Boston: Get Your Drink On...or Die

Recently this piece appeared as part of the Boston Globe's boston.com site in the "Things to Do" section. I think its premise is most excellent - providing alternatives to the regular ream and roll of weekends, or (let's be honest this is Boston) weekdays, spent out drinking. I enjoy a drink as much as anyone else in the room, but am also well aware that there are many more things that one can do with their leisure time than spend it leaning over the bar.

I think my awareness of this is somewhat of a hyper-awareness. In college (yes, that's the same as university my little Canadian friend) I had a number of friends that chose not to drink for a variety of reasons. For some it was a familial decision - due to a history of alcoholism. For others it was religious reasons - not just the Bible Thumping Evangelicals you might suspect (actually in Canada I know of no Bible Thumpers, I think we are altogether too respectful of others for that), but also a number of Muslim friends. Then, there were those that simply chose not to drink for no specified reason. All of this was more than comprehensible and understandable to us. We were friends and friends accept all aspects of each other's personalities. That's what friendship is about.

Now contrast that to the American college experience. From what I understand from my US college graduate friends, and from the parties down the hallway, drinking is equivalent to the college experience itself. You can't have one without the other. Canadians, it's just like you saw on US TV shows growing up...I don't know when they study either.

And multiply that exponentially because of Boston. Whether it's all that "we're Irish, so we drink!" attitude coming out of Southie and multiple other towns, or the prevalence of traditional brew master recipes in the area, Boston is not short on drinking. Really. Not short.

So it seemed enlightening and truly innovative for boston.com to create a feature around activities to do that do not involve drinking.

But...take a closer look. Let me get you in on something here.

Of the 10 suggested activities, 6 (yeah, I said six) take place at bars! Are you kidding me! Of the other 4 - all (yeah, I said ALL) of the venues serve alcohol although they are not bars specifically. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

This is not the 'dry' fun I had expected. And God help the recovering alcoholic that happened upon this list with a degree of hope that they'd have something to do Friday night.

That's not to say, there aren't GREAT dry things to do. For example, Club Passim (Cambridge's original home for folk music) is a great dry location to hear some amazing acts. There are also book readings, lectures, GREAT coffee shops (such as the one lovingly featured here), museums, etc, etc.

Not to mention ice cream or tea. See, I have a particular affinity for both. With my non-alcohol consuming friends the BEST things we could do was trip down Bloor to Greg's Ice Cream (the best ice cream I have ever had to date) or go to one of the many local hotels for high tea. It was the best in social activities with the best of friends. Trust me, with the company I was keeping, I didn't know I was missing a thing in terms of alcohol. And Boston is hardly devoid of ice cream shops or settings for tea, as at least two alternatives to alcohol-inspired fun.

And I am sure there are many more awesome, alcohol free amounts of fun-ness to be had in Boston that does not take place in a bar or random other places that serve alcohol. Unfortunately, no one at boston.com got the memo on that one. Makes you wonder if the writers...well were just really "local-ized" or have a problem themselves.

Seriously Boston. Sober up.