BOS2 Neil, of course. But OMGWTFLOL and BOS3 "Please Come to Boston", which is quite the rarity here. (It's not in the Shraytabase at all)
apropos of nothing: VIBE magazine had a little item about top ten cultural buzzkills, and they listed Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh ... the usual suspects. They also listed the city of Boston, saying if you google "most racist city," Boston comes up first.
Boston didn't come up first for me, and the reliability of that method of sociological research is
highly suspect. But while I doubt Boston is actually the "most racist city," it wouldn't surprise
me if it ranks uncomfortably high on the list.
Boston has thousands of college students and there is a strong intellectual vibe about the area
that is hard to miss. There is also a big blue collar undercurrent, and since the students are
largely viewed as transients, it is this energy that drives local politics. Coupled with the fabled
New England reserve, this results in a conservative and provincial outlook that belies the
stereotype of all those supposedly liberal academians. Many of the seminal battles over school
busing took place there over forty years ago.
