Alysia Abbott
Cognoscenti contributor
Alysia Abbott teaches creative nonfiction at Emerson College and is the author of "Fairyland, A Memoir of My Father" (W.W. Norton, 2013). She lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Recently published
‘You are not forgotten’: How teaching AIDS literature honors my father, and so many others
Alysia Abbott was 18 when the first World AIDS Day was observed on December 1, 1988. I was aware of the disease and terrified my gay father would get it,...
13 ways to savor the season
To savor our region’s sweet few temperate months, I created a summer checklist that I endeavor to make my way through once summer begins, writes Alysia Abbott. Soaking up the...
‘Making your way in the world today’: Watching ‘Cheers’, saying farewell to Norm
It takes watching only a scene or two before you're fully immersed in the world of “Cheers,” writes Alysia Abbott. And Norm, played by George Wendt, who died this week,...
My son has profound autism. And we are still a family
Despite what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may have you believe, it isn’t autism itself that’s caused us the most harm, but the ways that our experience with the disorder has...
My daughter begins college in Paris, while I return to Cambridge. ‘Home’ is changing for us both
Months before Alysia Abbott's daughter, Annabel, left for her freshman year of college, they talked about how hard it might be to leave home -- how lonely and lost she...
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Joni Mitchell is still ‘the best of all of us’
Awards shows are full of personalities, posing and performing. But in the utter silence that descended on the room when Joni began to sing from the Grammy stage, another message...
'Barbie' isn't about the matriarchy or the patriarchy. It’s about fantasy vs. reality
Conservative critics are missing the point, writes Alysia Abbott. The emotional conflict in Barbie isn't between men and women. It's between the life we imagined for ourselves as kids and...
Mom reflects on how her city pool is a special place for her son and neighborhood
Alysia Abbott explains why this public space is an inclusive one for her son and others.
At the pool, my boy can enjoy summer like everyone else
Something profound happens here at the public pool, with all its vivid life on display, writes Alysia Abbott. It's a richness that makes space for all sorts of differences, including...
I'm longing to be the mother I never had
Are we mistaken to believe our kids continue to be ours as they grow? asks Alysia Abbott.