Globe Opinion and Ideas editors weigh in on the best op-eds, columns, editorials, and special projects from 2023.
Here are our selections:
The Boston suburbs’ cynical ploy to keep poor families out: Use seniors as a shield
Written by The Editorial Board
Recommended by Alan Wirzbicki, Deputy Editor for Editorials: “The most-read editorial of the year took an unsparing look at the way some Massachusetts towns evade the spirit of affordable housing requirements by limiting opportunities to seniors.”
From the piece: “In the civil rights era, the federal and state governments ratcheted up efforts to crack open wealthy communities — subsidizing, and in some cases forcing communities to accept, construction of units set aside for low-income people. But in a cynical move, many suburbs have steered those apartments away from poor parents with kids and toward a demographic they’ve deemed more acceptable: seniors on fixed incomes.
Low-income elders need and deserve affordable housing, of course. Like every vulnerable population in the region, they don’t have nearly enough of it.
But when age-restricted housing is used as a shield against poor children, it’s a problem. A moral failing, even.”
Read more here.
Students should learn about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the classroom — not on TikTok
Written by The Editorial Board
Recommended by Alan Wirzbicki, Deputy Editor for Editorials: “The tensions on college campuses over the Middle East underscored how little most colleges do to teach their students about the region’s complex history and politics.”
From the piece: “If a campus is a place where vitriolic protests are encouraged but faculty and students fear having complex, difficult conversations, that is a damning indictment of what higher education has become. But if colleges can find ways to nurture these important conversations, they will be upholding the finest traditions of what academia can be while enabling a generation to have the type of respectful dialogue that society badly needs.”
Read more here.
Gentrification is washing over America’s wealthiest cities. Here’s how Uphams Corner held back the tide.
Written by David Scharfenberg
Recommended by Brian Bergstein, Ideas Editor: “David Scharfenberg brings surprising social science research to life with a rich narrative of how one Boston neighborhood got more prosperous without gentrification.”
From the piece: “Jacquie De Los Santos has always been able to glimpse the affluence of the other Boston. When she peeks through the blinds on the top floor of her home in the Uphams Corner section of Dorchester, she can see the city’s gilded skyline just a couple of miles away.
Lately, the wealth has crept even closer.”
Read more here.
The radical, forgotten experiment in educational integration that changed my life
Written by Peter Thomson
Recommended by Brian Bergstein, Ideas Editor: “Peter Thomson combines memoir, archival research, and meticulous interviews to reexamine a forgotten experiment in educational desegregation in Boston.”
From the piece: “In 1971, kids from Roxbury and Lincoln spent half the year attending school together in the city and the other half in the suburb. Fifty years later, I tracked down my fellow students to see how it shaped them — and whether something like it could work today.”
Read more here.
With a few basic steps, most of us can finally ignore COVID
Written by Ashish Jha
Recommended by Marjorie Pritchard, Deputy Managing Editor: “Ashish Jha, who served as the Biden administration’s COVID-19 response coordinator, set off a heated debate with his essay on how we can ignore COVID with a few basic steps.”
From the piece: “The truth is that we can now prevent nearly every COVID death. People who are up to date on their vaccines and get treated when infected rarely get seriously ill.
Even for the vulnerable like my parents, who are in their 80s, vaccines coupled with treatments provide a very high degree of protection against serious illness. This is also true for most immunocompromised individuals.
The fact is, now a few basic steps mean you can ignore COVID safely — and get back to doing things that matter, even with COVID still around. Think of these safety measures like the routine check-ups that keep your car safe to drive.”
Read more here.
A five-point plan to save Harvard from itself
Written by Steven Pinker
Recommended by Marjorie Pritchard, Deputy Managing Editor: “The erosion of trust in universities around the country prompted Harvard scholar Steven Pinker to write a five-point plan on how universities can undo the damage they did to themselves.”
From the piece: “For universities to have a leg to stand on when they try to stand on principle, they must embark on a long-term plan to undo the damage they have inflicted on themselves. This includes Harvard.”
Read more here.
Teens Speak
Recommended by Heather Hopp-Bruce, Director of Visual Strategy: “In this visually rich project, teens share honest and illuminating stories on everything from dating to fear of a school shooting.”
From the piece: “We asked. They delivered. In Globe Ideas, teens from across the country offer a candid look at how they’re navigating life, school, friendships, social media, expectations, and more.”
Read more here.
True stories from an ICU
Written by Ernesto Barbieri, illustrated by Jess Ruliffson
Recommended by Heather Hopp-Bruce, Director of Visual Strategy: “The first two installments of the ongoing graphic memoir series ‘True stories from an ICU’ were a hit with readers. Surprising, funny, and heartbreaking, ‘Tenderness and brutality’ and ‘When accidents happen’ used animation and interactivity to draw people into a caring and chaotic world.”
Read part one here and part two here.
Most-read columns of 2023
Curated by Rami Abou-Sabe, Digital Editor: “The most-read columns of the year represent a diverse array of thought-provoking opinions, inspirational ideas, and a dash of humor.”
From Joan Vennochi: Hey, you guys, don’t call us ‘ladies’
From Reneé Graham: Donald Trump’s un-wonderful life
From Scot Lehigh: Donald Trump goes full fascist in his rhetoric
From Marcela García: Why the controversy around the term ‘Latinx’ doesn’t matter
From Kimberly Atkins Stohr: I’m in my prime, and I’m done hiding my age
From Jeff Jacoby: How the most qualified presidential candidate became America’s worst president
From Abdallah Fayyad: The cycle of violence starts with the Israeli occupation