Weekend Guide: four o'clock in the afternoon in the fenway i have my heart in my hands
☘️
Yeah, down by the river
Down by the banks of the river Charles
Aw, that's what's happenin', baby
That's where you'll find me
Along with lovers, muggers, and thieves
Aw, but they're cool, too
Well, I love that dirty water
Oh, Boston, you're my home
Oh, you're the number one place
Boston. It’s complicated. Best in the frustratingly short summer. Built for the the heavy layer of endless winter. Boston is a city of extremes. Weather. Sports fandom. Class. Education. Boston is the best. Boston is also the worst. People in Boston have been murdered for saying less about the city. But, for real. I love that dirty water.
We’ve all seen the Boston movies.1 Ask anyone to do a Boston accent and with knee-jerk quickness you’ll get some butchered version of how they need to park the car in Harvard yard.
Boston is a place. Sure. But to the rest of us poor saps, Boston is an idea. One that’s pretty well engrained in the American psyche. It almost always looks a little something like this.
No shots. Seriously. For me it looks more like this.
Boston and it’s suburban sprawl (North/South Shore) are special. Super nuanced and beautiful in all the ways coastal communities in the northeast are - with just the right amount of grit. The Jersey Shore with heavier sweaters at night - and less R’s.
In film, literature, and all of the other pop culture stuff - Boston is pretty hard to get right. But. When it hits..
Bro, I just read The War for Gloria by Atticus Lish. A new all-timer for me. 100% burner. Its tough - working class Boston tough. It’s the dark side of a Jonathan Richman song. Quincy construction workers in F150s on speed, MMA, walking a rocky beach in the rain, the orange line at dawn with deep chill in your bones - not college freshman holding hands on the common.
“Charcoal smoke suffused the air. Pickup trucks were parked all over, on the street and on the grass. Rock was playing on a radio — ’80s hits. … A group of older male construction workers stood in a line, staring contentedly out at the street, saying nothing. … Many were heavily tattooed, like bikers or ex-cons, their skin leathered by sun and work. You could see invisible responsibility hanging on them — payments for vehicles and homes, children and women. Steadied by weight, they were further restrained by a shared sense of the right way to act; they had to work with each other. There was no wildness; they were ships with ballasts and keels.”
Like Andre Dubus, Lish gives you the real Boston shit.
Oh, The War for Gloria is the story of a single mother, Gloria, and her 15 year old son, Corey. Gloria is diagnosed with ALS. Corey’s absentee father, Leonard, a man he’s never known, comes back into the picture. It’s dark. Brooding and.. fuck, gorgeously written.
Lish is a master2. I really hope you read it.
There are two certainties in life. One. Don’t do that. And two. You dropped 150 grand on an a fucking education you could have got for a $1.50 in late charges at the public library.
Preparation for the Next Life is another hit
"You could see invisible responsibility hanging on them" damn, that hits