It took me a while to accept the fact that Thanksgiving 2020 could not be like all the others. The only way to celebrate it right was to give it up for the year. Read my essay here in The Washington Post. Read the rest here at The Washington Post. And/or read my previous Thanksgiving… Continue reading Giving Up Thanksgiving
Category: Parenting
Who Knew? The Strangers WERE the Treat
I miss people I don’t know. A Halloween meditation at The Washington Post. Read the rest, if you please, here at The Washington Post.
Blindsided by The Blight
An essay about stupid, stubborn hope. (Art by Samia Ahmed.) Read the whole piece here at The Washington Post. Read the rest at The Washington Post.
The Bet
Why a couple of teenagers are convinced this will not end well. Read the whole essay here in The Washington Post. Read the rest of the piece here at The Washington Post.
Stock Up? Make Do? Or Splurge?
Confusion in My Quarantine Kitchen People are suffering out there. In here, life is truly . . . pleasant. This piece is about struggling with that contrast. You can read the whole thing here. (If you don’t have a Washington Post subscription but you do have a library card, chances are you can access the… Continue reading Stock Up? Make Do? Or Splurge?
Why All the Dead Babies?
Passover makes it especially clear: religion is not where morality comes from. This piece was originally published in FaithStreet years ago, but when I searched for it recently it was gone. So I’m reprising it here, slightly updated. It’s a bit of an antidote to my recent concession that religion can be useful. As an… Continue reading Why All the Dead Babies?
God? No. Religion? Maybe a Little.
I need events that can’t be canceled. We don’t need religion any more to explain the universe. And we obviously don’t need it to tell us right from wrong. But it must be useful, or why would people hang on to it? This essay is about one of those uses. Read the whole thing here… Continue reading God? No. Religion? Maybe a Little.
Making Us Behave
On laws that treat us like kids . . . for our own good. By me, in The Washington Post. Click here to read the whole thing. Note: My father pointed out to me that I mention two house rules in the piece (as you’ll see), but named only one, apparently violating one of his… Continue reading Making Us Behave
Still a Good Thing
A few years ago, in honor of my daughter’s tenth birthday, I posted an essay I recorded years earlier about what a good thing it is to be able to choose whether or not to have a child. I wish it were completely out of date instead of desperately relevant. https://soundcloud.com/katecohen/a-good-thing
Dear Mr. Miranda: A Thank-You Note
Dear Mr. Miranda, The morning after the election I made my husband get up with the kids. I couldn’t face them. They were not innocents: they knew about North Carolina’s bathroom law and the dangers of driving while black. But they are children of the Obama era: they’ve grown up believing that the forces of… Continue reading Dear Mr. Miranda: A Thank-You Note