Last night, after visiting friends in South Boston, I was vaguely annoyed heading home seeing the new wine bar, a new steel building going up where the Quiet Man Pub used to be and the Foodies almost ready to open, all on Broadway. Ten years ago, as a resident of Southie, I would have celebrated these 'betterments.' But when we left Southie for good two years ago -- I cried for days while unpacking at our new house in Brookline. Then, I woke up this morning to Billy Baker's excellent piece and it made me realize that I am a yuppie -- there, I said it -- reacting to gentrification the way "A Southie" would. Truth is, this is not about yuppies or wine bars, it's about change, and knowing that the place where so much of one's life happened no longer exists. And it stinks for anyone who has to face that. www.tinacassidy.net
I was born and raised in South Boston. the big point of the article is true. The town you grew up in is gone. How can anyone describe a town that is constantly changing? In a way that's good. My Southie was a place of colossal ignorance. you could get sucker punched for walking around a diferent neighborhood. I went to elementary school in the D St. project, fighting my way in and out. Businesses on W. Broadway would get shaken down for protection payments, with uninterested police. Even today, lifelong Democratic Southie is anti-Obama. Can you guess why? Attrition may slowly civilize the town, I hope.
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Last night, after visiting friends in South Boston, I was vaguely annoyed heading home seeing the new wine bar, a new steel building going up where the Quiet Man Pub used to be and the Foodies almost ready to open, all on Broadway. Ten years ago, as a resident of Southie, I would have celebrated these 'betterments.' But when we left Southie for good two years ago -- I cried for days while unpacking at our new house in Brookline. Then, I woke up this morning to Billy Baker's excellent piece and it made me realize that I am a yuppie -- there, I said it -- reacting to gentrification the way "A Southie" would. Truth is, this is not about yuppies or wine bars, it's about change, and knowing that the place where so much of one's life happened no longer exists. And it stinks for anyone who has to face that. www.tinacassidy.net
I was born and raised in South Boston. the big point of the article is true. The town you grew up in is gone. How can anyone describe a town that is constantly changing? In a way that's good. My Southie was a place of colossal ignorance. you could get sucker punched for walking around a diferent neighborhood. I went to elementary school in the D St. project, fighting my way in and out. Businesses on W. Broadway would get shaken down for protection payments, with uninterested police. Even today, lifelong Democratic Southie is anti-Obama. Can you guess why? Attrition may slowly civilize the town, I hope.