Lowering Myself to Boston's Level

(I hope you appreciate this)



It's always great to get some vindication from the outside world. A big underlying theme to this little blog (yep, I'm going to admit it) is my deep love for my own hometown - Toronto. And, accordingly, my attempts to acclimatize myself to the Bostonian way of being. In no way shape or form, do I hate living in Boston. But I always did feel something was missing. Or, put more to the point, that this town was missing out.

Its a hard thing to put a finger on, but all too often I find myself comparing Toronto and Boston all too openly. My "Hmmm...well that is interesting, but in Toronto we do things differently" has become an all too common refrain in my life.

So truth be told there are times, many times, when I have thought to myself that we do not just do it differently in Toronto, but that we do it better. Toronto is no perfect city. But I constantly feel I'm missing out in Boston.

And so I did feel vindicated by Foreign Policy magazine's ranking of Global Cities 2008. And as you've probably guessed, yep - Toronto is not number one. Why should it be? But, it did rank #10 on the overall ranking as opposed to Boston's #29 ranking.

Toronto gets kudos in the magazine for both its human capital and the cultural experiences it can offer citizens. I do miss that - art and stuff. Boston, Foreign Policy notes, is a great place to get a degree. Well...yes...but there is quite the variations in quality in that aspect in my experience.

So I've been lowering myself to Boston's level over the past 3+ years? Apparently. Isn't that nice of me.

And the embers never fade,
In the city by the lake.
The place where you were born.