I'm packing today for a short trip to Boston, where I'll be participating in the Corante/Berkman "Symposium on Social Architecture." I'm looking forward to meeting some of the other participants in the symposium--folks I know of but haven't met, like Kaliya Hamlin, Zephyr Teachout, Andrew Rasiej, JD Lasica.
Taking the redeye out tonight, and a night flight home, so there won't be any great aerial photos. But I realized this morning that Boston is one of the few big cities in the US that I haven't visited as an adult, so I'm going to be sure to do a little sightseeing on either side of the symposium itself. So there will be photos, oh yes. Just not from the airplane.
I was going to encourage you to get some delicious seafood while you're in Boston, but then I realized you live in Seattle this year...
Still, East Coast seafood is quite different, particularly the "caught that day" variety; we tend to have white flaky fishes, typically cooked simply with lemon and a little butter. Yum!
I'm trying to think of notable places within walking distance of Harvard Square. Well, Cardullo's, right in the square. For something really unique, try Cafe Pamplona at 12 Bow St. 60 year old cafe, old world espresso. The Harvard Bookstore at 1256 Mass Av. (not to be confused with the Harvard Coop, which is really just a Barnes & Noble) is quite wonderful. What other store has a neurolinguistics section?
If you go into town, take a map and take a walk from the Park St. Station on the Red Line (which you can catch at Harvard Square) and walk from Park St. through Downtown Crossing, to Boston City Hall, the Haymarket, and wind up in the North End, Boston's version of Little Italy. Be sure to hit Polcari's on Salem St.
Oh, and right behind the Harvard Bookstore is the Grolier Poetry Bookstore, which claims to be the country's longest running poetry-only bookstore. At 101, they're probably right. A single 12X12 room with 12 foot ceilings and ladders.
If you can, visit the List Visual Arts Center at MIT. I highly recommend it. It's where I saw the extraordinarily beautiful Listening Post (no longer there, I'm sure) a year and a half ago.
Dear Liz:
It was a pleasure to meet you this evening at the pre-symposium get together! I was thrilled to meet another techno-librarian. I'm always telling my fellow eRiders and other colleagues that when it comes to technology for the nonprofit sector, librarians are our friends.
Best regards from Deborah
Deborah Elizabeth Finn
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog
http://public.xdi.org/=deborah.elizabeth.finn