Boston sports fan]( At the heart of being a sports fan is hope, writes Cloe Axelson. When a game begins, we don’t know how it will end – or when it will start to make a new city feel like home. [Read more.]( [There’s no one way to be a Boston sports fan]( At the heart of being a sports fan is hope, writes Cloe Axelson. When a game begins, we don’t know how it will end – or when it will start to make a new city feel like home. [Read more.]( [My ‘polar bear’ approach to the climate crisis]( "I’ve lost count of the number of passersby who say 'You must be really hot in there,'" writes Sabine von Mering. But no one can actually understand what she's saying through the bear mask, so she just nods. "Yes, it’s too hot; for all of us." [Read more.]( [My ‘polar bear’ approach to the climate crisis]( "I’ve lost count of the number of passersby who say 'You must be really hot in there,'" writes Sabine von Mering. But no one can actually understand what she's saying through the bear mask, so she just nods. "Yes, it’s too hot; for all of us." [Read more.]( What We're Reading "Most people don’t usually know what will truly make them happy — at least not until they are older." [Rosh Hashana Can Change Your Life (Even if You’re Not Jewish)]( The New York Times. "When one of my brothers asked whether I was dating anyone, I told him I was in a relationship with the home-buying process, since it took up all my time and I had no understanding of whether it would work out." [I ordered a large coffee and a condo. I got both.]( The Boston Globe. "If I opened a book, my eyes glanced off the page as if the words were resistant to my attention. I felt physically unable to intercept the language." "[During the pandemic, I lost the ability to read]( The Washington Post. "At the heart of that hope is the start of a story: when a game begins, we don’t know how it will end." — Cloe Axelson, "[There’s no one way to be a Boston sports fan]( From the Archive [Don't despair the end of summer]( September is upon us and the fall field crickets are calling time, writes Anita Diamant. As usual, they’ve triggered the onset of my annual autumnal melancholy: Winter is coming. Woe is me. [Read more.]( [Don't despair the end of summer]( September is upon us and the fall field crickets are calling time, writes Anita Diamant. As usual, they’ve triggered the onset of my annual autumnal melancholy: Winter is coming. Woe is me. [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](. 🔎 Explore [WBUR's Field Guide]( stories, events and more. 📣 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. 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