Glenn Rifkin

Writer

Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel, from the &quot;Old Friends Tour 2003,&quot; at Madison Square Garden. (Photo by Debra L Rothenberg/FilmMagic via Getty Images)

Aging comes with a consistent set of reminders of where we no longer dwell.

“When I get to the gym and feel the ball in my hands, time and age evaporates.” (Courtesy Glenn Rifkin)

Paul Simon was right about 70: how strange to become an ‘old friend’

In the song, Paul Simon created “a watercolor image of a pair of old men sitting on a park bench like bookends,” writes Glenn Rifkin. (Photo via Getty Images)

Commentary 

Health

Life

Opinion

Joni Mitchell still knows our hearts

Joni Mitchel sings in a special Joni Jam performance at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival at Fort Adams State Park on July 24, 2022. (Carlin Stiehl for The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Joni Jam At Folk Fest

Commentary

Music

News

I watch Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown with the same expectations I had for Bird and Havlicek and Garnett.

Oh Celtics, take me to the promised land

Players rejoice on the Boston Celtics bench during Game 7 of the 1984 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers at the Boston Garden on June 12, 1984. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

1984 NBA Finals: Los Angeles Lakers Vs Boston Celtics At Boston Garden

Boston

Sports

I don’t remember whether Match.com or Tinder existed back then but it didn’t matter. We had Debra Stark.

In a troubled world, she left behind an oasis of whole grain compassion and humanity. 

Eat well, be happy: What Debra Stark taught us

Debra Stark, owner of "Debra's Natural Gourmet, on 98 Commonwealth Ave. in West Concord, MA on Oct. 7, 1997. (Bill Polo/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Debra's Natural Gourmet

Who was Homer Plessy and what led him to become a name etched in our nation’s history?

America wasn't ready for Homer Plessy in 1896. Are we now? 

Students, parents and educators rally at the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, May 13, 2014, on the 60th anniversary Brown v. Board of Education decision that struck down the separate but equal concept established under Plessy v. Ferguson that kept schools segregated. (AP)

Supreme Court Racial Equality

Politics

More than anything, these assignments cut through the burgeoning numbers and bring each death, each individual passing, into stark reality.

I want what I write to be a marker that illuminates, not just an ending, but a beginning -- and a journey that mattered.

I Write Obituaries For The New York Times. Memorializing People In A Pandemic Feels Like A Different Assignment

An obituary in the Kansas City Star newspaper details the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on traditional funeral services, Sunday, April 5, 2020, in Overland Park, Kan. Most funerals now are either small private services with a public memorial service sometime in the distant future or no public service at all in response to social distancing and stay-at-home orders implemented in an effort to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. (Charlie Riedel/AP)

Virus Outbreak Kansas

Tribute

WBUR's ongoing coverage of the new coronavirus.

Novel Coronavirus

... what at little tolerance I had for David’s views had long ago disappeared. In 2020 America, it seemed common ground was a fictional territory that did not exist.

Nature Isn't Partisan. And For One Morning, Neither Were We

Canada Geese take flight at the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord, Mass. (Glenn Rifkin)

GlennRifkinIMG_0252 (1)

The WBUR Newsroom's 2020 election coverage

Glenn Rifkin

Recently published

Paul Simon was right about 70: how strange to become an ‘old friend’

Cognoscenti

Joni Mitchell still knows our hearts

Cognoscenti

Oh Celtics, take me to the promised land

Cognoscenti

Eat well, be happy: What Debra Stark taught us

Cognoscenti

America wasn't ready for Homer Plessy in 1896. Are we now?

Cognoscenti

I Write Obituaries For The New York Times. Memorializing People In A Pandemic Feels Like A Different Assignment

Cognoscenti

Nature Isn't Partisan. And For One Morning, Neither Were We

Cognoscenti