Good suggestions
O.K. Some of you have come up with good ideas about adjusting to Boston.
When you mention “culture,” what sort of culture are we talking about
here? I can see the history (and though it’s not my period, it’s
still fun, as long as the person you’re with doesn’t go on and on about
how all of America started here and we have New England to thank for
freedom, Mom, and apple pie [BTW, BF rarely, if ever, does this] — I
have some people in various parts of the country that used to be Mexico
or France who’d object vociferously to the “this is the origins of it
all” line), but besides the good classical music and the MFA, I’m
bereft in knowing about the culture that’s here. The Lonely
Planet guide doesn’t do much to point it out.
Brief caveat: I will not spend time in the bars of Allston and
Brighton. They always look too much like a whole town full of the
bars I spent time in during college (but we only had 5 bars in a town
with 20,000 college students, so you can imagine), but which I made a
point even then to avoid at night….
(I could make a jab about Dunkin’ Donuts in here, but considering that
I grew up in a land of strip malls, that’s a bit unfair. But
purple and orange? Who chose the color scheme? The “Queer
Eye” guys would NOT approve, nor would Martha….)
Do other people have suggestions? How else can the displaced come
to love Boston? O.K. “Love” is probably a bit
optimistic. How about “like”? Or “get along with”?
And how do I keep the cars out there on the road from trying to run me
over or yelling some conjugation of “fuck” at me when I am riding my
bike? (This, I realize, is a totally separate question, but it
seems slightly related.)
Ecto blogging software
25 August 2003 at 2:00 pm.
I can scarcely believe I need to ask this, but are there places out there that are materially better than Boston? I challenge you to name a ‘perfect’ place to live. It seems to me that you’re asking the wrong questions here; instead, you need to indicate what *you* want, and then determine whether Boston can provide it. You want clear bike lanes? This probably isn’t the best place to live, then. Wish to avoid road-rage? Ditto. Want a city with an organised road and transit system? Ditto. Sensibly laid-out roads? Ditto. But if you want wintery winters, good doctors, rowing in the fall, sailing in the spring, running and cycling along the Charles, easy access to the Cape and islands, concerts in summer at the Hatch, cantatas at Emmanuel, and Mother Harvard, then you can’t do better than to be here. I’m a transplant here, and frankly I find it a lovely place to live, but like Hendrick’s, it’s not for everyone. What do you want?
25 August 2003 at 7:00 pm.
As far as finding culture, you won’t figure out what kind of culture Boston offers by reading the NYT. If you want to acclimate, start by reading the Globe. Seriously, reading the Metro and Arts sections is how I got my bearings when I moved to the city in ’95 and felt totally overwhelmed.
25 August 2003 at 7:29 pm.
Ack! More reading…!
Just as long as I don’t have to give up the NYT. To paraphrase Charlton Heston, they can have my NYT when they pry it from my cold dead hands….
Hey, at least the Globe is put out by NYT company, which is a marked improvement over the bird cage liners of the SF Bay area.