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Condé Nast Traveler says Boston is entering its ‘next chapter.’ Do you agree?
The publication featured Boston in its September/October issue.
The city of Boston is entering its “next chapter,” according to an article featured in Condé Nast Traveler‘s September/October issue.
Sarah Khan, author of the piece and a native of the area, wrote about how many of the communities who built Boston have been excluded from the narrative of its history.
Boston has a reputation as “the exclusive enclave of Mark Wahlbergs, ‘paahked caahs,’ and obnoxious sports fans,” Khan wrote, adding that the city’s artists, entrepreneurs, chefs, and Mayor Michelle Wu — the first woman and person of color elected mayor — are changing that.
The current city council is the most diverse in Boston history, she noted, and Wu is prioritizing equity and inclusion.
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“Boston is very diverse and highly segregated—everyone stays in their bubble,” Christopher Worrell, State Representative for the 5th Suffolk District (Dorchester and Roxbury), told Khan. “But I think there’s more mixing and mingling now; it’s a whole different generation. The people who used to be in power used to only look out for their people, and the people that were in power did not look like you and I.”
Khan left Boston decades ago because it was “a place where the invisible boundaries that partition communities felt difficult to transcend,” she wrote.
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For the piece, she visited diverse restaurants and other businesses across the city, spoke with the folks running them, and seemed satisfied with her experience.
“I’ve spent the past few decades continent-hopping, from New York City to Cape Town, Mumbai to Dubai, all cities I found more cosmopolitan and exciting than Boston,” wrote Khan. “But my Hyderabadi parents still live in the suburbs and so I’ve kept finding my way back, wondering when Boston will catch up with the world. I’m starting to think the moment has come.”
Khan went on a Black history tour with Afrimerican Academy and explored the Immigrant History Trail in Chinatown. Some of the places she wrote about include Just Book-ish, a Black-owned bookstore in Dorchester; BLKChip, a gallery in the Seaport; Grace by Nia, a Seaport soul food spot; Jadu (which means magic in Hindi), a coffee shop and wine bar in Jamaica Plain; and Dorchester’s Comfort Kitchen, owned by Chef Biplaw Rai from Nepal and his wife Nyacko Pearl Perry.
Perry told Khan, “This restaurant is multiple things. We don’t represent one identity or one particular group. I think as a whole Boston is seeing more of that.”
Do you agree? Is Boston entering its ‘next chapter’? Let us know in the form below or e-mail us at [email protected]. Your response might be featured in an upcoming article.
Condé Nast Traveler says Boston is entering its 'next chapter.' Do you agree?
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