Weekend Edition Sunday

Oct 15, 2021

In October, at least we can all agree on the Red Sox

Most political junkies live for November, writes former Gov. Jane Swift. But in New England, when the Sox are in the post-season, October is the season we believe in.

The author's great-grandmother, Gisela. (Courtesy Diane Forman)

Is my family’s Holocaust trauma woven into my DNA?

Oct 14, 2021

Here's one positive of the pandemic: Teachers are more technology literate

Oct 13, 2021

A group from "Veterans for Peace" picketed outside the Moakley Federal Courthouse as jurors deliberated in the penalty phase of the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Friday, May 15, 2015. (Charles Krupa/AP)

The perplexing case of Biden, Tsarnaev and the death penalty

Oct 12, 2021

Support the news

Is my family’s Holocaust trauma woven into my DNA?

We're all the 'Bad Art Friend'

In October, at least we can all agree on the Red Sox

Indigenous Peoples' Day is a start. Now let’s change how we remember

The perplexing case of Biden, Tsarnaev and the death penalty

We Asked 10 People To Imagine Life After The Pandemic. Here's What They Said

In Case You Missed It

Lindsay (left) and Sophia Cook at a memorial benefit for their father, Dennis Cook, who was killed on Sept. 11, 2001. (Courtesy Lindsay Cook)

As ‘9/11 Kids,' We Only Have The Stories Other People Tell Us About Our Dad

12:33Sep 10, 2021

Protesters hold up signs at a protest outside the Texas state capitol on May 29, 2021 in Austin, Texas. (Sergio Flores/Getty Images)

They Laughed When We Warned A Ban On Abortion Was Coming. Now It's Here

Sep 1, 2021

The author’s grandmother, Marie Moran, in Breezy Point, 1947.

I Know The Water Is Coming. But I Can't Bear To Sell My Family's Cottage

05:08May 28, 2021

Nikole Hannah-Jones speaks on stage during the 137th Commencement at Morehouse College on May 16, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Marcus Ingram/Getty Images)

I Am A Black Woman In Academia. Nikole Hannah-Jones’s Tenure Saga Isn't Unique

04:36Jul 9, 2021

On Air Commentaries

Dr. Michael Nguyen tends to a patient in a hallway at the Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital on August 18, 2021 in Houston, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

After So Much Uncertainty And Loss, We Need The Grace Of Connection

05:54Aug 30, 2021

The author and her daughter Maya at the beach, with "big banana," the surfboard. (Courtesy Sara Shukla)

When I'm Out In The Water With My Daughter

04:45Sep 24, 2021

Jack Thomas on his sailboat, The Butterfly (Courtesy Geri Denterlein)

'I Just Wish I Could Stay A Little Longer': Jack Thomas Considers The End Of His Life

07:09Aug 13, 2021

After so much hardship and loss, the psychological recovery from this trauma will be long, writes Dr. Molly Colvin. (Klaus Vedfelt/Getty)

Why You Can't Shake Pandemic Anxiety

03:26Mar 9, 2021

Politics

Oct 4, 2021

Why your kids should eat school lunch. Even if you can pack it for them

When all students eat for free, school meals transform from being a stamp of poverty to a tool for community building and social development, writes Erin McAleer.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) talks with reporters as she arrives for a closed-door meeting with House Democrats at the U.S. Capitol September 27, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden's plan would boost the economy, not cripple it

Oct 1, 2021

A student rushes to her classroom for the first day of class at Laguna Niguel Elementary School in Laguna Niguel, CA on Tuesday, August 17, 2021. (Paul Bersebach/Getty Images)

If Only More Adults Treated Mask-Wearing Like Kids Do

Sep 22, 2021

In the painting, "The Embarkation of the Pilgrims," by Robert W. Weir, Myles Standish and his wife, Rose, are on the far right, in the foreground. (Wikimedia Commons)

Why BU Should Rename Myles Standish Hall

Sep 21, 2021

United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry speaks during a conference call on climate change with the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on September 17, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Al Drago/Getty Images)

What's Missing In Our Fight Against Climate Change

Sep 20, 2021

More From Cog

Our reactions to the viral dispute between two local writers say more about us than it does about them, writes Steve Almond. (Getty Images)

We're all the 'Bad Art Friend'

Our reactions to the viral dispute between Sonya Larson and Dawn Dorland say more about us than it does about them, writes Steve Almond, who knows and admires both writers....

Oct 11, 2021

In this July 13, 2018, file photo, a woman performs a traditional Native American dance during the North American Indian Days celebration on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Mont. (David Goldman/AP)

Indigenous Peoples' Day is a start. Now let’s change how we remember

Travis Franks dissects the centuries-old history behind the October holiday.

Oct 11, 2021

Tatyana McFadden of the United States competes in her women's 1500m T54 heat on day 6 of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games at Olympic Stadium on August 30, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Tatyana McFadden: 'Running together into a new future'

Tatyana McFadden is a 20-time Paralympic medalist and a 23-time major marathon winner. She's the only elite female athlete attempting to podium in five major marathons this fall, including Boston....

08:54Oct 8, 2021

Gloria Ratti (R) with Boston Marathon winner Worknesh Degefa and Gov. Charlie Baker at the finish line in 2019. (Courtesy Boston Athletic Association)

There'll be one very important person missing at the 125th running of the Boston Marathon

Bobbi Gibb’s Bermuda shorts. A championship trophy-turned-ice-bucket. Des Linden’s rain-soaked jacket. For a quarter century, Gloria Ratti was the Boston Athletic Association’s intrepid historian, saving artifacts from the world’s most...

Oct 8, 2021

The mammogram of a 40-year-old woman's breast. (Peter Dazeley/The Image Bank for Getty Images)

What to say when someone you love gets cancer

The biopsy confirmed what the radiologist, and then surgeon, had suspected -- I had cancer. Anne Gardner reflects on her breast cancer diagnosis.

Oct 7, 2021

In this Dec. 14, 2017 photo, a snowy owl sits atop a fence post after being released along the shore of Duxbury Beach in Duxbury, Mass. (Charles Krupa/AP)

Our obsession with owls is threatening them

People who crowd too close to owls for photos or good views are jeopardizing the birds' survival, writes Tina Morris.

Oct 6, 2021

A medical worker takes a break in the employee respite facility at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan, Wednesday, May 27, 2020, in New York. (John Minchillo/AP)

Health care workers aren’t heroes. We’re human, and we need your help

Eighteen months into the pandemic, nearly half of health care workers report burnout. Our fatigue is consuming us, write Chase T.M. Anderson and Jack Turban.

Oct 5, 2021

Physicians assistant Brendan Smith cares for a patient in a COVID unit at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass. on December 10, 2020. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

As doctors, we like to 'know.' COVID took that away

As COVID set in, I had all of the empathy but nothing that felt like wisdom, writes Dorothy Novick. It turns out that even without so much knowing, there’s plenty...

Oct 1, 2021

Connor and the author's son. (Courtesy Kate Peltz)

For The Love Of A Dog

Kate Peltz's back trouble gave her precious time with her aging Labrador, Connor, and reminded her of a promise she'd made to him.

Sep 30, 2021

In this Aug. 1, 2000 file photo, technician Tom Bentz prepares a group of horseshoe crabs for bleeding at a lab in Chincoteague Island, Va. (Steve Helber/AP)

This Animal Is Central To Our Fight Against COVID. Now It Needs Our Help

Every antibody test and every batch of vaccine has been tested with a substance from the blue blood of horseshoe crabs, writes William Sargent.

Sep 29, 2021

More than 5,000 American flags were planted on a grassy area of the National Mall, each representing a veteran or a service member who died by suicide through early October 2018, an average of 20 suicides per day. Ryan Conklin straightens some flags at the site. Conklin is an Iraq and Afghanistan (U.S. Army) veteran who lost several comrades and a close friend to suicide. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

More Veterans Die By Suicide Than In Combat. But It's Preventable

The military's emphasis on personal responsibility keeps many distressed veterans from seeking help, write Anna Richardson and Sarah Roxburgh.

Sep 28, 2021

Tina Bachmann poses in front of mammoth figures during a photocall of the German Biathlon Woman Team at the Archeopark on March 10, 2011 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The Archeopark contains mammoth sculptures made of bronze. (Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Don’t Count On Woolly Mammoths To Save The Planet

A start-up is creating buzz for its plan to bring back the extinct creatures. But the company's disingenuous posturing distracts from the deadly serious issue of climate change, writes Frederick...

Sep 27, 2021

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2021, file photo, a girl passes a "Welcome Back to School" sign as she arrives for the first day of class at Brooklyn's PS 245 elementary school in New York. COVID-19 deaths and cases in the U.S. have climbed back to where they were over the winter, fueled by children now back in their classrooms, loose mask restrictions and low vaccination levels. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

The COVID Vaccine For Kids Is Almost Here. Let's Not Forget The Children Who Made This Possible

About 10 years ago, Amy McHugh enrolled her 4-year-old daughter in a trial to treat her stage IV neuroblastoma. The risk her daughter took in the trial helped many others...

Sep 23, 2021

The author's daughter, floating in their local swimming pool. (Courtesy Traer Scott)

Wishing For Post-Pandemic Normalcy — Everywhere But Here

This place had been my oasis during the early pandemic, writes Traer Scott. That ended when the crowds returned.

Sep 17, 2021

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Covid-19 response and the vaccination program at the White House on August 23, 2021 in Washington,DC. (Jim Watson/Getty Images)

Vaccines Alone Won't Save Us. How Biden’s COVID-19 Action Plan Is Incomplete

It’s time for the federal government to step up its approach to contain COVID-19, write Julia Raifman and Alexandra Skinner.

Sep 16, 2021

A view of the U.S. Supreme Court on September 1, 2021 in Washington, DC. A new Texas law that prohibits most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy went into effect on Wednesday. The U.S. Supreme Court did not act on a request to block the law. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The Lawlessness Of The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has refused to block a blatantly unconstitutional Texas law prohibiting most abortions. Why? Power, writes retired federal judge Nancy Gertner, plain and simple.

Sep 15, 2021

Students ask questions in the CORE History and English class of teacher Jessica Valera at the Girls Academic Leadership Academy: Dr. Michelle King School for STEM students in Los Angeles on the first day of in-class instruction on August 16. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

How My High School History Classes Failed Me

James Loewen, who died recently, helped me understand that history teachers and textbooks can etch myths that stoke patriotism into the minds of students, writes Daniel Osborn.

Sep 14, 2021

School buses on Geneva Avenue in Dorchester. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

What's Missing From Back To School This Year? The Time To Heal

The desire to get back to normal means we've skipped a step, writes Neema Avashia -- healing.

Sep 13, 2021

Emal Ahmadi shows a photo of his family member who was killed during a U.S. drone strike on their home, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 2, 2021. Ahmadi says Sunday's U.S. drone strike killed 10 members of his family, six of them children. Senior U.S. military officials said the drone strike hit an Islamic State target. (Khwaja Tawfiq Sediqi/AP)

The True Toll Of 9/11

Our reflex of seeing faraway faces as cardboard masks may help us survive the world’s violence — but also keeps us from altering it, writes Janna Malamud Smith.

Sep 10, 2021

A week after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, a newspaper vendor sells copies of the New York Daily News with the face of Osama bin Laden and a cowboy-era outlaw's headline of 'Dead or Alive,' September 18, 2001.(Richard Baker/ Getty Images)

For My Journalism Students, Much Of 9/11 Is A Case Study Of What Not To Do

As we mark the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, writes Eileen McNamara, let’s not forget the abandonment by too many in the media of the skepticism and rigorous reporting...

Sep 9, 2021