35559 Day 162

southie


to this day no neighborhood in boston has as much mythology and mystery surrounding it as south boston, or "southie."  from good will hunting to the dropkick murphy's, pop culture, movies, word of mouth, and books have all contributed to the fine line between myth and reality.


All Souls: A Family Story from Southie, the first in my boston history series, is a no-holds-barred attempt to rip the lid off of the jar of myth.  in the end, as honest as the author is, he still lands in a place that leaves a lot of room for the mythology to remain, and even grow.  but maybe that's the way people like it.


there are a lot of interesting things about this book.  one is that roxbury (the largely african-american neighborhood of boston) and southie (the largely irish-american neighborhood) have been intimately tied together through poverty, busing, and affordable housing initiatives.  and also drugs, gangs, and all kinds of other issues.  what is interesting about that is the city has largely wiped out the "old" southie, replacing it with a trendy, gentrified neighborhood that looks a lot like some of the nicer areas of san fransisco.  meanwhile, roxbury has not experienced the same fate.


and all the while dorchester has always been this strange middle ground between the two...never quite as "bad", never quite as "cool", always a little bit forgotten.