Bad Boston Week
I’m still working on trying to like this city. As I
discussed with BF last night, the two things that get me down are the
following:
- Always having to feel like one is struggling to get any little
bit of whatever done. Since it often feels like people here
(maybe it’s the East Coast) are trying to screw me at whatever turn, I
find myself having to be suspiscious and aggressive all the time,
almost preemptively, so that I don’t get run over (literally and
figuratively). This is far different than my previous experiences
in urban areas. And the “natives” (who strike me as a lot of
dour, unhappy [generally] white ethnics) are particularly effective at
making one who’s moved here as opposed to lived here forever feel like
one shouldn’t be here in the first place. - Yeah, it seems I focus a lot on the negatives here and perhaps
even to see them more than the positives. But I haven’t found
many positives here that I couldn’t get somewhere else.
Everywhere has bookstores and cafes and funky bars and such. What
makes Boston any different or more interesting in some way than other
places?
Does anyone out there have any suggestions as to how I might begin to
try liking, or at least living at a detente, with Boston? I’ve
been here a year, and so “just giving it time” is no longer a strategy
that I want to hear….
Ecto blogging software
23 August 2003 at 5:57 pm.
Nate, I’m a native. My best advice isn’t that complicated. On a really pretty fall day, somewhere around the second week of October when the leaves have started to turn, go outside. Look up. Breathe in slowly. Breathe out. Repeat. Nothing smells so good. 🙂 To me, that’s home.
24 August 2003 at 4:26 pm.
I say appreciate the intangibles. Living in the midst of all the history and culture. You can’t walk 100 yards in Boston or Cambridge without stumbling over history. Embrace it. And try to think of why natives might be suspicious . . . they see you as the reason their property taxes go up and their parking spots are taken. Fair or not, people here need to see a commitment to living here. And also, learn to embrace all the passion people carry here — passion about their sports, their politics, their neighborhoods. Boston is a state of mind, and a passionate one.