Creativity is a team sport
The trust long-time creative collaborators build allows for the freedom of handing things back and forth, without compromising the integrity of the work -- or creative individuality.
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I’m an unlikely Tori Amos fan. That’s why I’ve loved her music all these years
4 things people 'from away' need to understand about Maine
Pope Leo sees beauty in 'wasting time together'
Guster is still for lovers
Ambulances function like public infrastructure, but they’re financed like a transportation business
Creativity is a team sport
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4 things people 'from away' need to understand about Maine
Most people only care about the U.S. Senate election in Maine because of what it means from a national perspective. That ignores the complex reality of life in Maine, writes Naomi Schalit, who worked as a journalist in the state for nearly 25 years.
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Ambulances function like public infrastructure, but they’re financed like a transportation business
When it comes to stroke treatment, we need to align incentives with urgency, writes Sandeep Kumar, a vascular neurologist. "That means reimbursing not just for transport, but for readiness and...
When little-by-little becomes a lot
Plenty of people will tell you the U.S. has a “collective action” problem. We’re too busy being undone to make progress together, and it’s hard to argue with them, writes...
‘Good night and good luck’ to Stephen Colbert
"Night after night, Colbert told the truth, made you think, made you laugh and sent you to bed slightly less alone in your concern or alarm," writes Bill Lichtenstein. "For...
In Attleboro, a forest grows — and so does hope
A 2,000-square-foot pocket forest will not solve climate change, writes Rob Moir. But when efforts like this are repeated across communities, their impact begins to add up.
The trouble with rats and rat poison
In the name of preventing a rodent apocalypse, pest-control companies and property owners use highly lethal rodenticides. The problem, explains Colby Galliher, is that our ecosystems are engines of transfer...
What musical chairs can teach us about democracy
Healthy communities are not built through obligation alone, writes Emily Isaacson. They are sustained through shared joy — and shared joy has a skill set.
After a shooting, the weight of silence
What hit me hard as I went to bed Monday night is how few people I heard from that day, writes Anri Wheeler, a Cambridge resident. Perhaps the news of...
My body knew it was spring before I did
"We think humans are different from non-human animals — with our clothes and cars and houses and ability to destroy or save the world — but here we are, affected...
How RFK Jr.'s false claims about the COVID-19 vaccine hurt people with autoimmune diseases
"In 2020 — after three years of immunosuppression — when I learned of mRNA vaccine research for MS, I was relieved," writes Lindsay Karp. Then came the cuts to the...
Writing is for mothers
Whether a mother-child relationship is healthy and attached, difficult and estranged, or somewhere in between, mothers and motherhood is good fodder for the page, writes Cog editor Cloe Axelson.
A tale of two kitchens: my mother’s and mine
"My mother's grocery list is the length of a CVS receipt. Mine is a folder of photos I texted myself consisting mainly of which frozen brand of saag paneer I...
The world has changed, but 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' is still about work
Between DOGE and the rise of AI bots, work is far more precarious than it used to be, writes Joanna Weiss. Amid so much uncertainty, it’s no surprise that people...
Activism is an essential part of mothering
"Motherhood and activism are not mutually exclusive," writes Victoria Livingstone. "Rather, they are categories of identity that inform each other."
'When breastfeeding stopped working, it felt like I stopped working'
I have no statistics to cite about the number of women who experience what is sometimes called "breastfeeding grief," writes Miriam Wasser. But I've come to believe that what happened...
I gave my stepmother a hard time as a kid. Now I can’t imagine life without her
Ethan Gilsdorf's relationship with his stepmother was rocky at first, but it isn't anymore. "Although it has taken decades for me to realize this — my 30s, 40s and most...
Listing life's little joys
"Every Brilliant Thing” is getting lots of attention on Broadway this spring. "Clearly, these bits of joy, this ode to connection, is something people of the world -- or at...
Medical school made me numb to grief. Then I lost my grandfather
“I lost one patient unexpectedly, another predictably and another soon after that. Each time, there were things to do: write notes, check labs, return pages,” writes Alisha Yi. “Then my...
Growing up in Brazil, language told my family’s story
"There is a particular grief to being a bilingual writer, having access to words and worlds that cannot be easily shared," writes Juliet Faithfull. "But it is also a gift."
In the Human Library Organization, people are books to be read
The HLO, which is expanding into the U.S., shares many of the same objectives as a lending library, writes Judy Bolton-Fasman. "It serves as a public resource intended to be...
The quiet focus that poetry requires is a gift
To paraphrase Audre Lorde, we need poetry because there are no new ideas — only new ways of making them felt. "And, boy, do poems make us feel things," writes...