I believe Anton Chekhov wrote that if you introduce the idea of a sky diving company in the first Act, someone better be jumping out of a plane before the end of the play. With a title like Ripcord, I don’t think I’m spoiling anything about David Lindsay-Abaire’s latest play, a 90 minute comedy (plus…
For Take Your Child to Work Day, 2017, Cognoscenti published I Took My 11-Year-Old Daughter To Work … In Sudan: Last year, I took my daughter to one of my part-time jobs: to northern Sudan, where she accompanied me as I worked as an archaeologist. No, I’m not crazy, and yes, her mother knew (and we…
February 3, 2017, Cognoscenti published: History Repeating: Lessons From The Civil Rights Era For Maximizing The Power Of Protests At least one elected official and his advisors seem eager to confirm the adage that “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” As Americans gird themselves against societal upheaval and figure out how…
Things change. Yep. The changes are not often what we’re seeking but we need to adapt. Since the US election in November 2016, I’ve published two essays in WBUR’s Cognoscenti that reflect my optimistic disappointment. Surely, there’s a way out of this? The first was published on November 14, 2016: A New ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ Host,…
My essay in the Connections column of The Boston Globe Magazine, October 16, 2016: I’ve never been to a quinceanera — the traditional party given for 15-year-old girls as a sort of bat mitzvah/debutante/you-are-now-a-woman celebration popular in Latin America. However, I have recently been to several cincuentaneras (fetes for folks turning 50). And they are getting elaborate. My sister’s 50th…
Like everyone else we know, my wife and I have gotten hooked on Marie Kondo. But maybe we shouldn’t have. After reading her book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, we tidied up. We are frugal people and don’t accumulate that much stuff, but still we had many bags of old clothes, shoes and books…
Our local NPR station, WBUR, has an “op-ed” type page on their website called “Cognoscenti.” There’s something I wrote about watching the Netflix series “Stranger Things” with my family: Like many people, I indulged in nostalgia this summer watching the Netflix television series “Stranger Things.” But not because of the content of the show. For…
After 9/11 there were numerous articles speculating on the motive of the terrorists whose suicide missions resulted in the deaths of thousands. Why do they hate us? a columnist would ask, and then the answer was often a variation of: they hate us because of our freedoms. Maybe. Maybe it’s more nuanced. After the Orlando…
Here’s my theory: Donald Trump got into the race as a lark, a marketing gimmick. A lot of people have that theory. And of course he did better than expected, which was great for marketing and then people started effusively praising him which was great for his ego. But now he’s the presumptive Republican candidate…
I took the kids (and some of their friends) to see Captain America: Civil War at 10:30am on Saturday morning the day after in opened. In other words, we have bought into the Disney/Marvel Cinematic Universe in a big way. (In contrast, when my son went to see Batman v Superman and asked if I…
Jack Cheng, PhD 