Boston, The Expedient

An issue has been lingering in the background of this blog, one I haven't taken particular aim at articulating. The issue has been referred to in previous posts but a lack of true attention has been paid to it.

It is the students, colleges and all that the 4 years of undergraduate education can bring with it. Boston does not lack in colleges (again, for the Canadians in the crowd, college = university), in fact they probably suffer from too many of them. This is one of my favorite maps, showing the sheer volume of land that colleges own in the greater Boston area: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boston_college_town_map.png . The count from Wikipedia about the number of colleges in the area is 50.

Now in a town with that much education going on you'd expect a highly intellectual, in for museums and arts crowd, right? Well, maybe if you are Canadian you would. But, oh my dear Canadians, you make the assumption that this is a University of Toronto/UBC/McGill crowd, because of Harvard right? No, no, no. This is a Queen's on a Saturday night/ chick from Western looking to get drunk, laid and hitched crowd.

The debauchery is remarkable. The stooges even take pride in it and tape the stuff. Now that is nothing to be proud of, but the student-y atmosphere manifests itself in other ways as well. The spirit of the student radiates through the town, taking all of us living here down with it in a sprial of drunkeness that only a Friday night can inspire.

I think Boston is the most expedient of cities because of the colleges. Everyone under-25 here will tell you, like any hardened criminal, about how they are "putting in time." The typical scenario plays out in two possible ways:

• Scenario 1: The Townie - Kids from Boston who stay in Boston for school. The proceed to commit fully to the town. Because they have never been away to anywhere, they have no intention of moving. They have formed early friendships with the people from their hometown and have a few friends, for good measure, from college. They do not need any more friends. They will revel in what they've got in Boston and call it a day.
• Scenario 2: The Stay-Over College Kid - Kids that come to Boston for college and end up staying a few extra years to get some work experience and because their friends are here. This is not a committed group to the town. They may think they are for a while, but slowly upon slowly as their college friends drift away so too do they.

Now the expediency comes in in the attitudes that flow from these two post-student studenty types, and it haunts you especially if you didn't go to college here and instead were parachuted in to this town as some form of adult. The Townies don't need you as friends - they don't care - so you are nothing to them and they generally don't become your friend. The more disturbing of the two is the Stay-Overs. For the Stay-Over Types, they may befriend you - but, hey, they are on their way out, so...

A friend of mine as a great term for it. Boston really is the official home of the "superficial friend." In other words (as another former room mate put it to me) a friend in Boston is a friend for now, because you're here now. It isn't a long term thing. When you are no longer of use to them, they move on.

This can be extremely hard on those parachuted types - trust me.

If Toronto is the city of middle management (honestly everyone is a manager, 30 with a dog, husband, child and picket fence in Burlington), then Boston is the king of Entry Level. In that sense they are worlds apart.

Now, you ask, isn't there other types of people around other than these post-studenty types? Well, yes there are. Here, however, is the sorta sick part - the expedient thing, the student thing, seems to resonate throughout the Boston crowd. Everyone here has embraced the attitude toward the town and all are on a temporary hold over it seems. There are a few exceptions, but they are few. Everyone can be done away with in this town. Everyone is just using Boston to fill in a gap on a resume. Everyone is here for a few years, then, you know...

The attitude actually keeps the townies happy -- they seemingly get their city back every few years. It also hardens them, because they've seen it all. Because they never left.

The city, on the other hand, is in continual renewal. The city does, to a certain degree, get reborn every September with a fresh class of college kids....but on the other hand how good can that much high turnover be for one place? As any Bain consultant will tell you, high turnover ultimately lowers productivity and it certainly isn't good for morale.

And it leads inevitably to more turnover.

Because, hey, you are only here to fill the time with a constant view to the end.

Welcome to your expedient years.