We had a delightful visit to Montreal a few weekends ago. It was the 150th birthday of Canada and 375th birthday of Montreal so there were lots of street performances and random stuff going on. Circus performances were held around the city and they ranged from amazing to amazingly weird. That photo of the people…
Our family travels to Toronto semi-regularly and as the kids have aged, we’ve gone from patronizing Ontario Place and the Ontario Science Center, to the ROM and Casa Loma. This summer of 2017, we went to the Art Gallery of Ontario for the first time in a few years (possibly the first time for the…
I thoroughly enjoyed Ann Patchett’s new novel, Commonwealth. In it, she tells the story of an extramarital affair and the blended family of six children that results. The stepsiblings mostly live on opposite coasts except for summer vacations when they become a tribe, wandering around the Virginia countryside. Patchett’s books tend to be about groups…
Like a few million other people, I went to see the new movie Wonder Woman soon after it came out. Like a few hundred other people, I’ve taken a course in the Sumerian language and was surprised when, as a minor plot point, our heroine reads a few lines of that ancient tongue. So I wrote…
Turns out, if you Google “Pee in the Sahara” you may find the story of Mauro Prosperi, an ultramarathoner who went off course in Morocco and ended up in Algiera (183 miles off course). Or, you could find my short article on a bus stop in Sudan and the “facilities” provided there. You can read…
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…
Jack Cheng, PhD 