Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Dec 12, 2009, 3:13 pm
It's not quite the solstice yet but winter has snapped into place in Dorchester, Mass.  Some people welcome the biting nip in the air while others, who enjoy being outside, dread the&nbs...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Dec 9, 2009, 5:15 pm
The annual poinsettia exchange took place today under inclement conditions. As usual, the event took place on the second Wednesday in December.  The day was chosen because Wednesday is the middle...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Dec 8, 2009, 5:26 pm
I was wandering around the Polish Triangle today, that area bounded by Columbia Road at its base and Dot Ave and Boston Streets at its sides.  These two last two converge at Andrew Square, hence ...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Dec 6, 2009, 9:21 pm
You can buy beer by the pint at a good price in Dochester, Boston's biggest and best neighborhood, but what about cocktails?  Can a sophisticated palate purchase a fine sipping drink in ...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Dec 5, 2009, 4:37 pm
I asked the girl at Gene and Paul's Fresh Meats if she knew where creamed corn came from.  She told me, "Aisle 3 on the left."  Since I was buying a can I had picked off the shelf, I alr...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Dec 3, 2009, 1:43 pm
Dorchester made yesterday's New England in Brief column (third item down) in the Globe. In 2005 a Julian Street resident attempted to secret his stash of Class B substances in a Chips Ahoy package...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Dec 2, 2009, 4:59 pm
This is an unscientific survey with a limited sample, anecdotal evidence supplied by informal expeditions. For all the so-called gentrification underway in Dorchester, this part of Boston is still ho...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Dec 1, 2009, 4:43 pm
The new Harp and Bard logo is simple in its charms. Geometry turned to expression. Typeface manipulated to express more than the sum of its parts. Granted, we are not talking calligraphy here and anyo...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Dec 1, 2009, 4:06 am
Anyone driving down Dot Ave the past few months knows that the Harp and Bard (1099 Dot Ave, at the corner of Savin Hill) has undergone a new look. The place looks downright sophisticated but that is a...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 30, 2009, 5:32 pm
Dorchester is the dark heart of a wider metropolis. The weed of crime bears bitter fruit in Dorchester, Mass. Hard men and their molls get beaten to pulps in Dorcheser but there are good men too, and ...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 29, 2009, 3:05 pm
... . If Beacon Hill is home to bluebloods and West Roxbury is home to suburbanites...if Hyde Park is home to retirees ... and the South End are bustling while preserved in amber...if Roxbury and M...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 28, 2009, 2:54 pm
I've always heard it said that the smartest Bostonians are the ones in Roslindale. Though I haven't been in Boston as long as some people, I did stumble across a nugget of proof that this fact...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 27, 2009, 8:48 pm
DATELINE: 11/27/09. DORCHESTER, MASS. Heh. The day after Thanksgiving and everybody in Dorchester seems a little logey. No one will go on record saying this is business as usual. Though Dorchester has...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 22, 2009, 3:03 pm
This is a complicated story about Harold Ross, a reporter, man of letters, and a member of the American Legion, who came under the aegis of Boston's renowned medical establishment; first to be hea...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 21, 2009, 4:51 pm
Birds do it. Bees do it. People in Eastie and in West Roxbury do it. People in Dorchester do it too: they fall in love. A city is a school of hard knocks and Boston is no exception. There is a reason...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 19, 2009, 1:45 pm
Apologies for the interruption in our usual programming. Some unforeseen work obligations crept up on little cat feet. We will resume our usual schedule the weekend after Thanksgiving, with some inter...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 15, 2009, 4:36 pm
It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas at Neponset Circle. Though it's only mid-November and temperatures haven't yet hit the freezing point, a pine tree is standing tall in anticipat...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 14, 2009, 2:58 pm
Motorists reaching the butt end of Morrissey Boulevard will find that construction is in progress on the Lech Walesa Bridge. It's understandable if you may not have heard of this bridge. It's ...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 8, 2009, 4:13 pm
The whole day long an old sweet song keeps Dorchester on my mind. It's a song as old as the ocean, blowing in the breeze. In Dorchester, arms reach out to me and eyes wink tenderly. In peaceful d...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 7, 2009, 1:19 pm
We're spoiled in Boston because we still have our own regional candy factory. Everyone knows that Necco stands for New England Confectionary Company. You can go to any convenience store and pick u...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 5, 2009, 8:45 pm
Positive media should never be hard to find! I don't think any Dorchesterite would disagree with that statment. No offense to the Dorchester Reporter, which presents the most well-balanced and f...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 5, 2009, 7:47 pm
A stroll through any part of Dorchester, Mass. except Harbor Point, will show that the basics of the neighborhood were build a century or so ago. There is little new afoot. Most developments revolve a...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 3, 2009, 5:38 pm
Breaker! Breaker! The second highest grossing movie in 1977 is playing at the Brattle on December 9th. Not Star Wars; that was the number one. If any film respectably fills the number 2 slot, it's...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Nov 1, 2009, 3:44 pm
While I was ordering a small soft drink at the Burger King at the corner of Washington Street and Columbia Road, I asked the cashier if many people purchased the "Angry Whopper." She looked at me bemu...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 31, 2009, 3:26 pm
... ... You get to live in Dorchester! Not the Dorchester in England. The Dorchester in Massachusetts is the better Dorchester. That's why the Pilgrims sailed away here. It's the best part o...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 29, 2009, 3:08 pm
Cue the twangy guitars. Though it was nothing like tropical weather today (low to mid 50s), proof is offered once again that if Boston were made up of fifty states, Dorchester would be Hawaii. I was ...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 27, 2009, 3:23 pm
If it's Tuesday, it must be time for more poetry of questionable merit. Another gem from over the transom. Keep those cards and letter coming!
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 26, 2009, 4:02 pm
Ever wonder what your neighbors are up to when you aren't looking? Here's some statistics detailing what Dorechesterites did today: 91.8% of the working age population actively in the job ma...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 26, 2009, 2:39 pm
While we don't know who exactly the Dot Rat Rockstars are, we did receive an invitation to join them tomorrow (10/27) at Tavolo (1918 Dot Ave). When you think of a rock star, you think of someone...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 25, 2009, 4:06 pm
You know you're in Dorchester when you spell Creole with a K: Kreyol. Did you know the word for razor in Haitian Creole (Kreyol) is jilet? How's that for a Boston connection? In Mattapan and ...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 24, 2009, 5:01 pm
Boston's stars revolve around Dorchester. Boston's center of gravity resides, imperturbably, in Dorchester. Both light and opinions bend according to Dorchester's pull. Dorchester conta...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 21, 2009, 4:22 pm
Tiffany Peabody reports falling on hard times. "Mr. King," she writes, "Like many people who have suffered during what's being dubbed as The Great Recession, I find myself with credit overextended...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 20, 2009, 12:53 am
This came in over the transom the other day. While not a limerick, you can't argue that it's sentiments are insincere.
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 19, 2009, 4:40 pm
I'm no fan of coffee chains. I prefer the Sugar Bowl on Dot Ave, however the Dunkin' Donuts at the apex of the Polish Triangle offers one thing the Sugar Bowl doesn't. The Dunkin' Do...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 18, 2009, 3:48 pm
A pre-2010, unofficial census report contains some interesting statistics. Dorchester's total population on August 12, 2009: 113,311. Ethnicity: African American or Black: 34% African American: ...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 17, 2009, 3:05 pm
You walk beneath the flowering trees, There's a lilting music to the Bay's easy breeze You feel kind of smart and your heart goes pit-a-pat! The trees and the breeze, they're part of a ten...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 15, 2009, 4:59 pm
My near neighbor hasn't turned on his heat yet. I turned it on a few days ago and set the thermostat to a luxurious 62 degrees. I didn't do it for myself. I''m happy to wear woolen und...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 13, 2009, 4:17 pm
I was recently asked, "Do you know any limericks about Dorchester?" It's sad to say, but I don't. Boston's poetry scene seems to be centered more around Cambridge than the Dot. During my ...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 11, 2009, 4:15 pm
Thurston Crowell, "Thirsty" to his friends, told me it's his birthday today. I congratulated him when he told me he turned 53 this morning. "Doing anything special?" I asked. "My Momma's maki...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 10, 2009, 3:28 pm
Outsiders wonder why Dorchester thrives despite being one of Boston's most disrespected and seemingly neglected neighborhoods. It is true that Dorchester looks a bit down on its luck at first ins...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 9, 2009, 7:57 am
I don't know about your neighborhood but where I live, Friday is trash day. The sidewalks are lined with trash cans and recycling boxes. Somethings are too big to fit in receptacles, so they are...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 8, 2009, 5:16 pm
I checked my email today and I found a fine how-do-you-do. Tom Menino is following me on Twitter. He doesn't give his official title, but his picture curdles milk so there's no doubt who it is...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 8, 2009, 5:13 am
The air is bracing before the sun comes up. The wind blows the Littlest Ninja motorcycle this side of the Charles River on a weaving course down Dot Ave. Some dead leaves drift but there is no litte...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 6, 2009, 6:16 pm
I was at Cappy's Convenience a few weeks ago, though that's not exactly news. I forget what I was buying...maybe ice but probably not; was it warm enough for a cold drink in September? Whateve...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 5, 2009, 5:40 pm
Say what you will about Dorchester, Mass. but big ideas get floated here and not all of them go down in flames. There's been some discussion about opening a zeppelin school in Dorchester as a way ...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 4, 2009, 6:20 am
Ah! Dorchester! It wakes some people up like a slug from a mug. For other people, it is home to sweet dreams. In a realm of countless delights, can a discerning topophile whittle down a list of just ...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 3, 2009, 6:57 pm
I ran into a Southern belle fresh from Charleston, SC this afternoon at the Mud House in Neponset. I asked how she was enjoying her visit to Boston. "Ah luvs me sum of this Dorchestah, suh," she answ...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Oct 1, 2009, 4:58 pm
I travelled to Codman Square yesterday and then took a short jaunt downhill to Peabody Square. It was a gloomy, chilly day but it did have its bright spot and it did have its ray of sunshine. There...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Sep 29, 2009, 4:54 pm
Candidate Flaherty is tag teaming together with Dorchester's own Sam Yoon, against the incumbent in what is turning out to be an interesting mayoral election in Boston. When I first heard the news...
Comment - Like

Whalehead K. posted an article on The Dot Matrix - Sep 28, 2009, 4:52 pm
Though full of slapstick, melodrama and overacting, Dorchester, Mass. is no silent movie. Quite the reverse. Firstly, it's real life. Secondly, it's quite noisy. The heavy rumble of the Red L...
Comment - Like