Grape Thinking

While in the Harvard Square T Station, I noticed two extremely active kids running around, annoying their mother. On the train, they sat across from me. At Central Square, a grandmother got on and sat beside me with her grandson on her lap. The kids across the aisle started taunting the grandson, who was a different ethnicity, by sneering, which then escalated to making fists. The boy was eating grapes from a small cup. I could see the grandmother suggest he offer some to the taunting kids. The kids accepted and were transformed; now friendly, no longer aggressive, and awed.

ABBY MAGEE
Belmont

CLAIM TO FAME?

My wife and I obtained some insight into a foreigner's perception of Boston during our recent vacation in Scandinavia. Our tour group enjoyed lunch on board a ship in Stockholm, with local university students as servers. After giving us our food, our server sat down with us to eat and chat. We mentioned that we were from Boston and asked if he had any knowledge of the city. "Yes," he replied confidently. "That's where Jay Leno is from."

PAUL MOTYKA
Acton