Word: yorke
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Built in 1897, the T was the first subway in North America. Then, it was a sign of Boston's increasing industrialization and was praised for its efficiency. No longer is it the most efficient subway, though--Washington and New York have bested it. But, by contrast to its younger siblings, the T has, and builds, character. Today the T stands as a quasi-romantic critique of the soulless efficiency of its contemporaries...
...virtues are best seen in relief to its vicious peers. New York's subway, at least, is similarly musical. The musicians inside the subway itself are rare--and rarely any good--but more important is the potential for a New York subway ride to become a veritable sing-along. There, one can actually "Take the A Train," and it's great fun to sing the "Welcome Back Kotter" theme song while entering Brooklyn. The trouble, of course, is the bevy of thugs (meaner than Vinny Barbarino) and wayward youth who scare timid passengers, especially tourists, into silent submission. Nevertheless...
...Burke intimated: to make us love our subway, our subway must be lovely; not merely awesome, like DC's vaulted ceilings, nor intimidating, like the band of merry men on New York's trains. Perhaps the T's age is gone; maybe that of the D C Metro has succeeded. But, fortunately, the T is safely encased below Boston, and its glory will not fade anytime soon--at least, not so long as every small platoon of liberty, the unique stations, musicians and the rest, remain. Boston had the best subway at the beginning of the 20th century...
When I first met Quentin, he declared, "I don't believe in abroad--I think everyone speaks English behind our backs!" After the success of Servant, Quentin was invited to New York. So from Chelsea in London he came to the Chelsea Hotel in New York--where upon entering he declared, "Home!" If Quentin ever harbored a regret in his life, it was that he had not found New York earlier...
...some cities are targeting a whole different population for arrest: truants' parents. According to a report in Monday's New York Times, one Alabama parent was recently sentenced to 60 days in prison for failing to police a chronic truant. While these programs have shown some early success, they raise some hefty ethical questions - should we put kids in control of sending their parents to jail? Can the single parent of a grown high school student make his or her child go to school? As with most areas of education reform, there don't seem to be any simple solutions...