#therealxn

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City life. ▫️ #urbannature #flower #rose #greenway #NorthEnd #Boston #flower #magenta #dslr #dslrphotography #akaXN #TheRealXN (at Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway) https://www.instagram.com/p/Byn0P1lHrgE/?igshid=6xinvci4k8tm

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Brunch with the fabulous boys. The great egret is, well great. You don’t have to worry about their personality because everyone says they’re great. Really. They’re great. It’s right in their name, after all: “Great egret.” I mean, technically his real name of the great egret is actually “Pelecaniformes Ardeidae,” but he wants everyone to call him by the name he got in his frat at Cornell. Oh, pardon me – did he not yet drop that he went to an Ivy League? No? Well, he prolly figured you knew because, well, he’s so great. Like so many cool boys of Boston, these egrets love a good brunch. It’s part of what makes them so, well, great. That’s why they love Boston and, well, live pretty much anywhere in North America where there’s wetlands. Heck, they even mingle with crocodiles down south without a care in the world. Great? Right? Everyone says it: he’s just SOOO great. The great egret is the official symbol of the National Audubon Society. Yeah, he’s famous. Check his insta and twitter. (He prolly won’t follow you back, sorry.) I mean, GREAT right? Great egret chicks are highly competitive. In fact, a lot of times they will literally peck the weak er ones to death. But, I mean, EVERYONE says he’s great. So just ignore that familial murder stuff. He’s GREAT Trust me. Everyone says. His wings are so powerful and have so much surface area that only a couple beats a second keep them aloft. Granted, they’re sow flyers, but let’s not linger in silly details. Why point out flaws? EVERYONE knows they’re great. Let’s not be petty. While always mostly white, in mating season he will wear longer tail feathers and get a perch of neon green on his face. Not too much color – JUST enough to be classy. Because classy means, you know . . . you’re SO great. This one didn’t notice me. I tried to wave, but he was busy brunching in Southie/ Prolly being great, like cool boys often are. Too great to say hi, but it’s okay. 
He’s great. Everyone says. ▫️ #satire #birds #animalfacts #animallover #egret #wetlands #conservation #ecology #boston #bostonnature #southie #bostonharbor #Castleisland #dawn #daybreak #akaXN #TheRealXN (at Boston Harbor) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPN6yb4tCb8/?utm_medium=tumblr

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South End things. The backside of what was once #LittleSyria. One of the rare photos I did not tweak or color tune. This is just how #Boston is. ◽️ #southend #bluesky #spring #boossoms #green #akaXN #TheRealXN (at South End) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPGzjMat5Yc/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Secret money cults of the old oligarchy. Or something. This is one of my “secret doors.” I’m not going to tell you where it is, but it’s technically not very secret; it’son a pretty well- travelled street. I don’t know what compels this level of architecture for a door front. I mean, obviously I do know, but only understand it as an abstraction of historical ideas. I know the motivation of the sculpture only as a context of “social analysis.” How the ruling class of this city has always been defined by wealth, to the point of obtuse blindness to the conditions of any other place. How this self-aggrandizing sense of success compelled the Bostonians of the late 1800s to posture and preen like Victorians. Their grandiosity became monuments of their cruelty; how they would gladly exploit their world to revere in their finery. So, yes, I know “how it got here,” and what motivated it. But still, in a way I don’t. I have stared at it a few times after visiting a dear buddy of mine in his attic level efficiency studio. His flat feels very French, but then again so does he. (These are hints, by the way, on the location.) But every time I puzzle the symbolism. Angels and a peace dove. In a way, starkly generic; as if some wealthy poshmonger was just all “Oh, DARLING,” (referring tot he sculptor) “SURELY you know the style? Somethign austere, and maybe classical, but nothing radical. No exposed breasts – this is #BOSTON, after all!” And then the sculptor just did something, well, generic. And here we are. I have no idea, you see. None of us probably will. What inspired THIS specific concoction. Was it symbolic, or just simplistic? So I want to pretend it is some secret code; some long forgotten symbols that mark the entrance to some dark, wealthy cult. They did not worship gods; they worshipped power. And this was their side door. (Whoops – another clue!) Well, I’ll let the mystery stand. And I’ll still visit from time to time and puzzle. That is, after all, probably part of the reason they went this grand in the first place. ▫️ #akaXN #TheRealXN (at Boston, Massachusetts) https://www.instagram.com/p/CO9DTJdNqAU/?igshid=1whj2owwrw104

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The word for the day is: PATINA. The #SouthEnd plays host to #Boston’s largest collection of vintage printed sign art. While most of it is often so work away as to be easily overlooked, most of them are protected. Being paint they will wear away slowly and be gone one day. But, for now, they lean against alleyways and watch quietly from wall perches, the forgotten old souls of the neighborhood., These are only a few. I will try to bring more in a later post. When I look at the, I am reminded how much we lose with the societal push to please those with the fattest wallets. The South End has become a wealth enclave over the past couple decades, but these signs remind us of the astounding working class and immigrant neighbors that made this neighborhood so remarkable. It was these communities, and not the eager-to-refurbish-and-modernize new rich that made this place dynamic. Looking at old city survey maps you will learn the South End was once more Italian than the North End. The Irish mobsters scattered that problem, transforming the lower South End into a sneaky industrial district, displacing these immigrants. The painted signs of labor industries hints at the clever way one beleaguered class of immigrants bullied another. By the way, the Russian Jews also held roost, and they went west while the Italians went north. Little Syria – where once the Boston Creamery was epicenter – is as forgotten as the lost Little Greece. Yes, digest that a moment. The super-white South End was once a vibrant Syrian neighborhood, and the posh “loft style condos” were populated with Greeks. These people worked the jobs that needed the signs. Now, their memory is literally obliterated from recall. They have faded, faster than the paint. Soon all will be gone. Some say it’s “just the natural cycle of urbanity.” But this doesn’t mean we shrug off the losses. Which is why I often pause and read the old signs; faded thumbprints of a history erased. ▫️ #bostonhistory #vintage #retro #mural #typeface #brick #forgottenboston #dirtyoldboston #akaXN #TheRealXN (at South End) https://www.instagram.com/p/COogv93NVdJ/?igshid=m8et6rkwlpux

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Rare all-stars of New England have been turning up late in the pandemic. Apologies for the lower-quality-than-usual pictures, but these celebs are VERY elusive, and you catch-as-catch-can when you’re lucky enough to run across one. The black #squirrels of New England are rather rare, but are actually not unusual. The World Famous Public Alley 701 has played host to a small, generational family line of black s#quirrel for a few decades now, and there’s always one or two sneaking around. The posh-ass gentrifying locals believe these elusive megastars bring up property values and probably graduated from Cornell or Yale and work in a prestigious VC firm on Broad Street. In reality, they are just a “#melanistic subgroup” of the good, old common grey #squirrel. Yes, racial diversity among these cuties is normal. (Unlike the current state of the #SouthEnd neighborhood they live in. Boop.) In other words: the #blacksquirrel is simultaneously special and “just like all the others,” all at once. I have always loved me a squirrel, and love how we smarty-fartsy human-types can learn from them. But I had no sooner finished swooning over my lucky run-in with that megastar after next spotting a local #diva who has held the top spot on the charts for millennia. The #mourningdove, known for her adestinctive, comfofting coo, which is much different from it’s rattier city-pigeon cousins. Sadly, the populations of this musical gem of #NewEngland has been on a steady decline in the past few decades. The iconic and tranquil song of these understated and delicate crooners was once everywhere, and now it is very rare to hear it in downtown. I was lucky to get the optimal concert seats even if I couldn’t snap a clear picture. But then again, these beauties are well camouflaged. I put some of the optics-fail on their press-agent’s public costuming choices. Two rare prestige superstars in one day. This fanboy is all bragging and instaflexing after these high-culture celebrity run-ins. ▫️ #urbannature #pigeon #blacksquirrel #dove #melanin #Boston #southend #birdsighting #cuties # ecology #akaXN #TheRealXN (at South End) https://www.instagram.com/p/COP9vdyDG38/?igshid=pbdp0s63z2t9

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Scorpio super moon over a sleeping cape. ▫️ #moonsign #fullmoon #ptown #provincetown #spooky #capecod #nightsky #capecod #akaXN #TheRealXN (at Provincetown, Massachusetts) https://www.instagram.com/p/COILi6Qjd1s/?igshid=1e3cg02lbkoov

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There’s an irony for the oldest congregation in Boston (nearing 400 years) choosing the crane for an iconic symbol. 
it’s a building and development joke, Very Bostonian If you don’t get it, don’t sweat it. Moving on. This recent Easter the Old South Church reveals a cascade of origami cranes in their magnificent #gothic portico. I have to say: it’s darn effective. Something so simple and temporary and light as color paper hanging within a building so something so stern and complex and heavy. The cranes are meant as symbols of hope and inspiration; quiet, whimsical reminders that the human journey goes on, and whatever moment you’re having is fleet and fleeting, soon to be replaced by another, and another, and another. Like paper folded into birds and strung on twine, there’s always another moment. What you’re feeling and experiencing right now? Yeah, it’ll be gone soon. You may not even remember it in a few days, let alone a few weeks. As temporary and replaceable as paper, even it each moment is arguably special and unique. The next experience we have will be as unique as the previous. It’s color will be different, and it’s scale, structure, and form completely separate from the previous or the next, even if it resembles the same basic form as all it’s neighbors. This is an idea of hope and persistence. Not being stuck; not being perfect. If you forget, just crane your head up and look. AS IF YOU DIDN’T SEE THAT PUN COMING? ▫️ #origami #oldsouthchurch #cathedral #granite #arches #bostonarchitecture #boston #cranes #artinstallation #spirituality #publicart #craft #hope #akaXN #TheRealXN (at Old South Church in Boston) https://www.instagram.com/p/CODfSVjD8SU/?igshid=1o3idbsc4k583

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I was certain during the summer of 2020 that the street outrage was the start of a long, protracted phase of reckoning, and not a “final straw” for resolution. The issues plaguing our society are not new. The life-threatening state of so-called “public safety, especially among black, brown, indigenous and other groups defined through racism and marginalized through white supremacy, has always been baked into our communities. The dominant forces want to emphasize the “changes” and “improvements’ that have happened over the decades. But it’s hard to muster appreciation for the gestures that are like crusts of bread when those serving it are the same ones causing the starvation of dignity to begin with. I want to see continued vocalization and relentless reminder of the need to work organizationally and persistently. But I think we are beyond the need for words and posturing. Participating in local community legislation, adjusting private sector operation, and putting in ten quiet actions for every one shouted truth is the work now. And yet, we falter. It is my white luxury to “take a break” without also making a hard plan to step back in. It was taught to me, groomed into me, and even rewarded. It is often why the loudness “works” for white people; reminding us that we aren’t working hard enough, fast enough, cooperatively enough, or even at all. I have spent the better part of 12 months reading, reading, reading and researching. My actions are quiet and they feel so castrated. But they are architectural, I tell myself; I want to engage more, but want to know well what I am engaging. Shouting can only wake me up, but shouting can not teach me well. I know it is not enough – not by a long shot – to stem the list that should not grow and continues to creep longer. The list that recently added Daunte Write, young father and family man. Murdered. We will not ever see a last straw. This is a phase, not a watershed. We are damning the tide with a wall of sand. It slips back and decays effort unless we constantly, constantly, constantly act against it. Embrace this phase. Keep shouting if you like. But get to work because you must. ▫️ #akaXN #TheRealXN (at Boston, Massachusetts) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNsQBgjD1Nw/?igshid=wmo4n5ef2oxv

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The last of things. The first of things. The turning of things. ▫️ The seasons are shifting. In the Northeast USA, this means a lot of drama, romance, and hyperbole. Explosions of exaggeration, prancing. and preening. It’s easy to get intoxicated with #spring. No one can blame ya for rushing by, accidentally overlooking the tales unfolding around you. That’s just normal. It’s easy to miss the curious moments that only happen as winter goes to sleep. Unique angles of the sunlight, which we only get for a few weeks. Fascinating articulation of branches, typically otherwise masked by foliage or dulled by murky sky backdrops. Even the mud is somehow unique and temporary. I was, myself, slowed by the oft-overlooked orchards of #MissionHill. It hypnotizes to look up through the network of branches; just a forgettable tangle if you’re rushing by. But pausing upward reveals a testimony to the cleverness of nature; branches skillfully networking among neighbors to gain light. The old o#rchards were the #posh establishment of a local-legendary family, the #Ruggles of #Boston. Yes, these trees still bear fruit. Contemporary ordinance now maintains this land as public nature conservatory. For a few decades the area has been oft-dominated by the most intimidating and largest gangs, the Orchard Park Gang. It’s their skilled ability to integrate into spaces and network into community that allows them to sustain a position of power in the district. That an ironic parallel to the orchards’ own integration with the resident nature. Contemplating urban struggle with vernal invigoration, I noted how you can only see the branches so clearly at this time of year, when the #sunlight angles low but bright. Whole stories told through these shapes defined by the light. But it’s a fleeting quality; the tales will end in favor of the frivolous shouts of late spring. I thought I was the only one watching. I nearly missed two young lovers, also reading the sky, watching the winter brush itself back to prepare the stage for the next great tale. Glad I saw them. Glad our stories get intertwined like branches. Even when we’re too distracted to notice. ▫️ #akaXN #TheRealXN (at Mission Hill) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNPpRqyDbXZ/?igshid=eiv6fslle69u

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No bad energy in Chinatown allowed. This is what Foo dogs “do.” Thats their job; keeping bad spirits out and guarding prosperity and success. Their use dates back over 2000 years, and for max good luck you need one boy Foo (who will have a ball), and one girl foo (who will have a puppy). I love how Boston’s boy Foo also has a sneaky ball hidden in his mouth. I think that right now, with APII violence on the rise nationally, the job of #Boston’s four Foo are more important than ever. These two Foo are the infamous “Missing Foo” of Boston. That’s why they are much crisper and well-kept than their twins over at the #Chinatown Gate. To protect the two Foo from construction chaos, they were hidden away during Boston’s “#BigDig” project, where miles and miles of 60+ mph traffic was rerouted UNDERGROUND – while the highway was kept open! In the 1990s, some rich, self-entitled (white) jerk from #Lexington (a semi-posh suburb of Boston) decided the two Foo would look fancy on his stone garden patio. You see, the Dig was prolonged and objects being protected were being shifted all around. So this biscuit DECICED they were abandoned and up for grabs as home decor. DOUCHEBAG. Worst part is he refused at first to give them back, and wouldn’t release until we threatened to sue him. Yeah, when I say “Eat The Rich,” it’s because of behavior like this. The Foo were originally given to Boston as a gift from #Taiwan in 1982. In 1982, Boston erected the famous #pagoda arched gateway on Beech Street at Surface Road. The four Foo stood proud until the two here were removed to protect them. The two missing Foo didn’t find their way back out onto the street until recently. Now they sit at the “back end” of Chinatown, as they city tries to bring dignity can culture to the traditionally sour side of the neighborhood that the city typically treated poorly. There is a lot of reparations our city needs to make with this district and it’s people.

Maybe the Missing Foo will help diminish some of Boston’s nasty spirits towards this vital neighborhood once and for all. ▫️ #truecrime #Chinatown #Bostonia #BostonHistory #CombatZone #downtowncrossing #secretboston #akaXN #TheRealXN (at Chinatown) https://www.instagram.com/p/CM0KYegjNSv/?igshid=ymlwfdoo7x35

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The #murals of Rob Gibbs have brought a dignity to the city by reconnecting politics and empathy to public art. But while the accolades of his work include words like “powerful,” “intimate” and concepts of anger, pain and healing, for me I also deeply appreciate how he always – ALWAYS – includes grouches of humor. Many of us hold stories of survival within us. The power to persevere is a process of forgiveness, patience, and perseverance, among other qualities. And one of the “other qualities” is laughter. The power of comedy to help us heal is often overlooked or misused. I think, within his murals, Mr. Gibbs always applies whimsy it masterfully. Humans find things funny from a distance. When we have space, and look upon something from far away – whether distant in s time or literal space – it becomes more humorous. When you see someone trip from across the street it is silly, even though when it is next to us we feel concern. When we think of our past we often laugh at our own absurdity, even though it might have been Excutive in while we lived the melodrama. Distance helps us find humor. This fact of humor also works in reverse. When things are framed with a touch of satire of slapstick, our mind steps back a little. This distance is useful for more than evoking a few grins; it also opens up space to heal, to learn, and to analyze with fresh eyes. This is why @problak’s application of humor is so precious. Yes there is struggle and pain and conflict in his work. But it’s this humor that brings the challenge and charm of his pieces alive. ▫️ #madisonpark #problak #muralsforthemovement #roxbury #roxburyrenaissance #graffiti #murals #muralist #urbanart #boston #akaXN #TheRealXN (at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMaN39tjpfQ/?igshid=4pxo697tcbe5

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Swan boats on the #Charles between winter and spring. The mute #swan – Cygnus color – is actually not mute at all. They just don’t like talking to the poors. If you have ever had a conversation with them, congrats: they can smell your portfolio. But don’t lie: we’re all way too broke for the likes of these snooty snoots. The mute #swan is not native to #Massachusetts at all. During the early 1800s some posh girl (presumed to be from the Hudson Valley New York area) spoke thus (ahem): “DADDY I DEMAND you retrieve a swan to the Estate at once! If you shan’t, I shall tell muh-ma about your “hunting trip[s” with Lord Snivelsby! I swear it!” And thus, #swans were imported from Europe so that a few estates could look even more posh. Eventually the swans made a jailbreak. Being mute, no one heard them go. One biological trait to the mute swan is their remarkable dexterity for picking locks and memorizing sequences of numbers in lock codes. The landscape of #NewEngland was similar enough to the swan’s #European home that they were able to adapt. For a hundred years, the mute swan roamed the region, which is unusual for the species. Eventually over the decades they came to prefer southern New England, probably because of Newport. After all, everyone knows swans can NOT live in a home with less than nine bedrooms, after all. In recent decades the mute swan has spread into Massachusetts, being especially fond of our many, many freshwater features, such as Boston’s Charles River. The esplanade currently plays host to two mating pairs, Carlisle and Genevieve, and Dabney and Blythe. Again, as mute swans will NOT talk to poors these names are only assumed, but highly probable. The powerful neck of the mute swan is actually covered with a thick layer of downey feathers, thicker than a typical goose. This is known in biology as a “shnazzy pashmina.” It makes their necks incredibly resilient as they dive in the icy waters for nibbling. But really: how classy can they actually be if they’re eating from (shudder) the BOTTOM of the #CharlesRiver? The takeaway here is simple: #Boston’s #Victorian obsession is completely #fowl. ▫️ #bostonnature #conservation #akaXN #TheRealXN (at Charles River Esplanade) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMOIi8xD8kS/?igshid=4p5j5rw5uzv6

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A city of hills that dumped 6 or 7 into the harbor. The #Shawmut #peninsula was originally a very hilly outcropping of land that resembled an amoeba-shaped lollipop from above. Essentially, it was an island attached by a tiny thread of land that would later become the city’s beloved (and long) Washington Street. The #geology under the #harbor is a wildly uneven underwater #mountain range, with a complex system of jagged crags and valleys. These make sailing in to the harbor tricky; there is really only one way into and one way out from the open ocean; a naturally-occurring channel that was slowly carved out over millennia by the outlow from the Mystic and Charles Rivers. While it seems openly navigable from above, it isn’t’ there is only one, winding, serpentine path navigable to the City of Hills. Once charted, The British King realized that he found something very unique: a self-protecting waterway. If you didn’t know the route, your ship would crash. This shoved the #Chesapeake Bay and #Virginia out of favor, as those ports requires more extensive protection. The control of #BostonHarbor was like Bezos owning the only highway; imagine what that would do for his shipping profits! Sadly, this meant the #indigenous #Nipmuc were soon to be threatened. These noble people fished these lands and used the island as burial. Traders themselves, the initial interactions were peaceable. But #colonizer greed knows no peace for long. Soon, the hilly expanse of promontories was crowded as the most profitable European trade port of the era. Which meant the Nipmuc were summarily banished, then murdered, then culturally suffocated. That any survive today is as unlikely as the Shawmut topography itself. Over the centuries, Boston chopped down it’s many hills to build more city land, literally encasing the old peninsula. In the photo, on the right, is the last remaining: the famous #BeaconHill (which only survived because that’s where the rich people lived). Behind it is half of Copp’s Hill. The rest is flat. By the way, see the three towers on the left side of the photo? I live roughly in between of the two taller ones. Wave hello! ▫️ #bostonhistory #akaXN #TheRealXN (at Boston Harbor) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMA_l1UDy6C/?igshid=g87ml9bdohnm

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The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady and other Ash Wednesday things. I haven’t posted the #Cathedral for a while. But the other night the sky was doing it’s magic and the #stainedglass masterpieces were dazzling, so I ran out to grab some of the action. The #history of the Cathedral for the Holy Cross ascinates me. Not the parts we commonly know, but the parts that are cleverly omitted. Like, Bostonians know that the land on which the Cathedral stands was formerly the West Cove, a swampy, shallow portion of the original Boston harbor. However, when it was filled in it created an “accidental #gerrymander” effect for many immigrant classes, including sudden representation for Syrians, Russian, Italians and (most notably) the Irish. The new residences created voting power, which allowed the Irish to become the city’s biggest real estate bullies for almost 100 years. Considering the Irish were beat up in the streets for a century (no literally – broads Street Riots; look it up), it sort of makes sense that, once they gained voting power, they would kind of push back. The Cathedral is the center of that pushback, with the Boston Archiocese cleverly monopolizing nearly a whole district for many, many decades. Add to this the strange criminal elements that would lead the the infamous mobster Whitey Bulger, and later the shameful child molestation scandals, this monolith’s “side history” makes it one of the most fascinating centerpieces in the city. And yet, we mostly just marvel at it’s gothic majesty. And those windows. While they look older, they are (like so many aspects fo the building) of a deceptive history. Barely 70 years old, they represent “the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady,” which I will not pretend I have any idea of knowing. Catholic mythology is expansive, of course, which makes sense that the building would have so much mythology itself. More of the story on the next magical night. ▫️ #church #sunset #easter #puddingstone #limestone #roxbury #southend #bostonhistory #bostonarchitecture #goth #akaXN #TheRealXN (at Cathedral of the Holy Cross) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLfGeTGj4YI/?igshid=4e1iqnmfx0km

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Not really your thing, though. ▫️ #beard #bearded #selfsatire #mugshot #selfie #portrait #40something #obviousthirsttrap #bust #smolder #scruffy #instagay #serious #thot #perpetuallysingle #whysoserious #akaXN #TheRealXN https://www.instagram.com/p/CLUd86SDkEw/?igshid=8io9fkdr1pk8