Beantown

on the t home today I was reading Bostons newest free paper, Boston Now, and after reading the two-t-stop article on Castro's resignation I found this little reflection on our city. Pinned to a quote from a PR person at BC, the article reflected on our position as an academic haven. This was charming and heartwarming reminder or why I like this place, and it got me thinking - in the emerging world order where we are increasingly the exporters of ideas and less and less of products , academic communities like ours could be very valuable things. The article made some surprising suggestions - specifically about beantown being the hub of academia, going as far as suggesting that there is no other city in the world that can offer the concentration and diversity that Boston can. It was shocking not to be able to name a city that can compete.

Could it be possible that the long tides are turning, that we still can become the city on the hill? Will our dowdy stoicism and fussy morality pay in the new century? Maybe. Of course, in a world where creativity wields authority, it is fluid and decentralized and cannot have a true "capitol" (compromised dominance - what else would Bostonians accept?), but certainly we would be a bright star in the new constellation, a fast-firing neuron in the network. Maybe the things we have cherished in our nerdy backwater will turn out to be the stuff of the new economy, and the specialized, corporatized, industrialized hedonism of the 20th century will recede, the filthy money that has washed over America since the first tobacco plantation will relent, and at least allow the other America, the wholesome heart that has kept us together, to be seen again?

As the red line rumbled out of it's tunnel and the sparkling skyline appeared before me, the slow-icing Charles running beneath my feet, I couldn't help feeling good about life, for the first time in a long while.