I wrote a piece about traveling with my son to Sudan. I was hoping it would be like the trip I took with his sister when she was younger, but it turned out quite differently. The essay was published by Your Teen Magazine, a publication for parents of teenagers. Bonding With My Son In Africa?…
I’ve rediscovered tennis. I played when I was a teenager and rarely has a year passed when I didn’t play a few games, but this spring, I signed up for a town round-robin and found myself playing regularly twice a week for the first time in ages. Thinking about the game — my game —…
If the timing of this seems crazily off, it’s because the contents of this post first appeared in my monthly email newsletter in June. If you subscribe, you can get more writings like this delivered straight to your inbox and not miss a thing. Sign up here. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, we’re preparing for the end…
The contents of this post first appeared in my monthly email newsletter. If you subscribe, you can get more writings like this delivered straight to your inbox and not miss a thing. Sign up here. On Take Your Child To Work Day, Cognoscenti published my essay I Took My 11-Year-Old Daughter to Work… In Sudan. Great headline! I…
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…
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…
My latest missive is a love letter to a Broadway Musical on behalf of me and my kids: The New York Times recently reported that the Rockefeller Foundation would be paying for 20,000 eleventh graders to see the musical “Hamilton,” the Broadway phenomenon that tells the story of the founding father Alexander Hamilton. Perhaps they should consider…
Great guacamole at Tito’s Tacos This summer, my daughter (age 10) and I took a trip to Los Angeles. We were there to visit my sister, and also just to explore the city; my daughter had never been to L.A. and I hadn’t been since she was born (!). We had a great time and…
The New York Times Motherlode blog published my latest essay on April 15, 2015: Former Gov. Jeb Bush made news recently because he checked “Hispanic” on a voter registration form. This is obviously ridiculous from a scion of the Bush family (and Mr. Bush has said he made a mistake). Yet, I understand, because the family…
I recently identified a new genre of movie, the Parent-Child Romantic Comedy, and an analysis of these films helped me understand something about being a parent. My essay was published on the New York Times Motherlode blog here: http://nyti.ms/1wwP0qi Second favorite reaction to my essay: “That was yours? I saw that in a friend’s Facebook status.”…
Jack Cheng, PhD 