Thursday, June 6, 2013

Boston: Our Fair City

Read the published version of Library Director Charlotte Canelli's column in the June 7, 2013 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.


Although I grew up in California, I was always proud to announce that I was born in Boston.  Not exactly Boston, of course, but within an hour’s drive to the Boston Common or Cape Cod.  My mother never lost her Boston accent and our mother said things like “pahty” and “cah”.   We suppered on baked beans every Saturday night and feasted on Boston Cream pie for special occasions.  Growing up on the west coast, our family loved our semi-exotic flair and reputation.

Of course, in the 50s and 60s, Boston was a long airplane ride from San Francisco.  We talked to our faraway relatives on the telephone only a few times a year and letter writing was a standard ritual in our house.


Boston has always been in my blood. I suppose that’s the case with many others with ties to Boston whether they are born and bred here or have simply lived here for a time. I’ve returned to Massachusetts from various points across the globe a half dozen times in my life and settling back in has been like finding an old, comfortable coat.

For those who have had to leave Boston behind to pursue school or jobs, feelings for Boston were specifically poignant this past April.  Deep emotions for the Boston left behind were apparent as the world grieved for the victims of the Marathon bombing.

When I was a child, Boston conjured up images of lobsters and Provincetown, the Old North Church and the site of the Boston Tea Party. As a teen, I knew that it was those Bostonians who were on the cutting edge in music and fashion.  We on the west coast used to say that the latest and greatest phase hit the east coast six months earlier.

Today, Boston is so much more than just a wicked cool place with ivy-covered colleges and houses that stand the test of time.  It’s a cutting-edge place that includes the 128 and 495 beltways, rich in pharmaceutical and technology startups. It’s a comfortable community where suburban towns have unique histories of their own. It’s also a state of mind  that declares the first subway system and first public school system in the United States. Today, ideas just like it are incubating in schools, labs, and think tanks. (In 2010, the census revealed that Massachusetts has a higher percentage of college graduates than any other state in the country.)

Boston isn’t particularly a huge city.  Less than 700,000 people live within the city limits (which includes 22 neighborhoods such as Brighton and Hyde Park).  Boston’s actual border melts away as one square leads to another winding through Cambridge, Somerville and Brookline.  Greater Boston is home to 4.5 million people.  At least 7.5 million people are within commuting distance.  This makes Boston the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the United States.

The brand-new 2013 “Insight City Guide - Boston” by Barbara Rockwell is a complete travel book that can be a goldmine for travelers, and for locals, as well. The Best of Boston sections include all the sights that families need to acquaint themselves with to savor living near such a unique city. Everyone needs to explore Boston off the beaten track beyond Faneuil Hall and Beacon Hill and this book and its maps will help do just that.

“Boston Icons: 50 Symbols of Beantown” (2011) by Jonathan Scheff is perfect for a brush-up course before relatives or friends descend on you this summer. Boston took much of its character, and still does, from its immigrant population, whether they were from England in colonial times or from Italy, Ireland or China.  Many of us know that Paul Revere was born in the North End, but we didn’t realize that the neighborhood takes up only a third of a square mile. Scheff reacquaints us with some of the facts we grew up with and introduces us to more.  I, for one, did not realize that 5 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence attended the Boston Latin School.

If it’s a quiet spot in the Greater Boston that you are looking for, “Peaceful Places, Boston: 120 Tranquil Sites in the City and Beyond” (2012) by Lynn Schweikart will help you spend the day. Schweikart includes all sorts of places to sit and relax and enjoy the hidden joys in the Boston metroplex. She includes church concerts, espresso bars, taverns at public golf clubs, and benches and vistas in parks and gardens. (Several other cities around the country are part of this series, so check one of those versions out if you are traveling elsewhere.)

“Gangsters of Boston” (2013) by George Hassett covers three centuries of lives of crime that have become legendary across the world.  A rebellious attitude that might have started in the American Revolution is still detailed in Boston’s news today. (Think Whitey Bulger.) Boston neighborhoods have been rich with gangster history and journalist Hassett covers them all.

In 2012, the Boston Athletic Association’s official history was written by author John Hanc, “The B.A.A. at 125”.  This association (they organize the Boston Marathon each year) just celebrated its 125 anniversary. The Boston Marathon is the third largest marathon in the world. The year before the Boston Marathon was launched (in 1897), nine members of the fourteen-men US team at the Olympics held in Athens Greece were B.A.A. athletes.

My column wouldn’t be complete this week without a children’s book suggestion about Boston.  “Larry Gets Lost in Boston” (2013) written by Michael Mullin and John Skewes follows Larry (a puppy) and Pete (a human) in their adventures around Boston.  Some of those adventures are a bit separate when Larry gets lost and spends his day not only exploring but searching for Pete.  Fun illustrations accompany some great facts about all the sites around Boston.

Would you like to know more about our fair city (as the Car Talk Guys call it)? Visit the library’s website and the link to the Minuteman Library Network to put one of these books on hold. You may also call 781-769-0200 and speak to a librarian who will place the request for you.