"Recently, for reasons both generational and chronological, I find myself looking back at people who have helped shape my life," writes David Tanklefsky. "Some of them know their impact, but not all." spr.ly/63322CEE1O

"Pigeons care for their young," writes Tove Danovich. "They purr when they’re happy. They like to cuddle. They can be potty-trained. Most of all, they’re survivors — something people can relate to." spr.ly/63327CEDLV

As Judy Bolton-Fasman watched her daughter, a medical student, care for homeless patients, she thought back to the baby she rocked to sleep with the same sense of awe and wonder she felt long ago. spr.ly/63321Cz4QH

Here it is! Our best pieces from 2025 -- personal and political and everything in between. spr.ly/63322CrWmQ

Cog is out with its 2025 playlist: An eclectic mix of songs and artists mentioned in the 227 pieces we published this year. It's musical mayhem in the best way possible! spr.ly/63329CuQlS

"Climate change is transforming ecologies faster than human memory can keep pace. In the developing world, the stakes may be life and death. In wealthy countries, the cost is different—we will adapt and survive, but the fabric of life will wear thin." spr.ly/63320CEDAe

A few of Nancy Rappaport's favorites from Nora Ephron's “will miss” list: reading in bed, the dogwood, butter, the view out of a window, Thanksgiving. And from the “won’t” list? Mammograms, Fox News, email. spr.ly/63321COmHS

“Radical amazement has a wider scope than any other act of man,” wrote Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. “While any act of perception or cognition has as its object a selected segment of reality, radical amazement refers to all of reality.” spr.ly/63326Cz4Wu

"I find even the 'hard' books, the ones that reflect our world, are bearable because great novels also work in the beautiful things that make us human," writes Hannah Harlow, co-owner of independent bookstore The Bookshop of Beverly Farms. spr.ly/63325CEDch

"Modern interactions are a minefield of loaded meanings, and Gen Alpha is caught in the crossfire. Yet six-seven is harmless. It’s neutral ground, a linguistic safe space." spr.ly/63324CKrWi

"On the surface, we had little in common — think Neil Young breaking bread with Robert Duvall’s character in 'Apocalypse Now,'" writes David Tanklefsky, of his high school principal. "But we forged a real relationship." spr.ly/63321CEEJN

Here's a nice Saturday morning read for you! @hhharlow.bsky.social writing for @wbur.org @cogwbur.bsky.social www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

Between now and the end of the century, climate change will trigger a cascade of rapid, irreversible environmental changes that will make it impossible for people to establish a sense of place, writes Frederick Hewett. spr.ly/63322CBX4p

"All of a sudden, my social media feed has been taken over by pigeons," writes Tove Danovich. "It was enough to make me look more closely at these birds and what I found delighted me." spr.ly/63325CEDsF

"Sometimes books find us at the right time and place, and sometimes we have to go out and find the books for this time and this place," writes Hannah Harlow, co-owner of independent bookstore The Bookshop of Beverly Farms. spr.ly/63324CEDee

I’ve probably only taken three books from Little Free Libraries in the past decade, but I always stop at each one I pass to see what’s inside. The literary voyeur in me just can’t resist. spr.ly/63323CBkMZ

"Climate change is transforming ecologies faster than human memory can keep pace. In the developing world, the stakes may be life and death. In wealthy countries, the cost is different—we will adapt and survive, but the fabric of life will wear thin." spr.ly/63321CBXFZ

"I was aware of the disease and terrified my gay father would get it," she writes. "But I didn’t tell anyone. Now, I’m teaching AIDS literature and AIDS history to students who are the same age I was when my dad first got sick." spr.ly/633247fo8C

"In my childhood home, we struggled, surviving on what other people didn’t want or need," writes Meaghan Shields. "But my mom was the most generous person I knew. And that generosity extended to me — in the form of books." spr.ly/633257fW7L

What Mark Twain understood about himself is what he also knew to be true about the nation, writes Ann M. Ryan: that we are a flawed, fractured, haunted people, that our scars have the power to inspire our humanity.

What I’m trying to remember, in the blur of parenthood and work and change, is that while I can continue to try to record time as it passes me by, I still won’t have any control over it, writes Sara Shukla. spr.ly/633247WwMC

Jon M. Chu, who directed the movie adaptation of "Wicked," has said the story, at its core, is about friendship, and Sara Schruer agrees. Watching the relationship between the two witches develop offered me a new lens for my oldest friendship, she writes. spr.ly/633287Wwu4

As we searched for a way to continue our annual holiday ping-pong tournament virtually, writes Sharon Brody, my mom surprised us all. (From 2020) spr.ly/633207WwpI

"The legacy of my great-grandmother and grandmother could tell me nothing about my own. Even if I wouldn’t be a perfect mom, maybe I could be a good one. Or at least a good enough one," writes Ruthie Ackerman. spr.ly/633217UxRd

Turkey. Football. Toasts. Naps. Movies. Turkey trots. The Macy’s Day Parade. Expanding the table for “orphans.” These are just some of the cherished Thanksgiving traditions Cognoscenti readers shared with us. spr.ly/633297WwkU

Ethan Gilsdorf's sister recently gave him their mother's beat-up copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Leafing through its stained pages, Mom and her cooking returned to me, he writes. (From May 2025) spr.ly/633227Wwlj

In an essay in "The New Yorker" Tatiana Schlossberg says she has acute myeloid leukemia. spr.ly/633257WwHL

The country is in a terrible mood. According to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, two-thirds of Americans think the country is "pretty seriously off on the wrong track." Cognoscenti's editors call out some blue sky amidst the darkening clouds. spr.ly/633247WJ5p

"I’m not interested in pressuring women to carry their babies with Down syndrome to term. I am interested in providing a counter-narrative about Down syndrome." spr.ly/633227iF0p

My brain is always on overdrive and listening to my “oldies” — loud, gritty, feel-it-all, flannel-soaked melodies — is like visiting an old friend, writes Katie Kurtzman. spr.ly/633247YEfq

"Our task is not to make vulnerable populations more adaptable to injustice, but to make the powerful more accountable for it," writes Jehane Sedky. spr.ly/633287YEQy

Having a child with Down syndrome has been an irrational, unprovable good, writes Amy Julia Becker. In a world of increasing mechanization, measurement and merit, people like my daughter can help return us to our humanity. spr.ly/633237iFvh

Essay: Seasonal affective disorder was clinically recognized by psychiatrists in the mid-1980s, but the link between the seasons and our moods has been observed for millennia — one article I read on the topic referenced a Chinese text from 300 B.C., writes Cloe Axelson.

Having a child with Down syndrome has been an irrational, unprovable good. In a world of increasing mechanization, measurement and merit, we need people like our daughter among us to return us to our humanity. Grateful to write for @cogwbur.bsky.social www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

Seasonal affective disorder was clinically recognized by psychiatrists in the mid-1980s, but the link between the seasons and our moods has been observed for millennia — one article I read on the topic referenced a Chinese text from 300 B.C., writes Cloe Axelson. spr.ly/633227eqRw

Clean energy resources -- specifically solar, wind, and battery storage — are the most affordable and quickest sources of energy to build today, even after Trump repealed federal support for these technologies. spr.ly/633287kVgk

We asked best-selling poet Kate Baer to answer our 16-question version of the Proust questionnaire: "What is your greatest fear?" "What is your idea of perfect happiness?" "On what occasion do you lie?" Read her answers on Cog's Substack. spr.ly/633287kVIm

When it comes to preserving and amplifying Indigenous culture, it’s not enough to understand history, writes Vanessa Lillie. We must also ask: who’s doing the telling? spr.ly/633217ns05

"Poverty has a thousand faces," writes Joanna Rakoff. "The medical resident who bandages your burn at the ER. Your barber, mailman, Amazon delivery person, or, of course, your old friend, working furiously to keep up appearances." spr.ly/633217Pv6x

Disposing of sewage in a the Charles is technically illegal under the Clean Water Act, writes Frederick Hewett. Variances offered by MassDEP since 1998 were supposed to buy time to fix the problem, not become a perpetual permission slip for pollution. spr.ly/633257zwNW

When I showed up for a surf session with Gnome Surf — a nonprofit that offers surf therapy to kids of all abilities and their families — I figured I’d get a wave or two to tide me over till next season, writes Cog editor Sara Shukla. What I got was a lot more. spr.ly/633257zbKc

The Charles River is a "Class B" river, meaning that it's suitable for boating and swimming, writes Frederick Hewett. But now authorities want to downgrade it so they don’t have to solve our sewage problem. spr.ly/633297zwIS

We can’t hack our way through grief, writes Evy Peña. It’s meant to be lived, carried through our choices and our rituals. spr.ly/633277G1Rh

Bruce Springsteen and I have nothing in common, writes Kate Neale Cooper. Still, I hear echoes of my own struggles in his lyrics. spr.ly/633207Dxf0

Few people can claim their birth informed the ending to one of the 20th century’s most iconic novels, writes Tom Putnam. But that was the case for Patrick Hemingway, who died recently at the age of 97. spr.ly/633247G1pq

Breast cancer research saved my life, writes Kelly Cervantes. My daughter, who had epilepsy, wasn't so lucky. All too often, it felt like Adelaide’s medical team was throwing darts at a treatment board. They missed every time.

What many misunderstand about Día de los Muertos is that it isn’t a celebration of death, nor a denial of how much it hurts, writes Evy Peña. It’s a way to make space for grief — for the ache and joy that cohabit in remembrance. spr.ly/633297G1PR

I have no idea what made me ask for Bruce Springsteen’s new boxed set for Christmas in 1986, when I was 14, writes Kate Neale Cooper. But I do know my life was never the same. spr.ly/633297Dx4D

I never deliberately set out to raise a daughter attuned to death. But given my professional background, perhaps it was inevitable, writes Anita Hannig, a cultural anthropologist who studies the end of life.

My daughter’s fascination with death is neither cartoonish nor gratuitous, writes Anita Hannig. It stems from a place of deep curiosity. 'I like graves because I like the people in the graves,' she tells me. spr.ly/63320ACFvQ