This week at Cog #43
Boston’s parks, a Belle and Sebastian soundtrack and the staying power of love and memory
Last Saturday, the 10th annual World Dog Surfing Championships was held just south of San Francisco. There were life jackets and goggles (or “doggles,” if you’re so inclined) and wide foam boards. The dogs hop on the surfboard where the water’s shallow, then their owners walk them out to catch a wave and ride it back in. Watching a dog on a surfboard is exactly as joy-inducing as you imagine, and reader, I’m thrilled to be able to say this from recent personal experience.
My 10 year-old is doing a summer surf team in Massachusetts, and the organization, which specializes in adaptive surf therapy for kids of all abilities, has two surf therapy dogs. Their names are Anchor and Buoy, they are black lab brothers and they are both very good boys. They hang out with kids on the beach who are there for lessons, and — not to be outdone — they’re learning how to surf, too. Buoy and I became best friends this week when we convinced him to hop up on my surfboard, and I caught a wave into shore with him riding up front. It’s Leo season, and there’s no better time to do what makes you happy. — SS
This Week’s Stories
Boston’s park system ranks 12th in the US. We can still do better
Today, 100% of Boston’s residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park — but not all parks in the city serve the surrounding community equally. “This matters because at a time when cities are balancing competing priorities and limited resources, parks represent an investment that delivers multiple benefits,” writes @jodi valenta Jodi Valenta.
How Belle and Sebastian became the soundtrack to my chronic illness
The Scottish indie band is on a 30th anniversary tour for their two debut albums, and Claire Berman saw them in Boston. She writes, “As I danced in the audience, I was taken back to a period of my own young adulthood, marked by the same chronic illness that defined lead singer Stuart Murdoch’s early 20s.”
My grandmother still reaches for us, even if she can’t remember why
If my infant son can carry the imprint of my love without remembering the specifics of these early years, then maybe my grandmother’s love can find me in the same way, writes Arielle Gray. “Maybe, even if she can no longer identify me, something in her still recognizes the shape of me.”
Bonus content
“August really is grand,” writes Cog senior editor Cloe Axelson, in our Sunday email newsletter. “It’s 31 days of peak summer — tomatoes, beach days, novels, baseball games, shooting stars, road trips, as much corn on the cob as a belly can fit.”
Two writers walk into a red car
Planning for a road trip this summer? There are two books in particular that would make excellent companions to any summer vacation: “The Road to Tender Hearts” by Annie Hartnett, and “Run for the Hills,” by Kevin Wilson. Both writers are known for novels that are delightfully wry and heartfelt, and in addition to picking up their books, you can listen to them talk to each other about their books, on NPR’s Here and Now.
Because we love a group project, here’s Annie recreating the cover of her book (which shares a red car design with Kevin Wilson’s – they talk about this in the interview!) on a recent family vacation.