What follows was my contribution to a reading called “Eat the Past,” held last night at the Arts Center in Troy and hosted by food writer Steve Barnes. (Note: Those of you who signed up for thoughtful essays on atheist parenting will have to suffer through the occasional food essay. Those of you who signed… Continue reading Wellskringle: A Tale of Love and Lying
Author: Kate Cohen
Giving Up Lent
Except for the fact that she is a Catholic and I am an atheist, Mary and I are practically the same person. We’re both stay-at-home writers. We both love to cook and eat, and we both wish we didn’t love to eat quite so much. We both have three children who are absolutely perfect as… Continue reading Giving Up Lent
Life With No After: A Child’s Lament
Jesse had gone to bed happy, with a new book, ten minutes earlier. Yet here he was in the doorway of the living room, about to burst into tears. Stifling my reflexive annoyance at his unscheduled reappearance, I said something comforting, like, “What?!” But he didn’t stop to explain; he just pitched onto the couch next… Continue reading Life With No After: A Child’s Lament
Why I Am Not an Agnostic
Upon hearing me say I’m an atheist, several people have asked, “Now are you an atheist or an agnostic?” Which is sort of like asking someone who just told you she is a lesbian, “Now are you a lesbian or are you just experimenting?” Obviously they want to give me—a person who seems nice—a nicer… Continue reading Why I Am Not an Agnostic
Search Limits
In honor of Valentine’s Day, a piece that I wrote nine years ago (!) for the Times Union. Enjoy, while I rest from the enormous effort of not editing my 34-year-old self. (OK, I couldn’t resist a few footnotes.) ♦ ♦ ♦ I just signed up with Match.com. I made up a screen name and created a profile… Continue reading Search Limits
How to Start Your Own Holiday
Can you remember (without looking or guessing) what you did for dinner on October 12? No? How about on Thanksgiving? That’s my twenty-word argument in favor of holidays. Without holidays, the past dissolves into a smooth and pleasant blur. With them, our feeble brains hold onto at least a few moments each year.[1] But what… Continue reading How to Start Your Own Holiday
Church
I went to church this weekend. Just not the normal kind. When I was a sight-seeing child in Europe, churches were the salvation of my tired little legs. After dutifully examining the statue/triptych/stained glass of art historical significance, and before moving on to the next entry in the Blue Guide, I was permitted a few… Continue reading Church
Chocolate Betrayal
My kitchen is my kingdom, which I share with all the grace of, say, Napoleon after someone called him a pipsqueak and before Waterloo. My mother’s kitchen is . . . also my kingdom. (Come to think of it, that’s exactly how Napoleon would put it.) When I descend with my army visit, my mother… Continue reading Chocolate Betrayal
On Saying “No” and No More
(If you haven’t already, read here how I got myself into this mess. ) ♦ ♦ ♦ You don’t have to explain. That’s what I kept telling myself. Just say it’s not going to happen. I had resolved to tell my father-in-law that his grandson would not be celebrating a bar mitzvah. And I had resolved to tell him… Continue reading On Saying “No” and No More
Have We Lost the Art of Bragging?
Oh, Internet. You have given us so much, and taken away so many things I can’t even remember because I don’t use the remembering part of my brain anymore. Vaguely I can recall an era when I had to leave my house to buy a book. When the news came in paper form. When I… Continue reading Have We Lost the Art of Bragging?