#but on average it can take anywhere from 15 to 30 mins if I'm taking my time

[mueritos]

Hey Matteo!

I was just wondering like how your overall experience with Boston has been?

I'm a transmasc butch, from a small town, and have been questioning moving to that area (either around Boston or closer to Salem) and I'm autistic and Deaf (very little amount of my hearing left) so I try to do as much research as I can before solidifying ideas.. but I've also desperately been wanting out of my hometown and Midwest State.

I'm especially interested in any Queer friendly experiences you've had and/or museums as I am an anthropology major (Archaeology focus)

hey there! I'll insert a read more :)

It's good you're researching the area ^-^ like any city, there's pros and cons, and like any other major city, if you're looking for something, it is likely here already. Biggest cons to me in this city are 1. expensive as fuck (rent can be anywhere between 1200-2000+ per bed/room), transportation is mid (trains are cool but systemic racism has made it difficult to access certain neighborhoods), and the weather (i'm used to it because it's like a slightly colder PA). Oh, and I truly believe there is no good food in Boston. You have to LEAVE Boston to eat good food lol.

Pros! I do think the city is mostly autistic friendly, surprisingly. Sure a city on average is louder, but there are plenty of quieter places to live and you don't really see/hear people out late at night, unless you're living by universities. As for my daily experience, there's all kinds of queer events to go to in the area, including support groups (Boston Area Trans Support Group BATS) and university hosted events that are open to the public. From what I hear, there's not much of a huge art scene, but the MFA is quite active in the Fenway area and you can always find ways to be involved by contacting universities as well. There's a science museum I've been meaning to go to, but I did go to the aquarium and that was like soo awesome. You can search on r/boston as well for any specific experiences or museum/anthropology stuff. I have a friend rn who collects shells and maybe he would have some direct connections, so I will ask him ^-^

For the most part, people in Boston are very queer friendly. I don't know a single homophobic person haha, but I know of people who are TERF adjacent. RACISM and transphobia is probably one of the biggest things here. The city is very segregated and like I mentioned above, it can be difficult accessing certain parts of the city (mainly BIPOC parts) without a car (45-1 hour + on the train/bus vs a 15-30 min drive). I experience a lot of the usual city experiences, people asking for money or asking you for directions, but if you're kind then you won't have an issue. People freak out like its the NYC here when a homeless person walks up to them, but the best advice is try to carry cash, and if you can't give, just say "god bless you I hope you take care".

Anyway, there are several Deaf community events that I know are mainly hosted through Northeastern University. They have deaf interpreter program and they have events open to the public as well. If you want a deaf/hoh community, i think they're your best first step. Their site also has some state resources.

Also a lesbian bar just opened up! Dani's was cute and fun, went with friends once and while the drinks were expensive, the vibe was nice. Saw lots of awesome lesbians and t boys and transmascs all around. While queer spaces will be primarily white, there are BIPOC spaces if you're looking for that too.

this was all over the place but i think this is all I have to say. if anyone else is currently living in Boston or the Salem area and wants to share their thoughts, pls do! ive only been here for about 2 years and I plan to leave soon, so I won't know what its like past the summer.

Good luck!

[charminglyantiquated]

Heyyy, I'm recently obsessing over tallships and was wondering what kind of jobs most people actually do on board? Does everyone do a bit of everything or are some people dedicated to maintenance and others to helping sailing and etc? How much time do you spend working a day and does everyone work all at once or is there a night shift? Sorry for the volume of the question but I'm really interested in this rn

Hi! This got pretty long, so it’s under a cut!

Generally everyone does pre- and post-season maintenance: sanding, painting, varnishing, oiling, cleaning, and all the other work that goes into keeping the ship looking nice, plus any other projects that need working on. Once the sailing season proper begins, the crew has more specific roles, which can vary by ship. In short yes - there are some positions that mostly deal with actually sailing and some (which not every boat has) that mostly maintain certain things (rigging, engine), with overlap depending on how the boat is run, what it does, and the size of the crew and ship. In general, the breakdown of positions/tasks is:

messmate: cook’s assistant and assistant deckhand (so only available on ships out for days at a time, which need ship’s cooks). typically this means meal prep, dishwashing, cleaning the galley, making snacks/coffee/salads/other small dishes, and setting tables, plus on-deck work like helping to tack sails and other odd jobs. entry-level position, since anyone can wash dishes and in the meantime you can shadow the deckhands and learn more sailing-specific things.

deckhand: the manual labor of sailing the boat. washing the deck, hauling, setting, and tending the sails, coiling lines, helping passengers board and disembark, rowing passengers to and from the ship in small boats, raising and dropping the anchor, standing watch, training new deckhands, time at the helm when on deliveries. can be an entry-level position, especially on ships that mostly do day-sails rather than overnights, but deckhands can also be highly skilled.

first mate (and second/third mate maybe??? I have only worked on ships with a first mate lol): in charge immediately following the captain. all the work of a deckhand plus additional responsibilities, among them training new deckhands, radio operation, driving the yaul boat, time at the helm, etc.

ship’s cook: fairly self explanatory. cooking three meals a day for the passengers and crew. because this is a lot of work, it’s almost always supplemented by a messmate. the cook (at least the ones I worked with) washed pots and pans themselves, in addition to cooking, and lit the woodstove early in the morning/tended it throughout the day.

engineer: also self-explanatory. dealing with the boat’s diesel engine and marine systems. not every boat employs an engineer; on the ones I’ve worked on, the captain and mate are usually the ones taking care of the engine.

bosun: care of everything above deck - maintaining and repairing the traditional rigging and sails. like above, not every boat employs one; often the captain, mate, and deckhands do this work.

captain: I mean. you know what a captain does. makes the decisions, charts the course, gives the orders, makes every important call.

How much time do you work a day? This also varies by boat; I’ll break down a typical day on some boats I’ve worked on below. I should say, though that, on windjammers particularly (the ships that go out for days at a time) the days seem extremely long mostly because you live entirely on board - there’s no strict work/home divide, it’s all the same, so although you’re responsible for passenger’s welfare the entire day you’re not doing hard physical labor for all 17 hours you’re awake - there’s time for meals, and usually a bit of downtime.

Unless you’re on deliveries (taking a boat from point A to point B without passengers), there’s no overnight shift, just a rotating overnight anchor watch. The majority of the work, like raising the sails, is time-sensitive rather than ongoing, so the crew generally keeps the same schedule.

on the windjammer I started on, as a messmate - turn to at 6:30 to make coffee, breakfast prep, cleaning breakfast dishes, lunch prep, cleaning lunch dishes, two hours or so of free time, making an afternoon snack, dinner prep, dinner dishes, clean the galley, and then I was off-duty by ~8:30 depending on how long that took. usually about 1 day off a week (trips were anywhere from 3-6 days long, and the day off was usually between trips. passengers would disembark around 10am, the whole ship would be cleaned inside and out until about 2pm, and then you had until 11pm the next night)

on the same windjammer as a deckhand - turn to at 6:30 to wash the deck and polish brass, raise anchor, set sails, hang out on deck tending sails while we were under way, striking sails and dropping anchor mid-afternoon, some days rowing passengers to shore and back), usually done with deckhand work by dinnertime. night watch shifts. the deckhands rotated who had ‘duty’, which was all the smaller chores - raising and lowering flags, lighting and stowing lanterns, cleaning the head, standing first watch, tending the little wood stove at night in the fall. if you were on duty then you were up at 6am, and off watch at 11am, every three days. also about 1 day off a week (if you were on duty, you had to be on board at 5pm the next night, to help the next round of passengers board, show them around the boat, tell them about safety features, etc).

deckhand on a day sailor (ship taking multiple small trips a day) - turn to at 9:30 to get the boat ready for the day - washing the deck, raising flags, cleaning the heads, etc. 4 2-hour sails with 30 min between each - usually about 10 minutes of getting ready for the next sail and 20 min to eat a snack, get more water, etc. Last sail ends at 8 and by 8:30 - 9 the boat is put to bed (sails furled, another deck wash, all that. With a crew that knows what they’re doing I’ve had nights where we were done by 8:15). On average 4 days of work, 3 days off, usually in a block.

deckhand on a different day sailor- turn to at 11am, maintenance until 2, getting the boat ready for a sail for another hour or two, then either and afternoon and sunset sail or just a sunset sail, then putting the boat to bed, done by 9ish? (I can’t remember exactly lol but around there, I think). Days off rotated, so I was off every third day.

deckhand during a delivery (taking the boat point A to point B, with no passengers). Time doesn’t matter. You have a watch group (usually 1/3 of the crew) and a watch schedule - I have experienced 4 hours on, 8 hours off, and 2 hours on, 4 hours off. When you’re on watch you’re at the helm, keeping the ship on course, changing the sails to best use the wind, logging position and other info. When you’re not on watch you have free time (although sometimes each watch group cooks a meal a day, and if there’s an urgent situation you’re expected to be on deck and helping immediately).

As ever, this is subjective, based on my own experiences, but I hope this helps!