Atlantica - 01.06.2004, Side 23

A T L A N T I C A 21
Boston has seen more than its fair
share of American heroes. There
are patriots such as Paul Revere
and John Hancock; transcendentalists
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David
Thoreau; poets like Sylvia Plath, Emily
Dickinson and Robert Lowell.
The list goes on. Boston’s given us
inventors Benjamin Franklin and
Alexander Graham Bell, whom we can
all thank whenever we pull out that cell
phone. Do you like sports? Bostonians
have enjoyed loads of basketball cham-
pionships thanks to the Celtics. Boston
even had Babe Ruth until the Red Sox
foolishly traded him to the NY Yankees.
The Hub City has also produced a
president with the initials JFK. Perhaps
another man with the initials JFK will be
elected this November. Heck, if it
weren’t for Boston we wouldn’t have
been able to read about the exploits of
Ben Affleck (more on him later) and
J-Lo.
Yes, Boston is loaded down with rev-
olutionary history, literary history,
sports history and, for better or worse,
pop culture folklore.
SMALL, BUT BIG
While strolling around Boston, flag
down a resident and ask them to
describe the city. The first words out of
their mouth will be that Boston’s full of
history. Then comes the paradox:
Boston’s small but big. At first, like most
paradoxes, it doesn’t make any sense.
However, spend a weekend wandering
around the winding, red-bricked side-
walks of Beacon Hill. Sip espresso while
gorging on cannolis in the cafes of the
North End. Go antiquing on Charles
Street. Browse the high-end fashion
shops on Newbury Street. Catch a show
in the theatre district. Or drink with the
nation’s brightest college students in
Harvard Square. Suddenly, the paradox
begins to make sense.
"Boston’s a small city but has the cul-
ture and energy of a big city," says
Kathleen Peets, Associate Director and
International Coordinator of Graduate
Admission at Emerson College.
From her office overlooking the
Boston Common, Kathleen says that
Boston is more comfortable to be in
than a city like NY or D.C., but still draws
big-city events.
One such big-city event is the upcom-
ing Democratic Convention, which will
be held in July at the Fleet Centre. But
you don’t have to wait until July to get
excited about politics. Walking past the
golden dome of the State House, I
observe a small collection of protesters
holding up signs reading: "How does
my marriage hurt you?" The placards
refer to the testy debate over same-sex
marriage, which boiled over months
before when the Massachusetts
Supreme Court proclaimed that same-
sex couples had the right to get married.
Then the State Legislature took away
that right, granting instead the right to
civil unions.
What a sight it was to see the small
band of merry protesters assembling in
the shadow of Mary Dyer’s statue, the
Quaker martyr who was hanged for hav-
ing the audacity to challenge the reli-
gious codes of those prickly Puritans.
Hmm.
If you’re a political junky jonesing for
a fix, trek up and down the narrow
streets of Beacon Hill over the coming
months and you might just stumble
upon a few black suburbans with tinted
windows parked conspicuously on the
side of the road. The sleuths keeping
watch inside the spy cars, a-la Jennifer
Garner on the hit TV show "Alias", are
protecting none other than the pre-
sumptive Democratic presidential nomi-
nee, who resides, part-time, in the
exclusive neighbourhood – at least
that’s the rumour floating around
Beacon Hill.
RIDING THE FREEDOM TRAIL
Boston’s known as the "Cradle of
Democracy". And rightly so. It was, after
all, the epicentre of the Revolution.
Considered the most European city in the US,
Boston attracts visitors from across the globe.
Edward Weinman finds out why, and along the
way spots a movie star, plus a couple
of real-life spies.
Photos Páll StefánssonB
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