How Cog will cover 2024

Also: I love you anyway, MBTA [Donate ❤️]( [View in Browser](  January 21, 2024 Dear Cog reader, The Iowa caucuses are over, all eyes are on New Hampshire and the Republican field — where the number of candidates vying for the nomination was once in the double digits — has shrunk to three. The general election, on Nov. 5, is nearly 10 months away and it’s impossible to exaggerate how unusual this political season may be. According to nearly every public poll of Republican primary voters, it appears former President Donald Trump is likely to be the GOP nominee. He faces four criminal indictments, totaling 91 felony counts, including for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. President Joe Biden, at 81, is our nation’s oldest president. He remains deeply unpopular in public polls, in spite of notable legislative victories. And he's [basically ignoring]( this Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic is officially over, but wars rage abroad. Congress is as gridlocked as it’s ever been. Conservative Supreme Court justices are wielding their power — on abortion, voting rights and the administrative state. And even though the economy is improving, public opinion about it continues to be dour. At Cog, we’ve been talking about how we can make sense of the 2024 election. We want to make sure our commentaries and essays are insightful and productive, rather than adding to the noise and confusion. And so, amid the whirl of election news over the next 10 months, we’ll focus on the issues and ideas that are most important to voters, including health care, immigration, climate, the economy and the health of our democracy. We aim to bring you personal stories that help you understand the issues, and candidates, in new ways. There is no shortage of criticism about how [the]( [press]( [covered]( the last two elections. That’s forefront in our minds, too. We’ll take care to cover, as [NYU journalism Professor Jay Rosen]( writes: “Not the odds, but the stakes.” (No horse race stuff for Cog, at least as much as we can avoid it.) We’ll also be paying careful attention to how we talk about Trump. We believe it’s important to examine the former president’s language and campaign promises, and to call out when he [attacks]( the judicial system or uses rhetoric that suggests he aspires to be an [authoritarian]( president. Mostly, though, we’ll do our best to think of election coverage as a conversation with our readers — not only about the candidates on the ballot, but also about where the country is going. The poet Mary Oliver seems to pop up in the work we publish over and over again. In her poem “Yes! No!” she wrote: “To pay attention / this is our endless and proper work.” That phrase is always a beacon for Cog, and especially so this year. Thank you for reading. P.S.— We receive far more submissions than we can publish, and we make choices every day about which pieces are most valuable to our readers. If you have ideas about political issues you’d like to see us cover in the coming year, or have an idea for a commentary, please email us at opinion@wbur.org. Cloe Axelson Senior Editor, Cognoscenti [Follow]( Kathleen Burge Editor, Cognoscenti [Follow]( Support the news  Must Reads [I love you anyway, MBTA]( Maybe in this age of increased polarization and decreased civic participation, an age of increased road deaths and social isolation, taking mass transit is a positive way we can all participate in public life, writes Christina Ganim. [Read more.]( [I love you anyway, MBTA]( Maybe in this age of increased polarization and decreased civic participation, an age of increased road deaths and social isolation, taking mass transit is a positive way we can all participate in public life, writes Christina Ganim. [Read more.]( [Nikki Haley is hardly a feminist icon. But her candidacy is a step towards gender equity]( Although Nikki Haley is the only Republican woman running for president, she has mostly escaped the sexist news coverage that has long haunted female candidates, writes Meg Heckman. Is this a turning point in gender equity? [Read more.]( [Nikki Haley is hardly a feminist icon. But her candidacy is a step towards gender equity]( Although Nikki Haley is the only Republican woman running for president, she has mostly escaped the sexist news coverage that has long haunted female candidates, writes Meg Heckman. Is this a turning point in gender equity? [Read more.]( [The GOP candidates' approach to immigration is bad for everybody. Including Republicans]( Republican rants against immigration come in a historical context of American xenophobia, writes Rich Barlow. That ugliness, not economics or national defense, is what animates MAGA Republicans. [Read more.]( [The GOP candidates' approach to immigration is bad for everybody. Including Republicans]( Republican rants against immigration come in a historical context of American xenophobia, writes Rich Barlow. That ugliness, not economics or national defense, is what animates MAGA Republicans. [Read more.]( [I’m an adult with autism. I built a team to help me make decisions]( Supported decision-making, or SDM, is an alternative to adult guardianship for people with a cognitive or intellectual disability, writes Jonathan Gardner. "With SDM, I'm the CEO of my life. Rather than taking decisions away from people like me, SDM allows us to use supporters to help us make and communicate our own decisions." [Read more.]( [I’m an adult with autism. I built a team to help me make decisions]( Supported decision-making, or SDM, is an alternative to adult guardianship for people with a cognitive or intellectual disability, writes Jonathan Gardner. "With SDM, I'm the CEO of my life. Rather than taking decisions away from people like me, SDM allows us to use supporters to help us make and communicate our own decisions." [Read more.]( [You think AI could write 'Shake It Off?' As if]( The artificial intelligence behind Anna Indiana recycles music’s most overused rhymes and tropes, writes Joelle Renstrom. The result? More mediocre music. [Read more.]( [You think AI could write 'Shake It Off?' As if]( The artificial intelligence behind Anna Indiana recycles music’s most overused rhymes and tropes, writes Joelle Renstrom. The result? More mediocre music. [Read more.]( What We're Reading "It is time to acknowledge that child care is directly tied to health." "[What the Child Care Crisis Does to Parents]( The New York Times. "We had a thousand things, like everyone. But ours were only ours. Who will find them beautiful now?" "[The Birth of My Daughter, the Death of My Marriage]( The New Yorker. [A]s each church departs for cheaper and more expansive pastures, pieces of history and culture go with them. These are faith communities that have driven social justice movements, fed the hungry and housed the poor, and served for decades as Black Boston’s heartbeat." "[Some Black churches are leaving Boston, citing changing neighborhoods, higher costs]( The Boston Globe. "What I’ve found riding public transportation here is that each car becomes a community, if only for a few minutes." — Christina Ganim, "[I love you anyway, MBTA]( ICYMI [Dr. King's 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' is a timeless call to action]( To celebrate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, many of us return to his writing and public remarks. We listen to “I Have a Dream” or “I've Been to the Mountaintop.” But Dr. King’s advocacy and legacy is much more complicated and nuanced than his two most popular sermons, Leon Smith and Dr. Tasia Cerezo tell Cognoscenti. [Read more.]( [Dr. King's 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' is a timeless call to action]( To celebrate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, many of us return to his writing and public remarks. We listen to “I Have a Dream” or “I've Been to the Mountaintop.” But Dr. King’s advocacy and legacy is much more complicated and nuanced than his two most popular sermons, Leon Smith and Dr. Tasia Cerezo tell Cognoscenti. [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. Unsubscribe from all WBUR editorial newsletters [here.](  Interested in learning more about corporate sponsorship? [Click here.]( Copyright © 2023 WBUR-FM, All rights reserved.