Best of the New: Ideas
Creative Urban Farming
In the South End, some urban dead space that would usually go unnoticed got a makeover last spring by The Food Project, a local nonprofit. In a weedy lot behind Hurley Elementary School, the group's teenage interns planted a pair of gardens, with everything from beans and hot peppers to collard greens. After third-graders studied the plants' life cycles, the school harvested the veggies for a student feast. The project also planted a rooftop farm on a Boston Medical Center building using elevator-transported sod and compost. The first crop went to farmers' markets and soup kitchens, but this year, project leaders hope to get residents and health workers up to their farm stand in the sky.
College Sex Mags
Proof that not all Harvardians are uptight, two students launched H Bomb, this Ivy's first sex magazine. Guided by faculty advisers and funded in part by the student government, the editors swear that their risque photo spreads are "included purely for artistic purposes." Across the river, students at Boston University made no such claim, launching their more daring version, Boink, last month.
Custom Handbags
What's worse than seeing other gals toting the same handbag as yours? Create your own at one of two boutiques. They have more than 20 styles (from $25 to $150) and dozens of fabrics, trims, and closures. Make a clutch to match a spring dress, a reversible tote, or the perfect diaper bag. Anna William, 2014 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, 617-547-2662, www.annawilliam.com; 1154 Lill Studio, 220 Newbury Street, 617-247-1154, www.1154lill.com.
Dog Parks
Boston's dog population is 40,000 strong, and, presumably, about the same number of loyal humans will follow these animals around, collecting their business in plastic baggies. Last year, this formidable group fought to get a law on the books allowing dedicated dog spaces in Boston's parks. A proposal by City Councilor Michael Ross, signed by Mayor Tom Menino, enables neighborhoods to create leash-free areas where dogs can embrace freedom and dog owners can come together and arrange for care and cleanup.
Smoking Ban
What we have here is an idea whose time has come. And, save for some diehard complainers, restaurant and bar employees around Boston seem to appreciate the workplace smoking ban enacted citywide in May 2003 and throughout the state last July. Truth is, we always hated the way our hair smelled after a night of swimming through a smog-filled pub. The future is now, and we're glad to see it without stinging eyes.
Moving Pictures on the T
Where the rest of us saw dank subway walls, advertisers saw access to a captive audience. Last August, an ad by Royal Caribbean was introduced on the Red Line. Two more ads by Target followed. Each one consisted of 400 sequential images installed on a 1,000-foot stretch of MBTA tunnel wall. Strobelike lights were rigged to sense the speed of passing trains and adjust the rate of exposure to 24 frames per second. These silent moving pictures even inspired notoriously chilly Bostonians to grin at fellow passengers, sometimes exclaiming, "Did you see that?" It's clever, but let's hope the Turnpike Authority doesn't pick up on the idea for the Big Dig tunnels.
Keith Hampton has a simple purpose behind his website: "It's a new way for people to borrow a cup of sugar." That's just the beginning. An MIT sociology professor, Hampton launched the site last August for everyone who wishes he knew his neighbors better. Users log on to find their neighborhood forum, where they can post photos, poll their neighbors, or exchange advice on local electricians, baby sitters, or car pools. The newest feature lets people fax letters to elected officials. The site has registered more than 3,700 neighborhoods nationwide. Call it Friendster for neighbors. Visit www.i-neighbors.org.
Amphibious Parade
How do you celebrate the end of an 86-year-old heartache? "Let's put the Ducks in the water," Mayor Tom Menino proclaimed in October. And so from Fenway, through the Back Bay, along the Common, and then, plunk, into the Charles went the curse-lifting "idiots" aboard 17 Duck boats. We think it was an inspired use of the riverfront, and we won't soon forget the sight of exalted fans, up to 100 deep on the banks of the Charles, throwing up their arms to send a celebratory wave down the Esplanade, across the Longfellow Bridge, and back down on the Cambridge side - quite possibly the best spectator wave in sports history.
Video-Game Degree
Finally, good news for parents who despair over the future of their teenage "mouse potatoes" - a four-year college degree in video games. Worcester Polytechnic Institute's interactive media and game development major, announced last fall, involves more than getting a high score in Grand Theft Auto. WPI calls it the first major of its kind in the country, noting that computer-game releases rival Hollywood movies in sales. Studies will focus on the programming, artistic, storytelling, and "social and philosophical" aspects of interactive media. Is a skateboarding minor next?
The Silver Line
With the opening of the Silver Line waterfront service, bus rapid transit truly arrived in Boston. More flexible than rail, electric-powered buses zip through tunnels between South Station and two slick, modern subwaylike stations in the waterfront district. They can also convert to diesel, bust out on the surface, and go anywhere - including Logan Airport, a service planned for May. Visit www.allaboutsilverline.com.
Charles River Cleanup Boat
Seeing condoms and coffee cups float by his sailboat day after day drove Tom McNichol over the edge. Fortunately for us, he took a large net with him. The Charles River has been so choked with litter in recent years that McNichol fixed up a 17-foot aluminum boat, handed 25 volunteers some nets, and did something about it. The 66-year-old retired sales manager went trolling for trash with a crew three times a week for five months, filling 200 garbage bags. They recovered a Porta Potti, an oversized chair, even a human body. McNichol has more ambitious trash-removal plans for his nonprofit operation this year. We owe you one, Tom. For information, visit www.massbayleague.org/cub.html.
Floating Gallery
Turned off by the cold shoulders and high brows of art galleries? Kerri McGill was. So last year she proposed a new model for bringing artists and the public together, one unfettered by a permanent address and the costly rent and exclusive air that tend to come with that address. An artist herself, McGill, who's 30, launched the nomadic gallery in early 2004 and has showcased young artists at venues like McCormick & Schmick's restaurant, a Victorian home in Jamaica Plain, and a B & B in Rockport. If you'd like the Floating Gallery to drift into your living room or office cubicle, visit www.floatinggallery.org.
A Sensible Spike Heel
Finally, a shoe that really does look like a pump and feel like a sneaker. All it took was one forward-thinking podiatrist, some MIT brainpower, and pressure-mapping computer software. The result is a patented design called Insolia that shifts a wearer's weight from the balls of the feet to the heels, so a pair of 3-inch spikes can feel as comfy as frumpy flats. DKNY incorporated the design in its collection, and all 12 of its spring styles with Insolia are now in stock. Available at the DKNY store, 37 Newbury Street, or at Bloomingdale's at The Mall at Chestnut Hill.
Boston Public Market Fund-Raiser
September heralded the first citywide fund-raiser for this project nearly 10 years in the making. On one night, 18 Boston-area chefs each hosted a table in their restaurants, preparing harvest-themed meals with local, seasonal ingredients - the very foods that might come from a public market. The $40,000 raised went to the Boston Public Market Association, which has labored for years to bring the city an indoor marketplace for local farm goods and seafood. Organizers will start with an interim market near South Station this summer, and hope for a permanent spot on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. We can hardly wait. For information, visit www.bostonpublicmarket.org.
Office Windows that Open
When you grow up and go to work for the Man, you tend to miss the simple things, like fresh air. But some Boston-area buildings are now combining high-tech, energy-saving designs with an architectural feature we've sorely missed: windows that open. Two leaders in permeability are MIT's Stata Center, which opened last May, and the Genzyme Center in Kendall Square. Both have operable windows, so workers can adjust the airflow and temperature in their spaces or reconnect with the outdoors during a soul-sapping workday.
POPSearch
POPSearch 2004 could have been a nightmare: Thousands of American Idol wannabes storming Symphony Hall to offer up "Tomorrow." But the idea scored positive publicity for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as contestants lined up on Huntington Avenue. Top prize went to Tracy Silva, a van-driving Taunton mother who got to sing at the July 4 concert at the Hatch Shell. Even better, the BSO judges showed that, no matter how many croaky versions of "Danny Boy" they heard, they could resist berating contestants Simon Cowell-style. POPSearch returns in June.
Worldly Dancing
In September, Thomas DeFrantz, an MIT professor of dance and choreography, powered up the school's video-conferencing gizmo and beamed some tap-dancing steps to students in Singapore. Nine thousand miles away, the Singaporean dancers mirrored his moves and returned the favor by offering MIT students some hip-hop steps set to an Indian beat. The Singapore-MIT Alliance was experimenting with a futuristic connection that reduces lag time in sending to less than a second, so dancers can move nearly in synch if not cheek to cheek.
The following writers contributed to the "Best of the New" reports: Naomi Aoki, Alison Arnett, Carol Beggy, Chris Berdik, Karen Campbell, Robert Campbell, Monica Collins, Michelle Bates Deakin, Peter DeMarco, Geoff Edgers, Anthony Flint, Catherine Foster, Jan Gardner, Joshua Glenn, Meredith Goldstein, Ken Gordon, Amy Graves, Patrick Gerard Healy, Stephen Jermanok, Sheryl Julian, Patrick Kennedy, Doug Most, Kimberly Moy, Charles P. Pierce, Mark Pothier, James Reed, Bridget Samburg, Shira Springer, Lise Stern, Rachel Strutt, Tina Sutton, Emily Sweeney, Rachel Travers, and Joe Yonan. Send e-mails to magazine@globe.com.
