Chat up someone, anyone

Two friends talk about philosophy on a bench in Boston's Public Garden. JOHN NORDELL / STAFF

Good conversations are low-hanging fruit In Boston.

Want to talk about sex, religion and politics; got a point to make on a favorite sport, team or player; want to consider how the history of the United States hinged on the fact that the Iroquois nation was in upstate New York and the hunter-gatherer tribes in Massachusetts were not as warlike; not know that there's better music - per capita of course - in Boston than New York; or that the Gulf Stream and melting glaciers of Greenland mean swimming at Nantasket Beach this weekend will not be too cold at low tide if there's an offshore breeze; someone in Boston will be glad to talk about it with you.

Pick any corner in the Back Bay, any station on the Red line, even ride the Mass Ave. bus to Harvard and tête-à-têtes will fly your way.

Just after moving here in 1979 I went to vote. It was a local precinct on Mass. Ave by Symphony Hall. The petite, grey-haired matron handing me the ballot wasn't the least tongue-tied when I told her, "No, I didn't want the Democratic ballot, I was a Republican."

She, and the cop on polling-station duty engaged me for half-an-hour. "Buddy, there hasn't been a Republican candidate in this precinct in 30 years," said the officer. It was poli-sci 101 on local, read Democratic, read Irish, politics. (I wrote myself in as a candidate.)

Bostonians look like they're in a hurry, and many of them are. But pitch a topic to someone standing by you, and whether it's local, national, global, or cosmic in nature, see what develops.

Bet it's a good conversation.

— by Jim Bencivenga

'Bertha Foster' garden - Dave Hauck	Chat up someone, anyone - Jim Bencivenga	Beantown music scene - J. Johnson
What's foreign found local - Susan Leach	How to walk in Boston - Judy Lowe	Just take a walk - Greg Lamb
Delegates unite - walk! - Greg Palmer	Where to go for some seafood - Daigo Fujiwara	Seek out a quiet moment - Tom Regan
'To think that I saw it on Newbury St.!' - Christina McCarroll	Some antiquarian bookstores of Boston - Tom Toth