• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

THIS IS REALLY A LOVE STORY

Written by CHRIS FARAONE Posted February 12, 2019 Filed Under: COLUMNS, Dear Reader

 

ICYMI: HERE’S A GIANT LIST OF THE AMAZING STUFF WE LOVE IN GREATER BOSTON

 

Dear Reader,

 

“This is really a love story. ’Cause on the low, most of my haters got love for me.”

 

I love that line by Cali rapper Crooked I. Not because I think the right-wing radicals who write horrendous messages and emails to the Dig secretly want to brunch with us, but rather because it reminds me that there is another side to all the hating that I personally do.

 

You see, I’m a lover, too.

 

As an editor of one of the few publications around here that still strives to hold powerful people and their abusive institutions accountable, I tend to sound like a curmudgeon extraordinaire on the regular. If I’m not complaining about the state of our public transit, for example, I am probably railing against lawmakers who strapped a seemingly bottomless debt to the MBTA.

 

But I don’t exactly hate these things. Every line I enter into my computer about the Hub is also part of a love story, because like a parent in the 1950s (or today, I guess) attempting to rationalize smacking their kids, I truly love the objects of my animosity. Oftentimes, it hurts me more than it hurts Boston to level such relentless criticism.

 

With a week of chocolate and plush toys coming up, I thought it might be nice to prove that I have a heart by revealing some of the things that tend to make it flutter.

 

I love the way that lots of people around here think and react to our reporting; rather than simply agreeing with us like some cornball Fox News sycophants, even lefties who tend to agree with us throw darts when we err.

 

I love the history surrounding us, even if lots of the pricks who live here for a couple years right after college could care less about what happened before Boston was transformed into a playground for them.

 

I love the people around here. You’re by and large intelligent across all educational and economic groups, and that’s something you can’t say for a lot of other cities.

 

I absolutely love how casual this city is, and how you can more or less walk into the nicest restaurants downtown in sweatpants. That just ain’t the case in New York.

 

I love how we are an inviting tourist city, but not for anyone from out of town who wants to drive a car. On that note, I kind of even love the J-way, and how in Allston, you need to already know that you essentially have to be in the parking lane all the way to the right if you want to drive west onto Brighton Ave through Packard’s Corner, or else you run the risk of getting stuck hanging that confusing left and continuing on Comm Ave over the tracks.

 

I even love our subway system, prehistoric as it is. My beloved red and orange lines get me home and to work way more than they don’t, even if they’re full of farts, perfume, and assholes playing shitty music out loud on their phones instead of using earbuds.

 

I love how Mass has legal weed, an excellent draft and craft beer culture, and countless smaller restaurants and food trucks that serve affordable and excellent grub.

 

And of course I love the local independent media around here, along with everybody who contributes to and consumes newspapers like ours, the Bay State Banner, and the Dorchester Reporter.

 

After all, there’s a lot of awesome stuff to write and read about in Boston. Sometimes it may not seem like we’re coming at it with a lot of heart, but I promise you that every keystroke comes from a place of real love; a lot of the time, it just happens to be the tough kind.

 

CHRIS FARAONE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Author profile
CHRIS FARAONE

A Queens, NY native who came to New England in 2004 to earn his MA in journalism at Boston University, Chris Faraone is the editor and co-publisher of DigBoston and a co-founder of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. He has published several books including 99 Nights with the 99 Percent, and has written liner notes for hip-hop gods including Cypress Hill, Pete Rock, Nas, and various members of the Wu-Tang Clan.

Related posts
  • CHRIS FARAONE
    https://digboston.com/author/chris-faraone/
    Deadstock and Two Smoking Turntables: Good Taste Records In Boston’s North End
  • CHRIS FARAONE
    https://digboston.com/author/chris-faraone/
    MFA Returns Sculpture To Italy, But We're Still Waiting For LACMA To Return Mass Bust
  • CHRIS FARAONE
    https://digboston.com/author/chris-faraone/
    Dear Reader: Where the Sidewalk Ends (But Online Continues)
  • CHRIS FARAONE
    https://digboston.com/author/chris-faraone/
    Dear Reader: Why We Love Boston Pubs, and All Pubs For That Matter

Filed Under: COLUMNS, Dear Reader Tagged With: 1369, 21st Amendment, 50's Diner, Aeronaut, Amrhein's, bay State Banner, Biddy Early's Bikes Not Bombs, Blanchard's, Blue Hills Ski Area, BNN, boston calling, Boston Compass, Boston Hassle, BPL, Brooklyn Boulders, Bukowski Tavern, CCTV, charlie's sandwich shoppe, Concepts, Corrib Pub, Courtside Karaoke, CREATE Boston, Deep Thoughts, Dewey Square, Doyle's, Edgar Allan Poe, Eire Pub, El Planeta, encuentro 5, Ernesto's, Franklin Park Zoo, Galway House, George Howell Coffee, Golden Temple, Good Life, Good Vibrations, great scott, green side up, Green Street, Haley House, Harpoon Brewery, Harvard Book Store, henrietta's Table, Improv Asylum, J.J. Foley’s, Jeveli's, Kelly's Roast Beef, KillerBoomBox, KMHudson, kush groove, L Street Tavern, Larz Anderson, Lawn on D, lord hobo, machine, Makeshift Boston, Maverick Marketplace, Merengue, Midway Cafe, Mount Vernon Restaurant, Oberon, Orchard, People's Republik, plough and stars, ReMARKable Cleanouts, Ron's Ice Cream, Rosebud Diner, Sam LaGrassa's, SCATV, Shay's Silhouette Lounge, Simco's, Skippy White's, Spontaneous Celebrations, Sportsmen's, sugar daddy's, Sully's, Sunset Cantina, Sweetree Ink, The Burren, The Clam Box, the dance complex, The Democracy Center, The Lizard Lounge, The Middle East, The Sevens, The Sinclair, The Wilbur, Tutto Italiano, Vanyaland, Victoria's Diner, Warren Tavern, West End Museum, WMBR

WHAT’S NEW

As trains broke down, the MBTA’s million-dollar marketing campaign kept running

As trains broke down, the MBTA’s million-dollar marketing campaign kept running

Photo Recap: Weekend Of Boston Rallies Against SCOTUS Abortion Decision

Photo Recap: Weekend Of Boston Rallies Against SCOTUS Abortion Decision

Inbox: "Debate for Suffolk DA and Sheriff Races This Tuesday"

Inbox: “Debate for Suffolk DA and Sheriff Races This Tuesday”

Inbox: "Coalition Celebrates Advancement of Safe Communities Act"

Inbox: “Coalition Celebrates Advancement of Safe Communities Act”

Boston University. Photographed by Janice Checchio for Boston University Photography. Used with permission.

BU Vows to Protect Reproductive Healthcare

State Wire: Last Decade Has Seen Too Many Methane Gas Leaks

State Wire: Last Decade Has Seen Too Many Methane Gas Leaks

Primary Sidebar

Advertisement

FEATURED EVENT

Advertisement

Most Popular

  • Dig This: The Return Of the Boston Seafood Festival
  • Meet the Phantom Behind Greater Boston’s Awesome Food Feed Everybody Gotta Eat
  • Dig This: The Hot Dog Safari Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival
  • No Smoking, No Thank You. Advocates Decry Cannabis Social Consumption Rules in Mass
  • Why This Pit Kid Is Not Going to ‘Pit-A-Palooza’

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]