This week at Cog #12
Prenatal testing, Freedom Flights, the soundtrack of youth and the problem with resilience
This week, the New York Times told the story of Joan Didion’s hosting prowess: She invited as many as 75 people for Thanksgiving, and prepared relentlessly – with menus, schedules, guest lists. I, on the other hand, essentially quit cooking dinner almost entirely earlier this year. After 29 years of being the primary meal maker in our home, I was suffering from a serious case of culinary burnout. The kids are all gone, my husband lives in another city most of the workweek, and we live in a walkable neighborhood with restaurants sprinkled among the residences. By eating out, I tell myself, I’m helping the local economy. But I’m making an exception for Thanksgiving. My brother and sister-in-law will host this year. My contributions will be the things I make every year: pumpkin-cranberry bread (made from my husband’s uncle’s recipe), cranberry sauce (just three ingredients!), cornbread (it starts with a boxed mix) and my niece’s favorite, Moroccan carrots (from the “Cooking with Friends” cookbook, which is — tragically — out of print). Joan Didion I am not, but there are some traditions you can’t ever quit.
Happy Thanksgiving. We’ll be on vacation next week and back in your inboxes in December. — KNC
This week’s stories
Chasing the soundtrack of my youth — one concert at a time
Katie Kurtzman’s 40th birthday featured flannel, Dr. Martens and a ’90s cover band. It felt like finding something I didn’t know I needed, she writes. Since then, I’ve been chasing the high of that night by buying tickets for every beloved ’90s band performing within driving distance.
Resilience is no substitute for justice
The development sector’s embrace of “resilience” redirected attention away from governments as duty bearers, writes Jehane Sedky, and made it easier for donors to fund a patchwork of NGO projects rather than invest in the public systems that genuine resilience requires.
I came to the US on a Freedom Flight. Other Cubans haven’t been so lucky
It’s the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Flights, the largest refugee airlift in history. But how immigrants to the U.S. are treated depends more on American political and economic circumstances, than whatever’s happening in the country they are fleeing, writes Ana Hebra Flaster.
What prenatal testing can’t tell you
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.
Bonus content
This year and every year: Your favorite Thanksgiving traditions
In 2024, we asked WBUR’s staff about their favorite part of Thanksgiving — and, unsurprisingly, most of the traditions centered around food. From spatchcocking your turkey to special dishes and a vegan Friendsgiving, we heard what makes each celebration unique.
Can’t get enough? Here are Cog readers’ Thanksgiving traditions.
Tina Brown is not biting her tongue
Tina Brown always has something interesting to say. And now, at 72, she’s letting it rip (this appears to be one massive benefit of getting older – you get to just say what you think!) One tiny crumb of many in this interview: “I don’t feel I have to have restraint anymore, which is very exciting to me as a writer. I think of myself in the third trimester of my life rather than the age that I am. I feel liberated … I can just let rip. I think it’s needed, because there’s so much pussyfooting and mealymouthing that’s been going on in writing for the last 10 years.” Revisiting it now makes me want to listen again. – Cloe Axelson
Life is short. “Might as well try.”
ICYMI, Kate Baer answered Cog’s Proust Questionnaire last week. She has some thoughts on her idea of perfect happiness, her greatest fear and the talent she wishes she had.
