The Boston Diaries
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Category Archives: Boston Diaries
The net from which you can’t escape
“The home reproduces social stereotypes and socially constructed notions and practices about your body, your gender, your sexuality, familial hierarchies, the relationship between the public and the private, which altogether form a net from which you can’t escape” Myrto Kiourti … Continue reading
Day 48: New office
First day in my new at the brand new HQ of the Engagement Game Lab, working on the paper on Obama’s Facebook campaign, checking out funding opportunities for the Cities global research and catching up with GPSG work.
American Beauty
“It was one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. Right? And this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me … Continue reading
Day 47: The Kennedy Tapes
I’ve read several great books in the last few months/years but I can’t remember the last time I was so gripped by a book that I lost sleep because I couldn’t put it down. It reads like it’s written by … Continue reading
Day 46: Reflective hiatus
So I’m facing the first free couple of days after exactly four months of relentless work and I’m remembering once again how difficult it is to (re)learn to enjoy free time when you’re so used to running around. Furthermore, as … Continue reading
Vintage Boston
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Tagged Back Bay, Mass Ave, Portraits of America, Prudential
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Day 45: Coffee & papers
Perhaps the only good reason for abandoning the guaranteed comfort of the pleasantly familiar is the discovery of an even more pleasant unknown – such as Trident Booksellers and Cafe
Day 44: North End
Delicious dinner at Al Dente in the North End. The lobster ravioli and the shrimp/scallop pasta with the vodka cream sauce are a must.
The semi-obscure second level of urban public space
“Brothels and cemeteries constitute a semi-obscure second level of urban public space. They are spatially delineated, with their own rules- yet, they are vital to a city. It’s important to keep spaces like these at the heart of the city. … Continue reading
Day 44: Bay Village and Back Bay
Breakfast at Mike and Patty’s followed by coffee at the Wired Puppy
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Tagged Back Bay, Bay Village, coffee, food, Mike and Patty's, Newbury St, Wired Puppy
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Guest Lecture: Civic Engagement in the Era of Digital Storytelling
On Wednesday, November 13th, I gave a guest lecture to the Interactive Communication graduate students at Emerson College. The talk was entitled ‘Civic Engagement in the Era of Digital Storytelling‘. Picking up from the first part of the workshop, which … Continue reading
Day 43: celebratory lunch
…at Four Burgers.
Reading material…
You can judge a university by the reading material available in its public toilets… #emerson
The realisation of liberation
“In order to enjoy something, I have to first liberate my body. Architectural design should liberate the user so that they can enjoy the experience of use […] Aesthetic beauty is ultimately about being moved by the realisation of liberation” … Continue reading
Day 42: Downtown
Trying to get over the writing marathon of the last few days. Managed to get a seat at the Thinking Cup, which for a coffee house is more stressful than it sounds. Great coffee and the best (albeit highly priced) … Continue reading
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Tagged Boston Common, coffee, Downtown, food, Thinking Cup, Tremont St
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Hoop Dreams
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Tagged Hoop Dreams, Portraits of America, Roxbury, South End
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Day 41: Roxbury
Taking a stroll and some fresh air around Roxbury and the South End as the last few days have seen me quasi-institutionalised at home, writing up the chapter on how civic communities in Athens are utilising new media to engage … Continue reading
The potentiality of the unexpected
[A beautiful urban landscape] “should not provide us with a predetermined use of that space. It should allow for the potentiality of the unexpected” Mara Bitrou (interview with the author, 1 September 2012).
Day 40: Coffee & Papers
Sunday bliss at Pavement Coffeehouse (Newbury St). Catching up with news, fieldwork journal etc and getting ready for the endgame of the chapter’s final few sections.
Struggle for Pleasure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvZQOYzycVA
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Back Bay, Bay Village, Portraits of America, stations, trains
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Day 36: Boston Noir
Recommended reading: D. Lehane (Ed) (2009), Boston Noir, Akashik Books D. Lehane (Ed) (2012), Boston Noir 2: the Classics, Akashik Books
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Tagged Bay Village, books, noir, Portraits of America, Prudential
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On urban landscapes
What is a beautiful urban landscape? “Beauty is obviously subjective but what I personally consider to be a beautiful urban space is the space that highlights its urban [/civic] identity; it acknowledges and accepts speed, and allows the seamless coexistence … Continue reading
Democracy in America
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Tagged Mayoral election, politics, Portraits of America, South End
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