Dottie Hottie

“We’re going out in Dorchester tonight.  Yup.  Gonna save a barn!”

Not your standard script for the babysitter, is it?

Well, on Friday, September 24th, it could be…

and even if you can’t make it, here’s why you should be supporting the Dorchester Historical Society’s Save Our Barn campaign:

One of only a few remaining barns in Boston, the Dorchester Historical Society’s Clapp Family barn is a rare artifact.

Dorchester was once a farming community (case ya didn’t know) and from these farms were fed Bostonia during the occupation of the city by British troops at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. According to DHS, “Fruits developed in Dorchester include the Downer cherry, the Dorchester blackberry, the President Wilder strawberry and the pride of the Society, Clapp’s Favorite Pear.”

The barn symbolizes Dorchester’s past, and the Clapp family is “a premier examplar of that history with its creation of the Clap Favorite Pear in the 1830s.”

To learn more or to purchase a ticket to the gala, go here.

Excepting anchor Emily Rooney’s embarrassing bias against Dorchester and squinty-eyed skepticism that crime exists throughout the city (oh, and her really egregious grammar), Donna Latson Gittens does an expert job in highlighting the tremendous positives on life in Dorchester. D is for diversity, SMAMS rocks, Ashmont’s bumpin’, and 17 minutes into the heart of town ain’t bad for the exceptional housing crop with green space, ocean views to boot. Huzzah, Ms. Latson Gittens!

The Dottie Hottie had the pleasure of reading Donna Latson Gittens’ piece on *choosing* to raise a family in Dorchester.

Then the Dottie Hottie made the mistake of reading the comments which, per usual with internet news stories, smack of ignorance and prejudice.

All the Dottie Hottie can say is this:  Let’s remember that economic poverty is not the only poverty that exists.  Of course every parent wants to provide a “safe” environment in which to raise children.  No one wants to live in an environment where one cannot thrive because of the violence, drugs, and other social ills that stem from poverty.  But isn’t it possible to be impoverished by homogeneity, as well?  Is it not likely that a child that rarely encounters races, religions, languages, economic strata different from his own might be ill-equipped to understand and navigate these differences in the future?

Penny for your thoughts, Dotties….

The Dottie Hotties have had good fortune in teaming up with The Food Project over the last two years.  By teaming up, I simply mean that The Food Project built us a box garden, tossed some soil and seeds our way, and made the process of growing delicious vegetables so dang easy (with frequent tutorials available in our ‘hood) that we’d be jokers to say we were real gardeners.  We just added sun and water…and voila!

Just like the Public Garden!

Now, this coming summer, when our family’s child population is going to double GASP and our sleep quotient will concurrently divide by…what?  Sixteen to the eighth power?  We’re just not sure we want to commit to the cultivation of the box garden again.  We might forget to mark the places where we put seeds or we might forget to water it for a few weeks or we might forget where we live and just take up permanent residence at the Ice Creamsmith.

Either way, though, these little Container Gardens that Cedar Grove Gardens is pimping seem pretty stinking adorable and relatively manageable, no?

Would anyone like to weigh in on the functionality of the container garden?  When should one start one and what kinds should you not start if, say, you’re going to have a newborn around and you might forget that plants don’t need breastmilk?

Oh, those DotBikers. They’re just too adorable.

They plan an event, and they don’t say, durrr, like, uhhh, let’s all get on our two wheelers and ride around Dot see if we can pedal faster than the ice cream truck moves down Talbot Ave.

They’re orchestrating something so adorable, it’s called:

“The Shiny Green Dot Ride”

and it’s all going down Saturday April 24th @ 1 p.m.

In celebration of Earth Week (this is the week when Dotties are especially encouraged not to throw their empty cartons of Marlboro lights out the window of their cars — unless they have good aim and can make it into an open wastebin.  But anyway, you shouldn’t be smoking either.  It makes it hard to bike), Dot Bike and Boston Shines are going for a ride around the neighborhood to check out a selection of Dorchester’s many parks and green spaces.

But…there’s more!

BORROW A BIKE -  It’s as literal as Stop n’ Shop.  You can borrow bikes from Boston Bikes!

The fleet has adult, youth and child bikes. Reservations for bikes are required.
To reserve bikes sign up here.

ROUTES

New! Improved! routes with short and long options with pit stops at great green spaces around the ‘hood.

Pace is relaxed so what’ve you got to lose?

Helmets are required and riders under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Email dotbike@bostonbiker.org or call Andy at 781-367-9200 to RSVP or with Q’s.

The Dottie Hottie will be at church, ’cause that’s how the DH family rolls on Saturday, but if the holy sabbath was not being observed, the DH family would surely not be missing out on Shiny Green Dot Ride.

The Dottie Hottie enthusiastically joins forces with fellow Dot bloggers to share all that there is to adore about this here hottest ‘hood of Boston! Yes we can! ADORE-chester!

If you have been reading this blog for any period of time, you know the Dottie Hottie is already convinced. There is MUCH to adore about Dorchester. This site was created with this ambition in mind: To let the world, or at least Greater Boston know there is a real vitality to this neighborhood. There is beauty and authenticity. You can go ahead and read the headlines; they don’t betray a truth that violence and crime spike where poverty pervades. We are not Boston’s richest neighborhood, but we possess our own riches, and the following are the Dottie Hottie’s favorite five:

1.) Neponset Bike Trail: I wish I could bottle the smell of the sooty railroad tracks, the view of the deep blue Neponset River, the glee of babies in strollers and friendly smiles of parents jogging behind them. I feel a palpable blessing riding my bike on this path with my child MID. Every pedal forward is a gift my city gives me on this well-paved path along a beautiful waterway. Brings new meaning to the word recreation.

2.) Flat Black Coffee Company: The tasty coffee is only transcended by the friendly service. The convenient locations (at Ashmont and Lower Mills) are only transcended by their proximity to Wainwright Bank and Dot Park. Their commitment to Dot is only transcended by their commitment to the fair trade coffee industry in the Third World. Flat Black takes much of the money that I should deposit into that ATM at aforementioned Wainwright. And that is fine with me.

3.) The Dorchester Reporter: If you live in Dot, you really should subscribe. It’s a quality community newspaper, family founded and owned, and you get all the neighborhood bulletins and a bit of blarney to boot.

4.) Sunday Brunch on the patio at Ashmont Grill: It’s such a shame this savory experience is only seasonal, but the Dottie Hottie awaits Patio Season at the AG all winter long. The patio is a true oasis, removed from the din of Peabody Square, all one can hear are the clink of bellini glasses and the kind service. Take a leisurely skim of the Sunday paper while you wait for your brunch to arrive. Every egg dish is scrumptious. Every table is privy to a beautiful sight, be it a humming fountain, a floral vine climbing the stone wall. If only you could take a Sunday nap on a sun-drenched chaise lounge, this place might be a thin slice of Paradise.

5.) The Fields Corner Post Office: It might be the most unlikely of places to adore, but the diversity and authenticity of Dorchester seem to be so perfectly captured by this little microcosm of a place. Where else are we all on equal footing? You could be homeless, jobless, or living in tremendous opulence. You can all pick up your mail here. You might enter in a wheelchair, with a stroller, or with a cane. With the new ramp, your entrance is so much the smoother. And chances are good, some good person of Dorchester will open the door for you. Enough cannot be said of the good postal workers here, too. Always patient, always efficient, always good-humored, they are the salt of Dorchester, and for $.41 on the dollar, they deliver every piece of mail I send without fail. Huzzah!

And you? What do you ADORE about Dorchester?

• The Dot Matrix
• Dot Boston
• The Dorchester Think Tank
• Lower Mills
• Local Spice
• Candeliera Silva
• Social Butterfly Experiment
• dotmass
• Greening of Dorchester

So my boy Sam Yoon got bested by Menino (shocker!) and Flaherty, but only trailed second place by a couple thousand votes. I have to say that I’m always disappointed when I visit my little precinct in Dot. The Dottie Hottie does so love to exercise the right, and yet, I’m always the only voter there! Granted, I usually go mid-day, but surely my elder voters and my stay-at-home parents should be hitting up the polls prior to naptime, no? I suspect that voter turn-out in Dot is low, and it burns me pretty bad. I didn’t even see many Yoon banner wavers working the polls and this is Sam’s ‘hood! We are one of the greatest neighborhoods in terms of the richness of our non-profits and service agencies, and yet our voter engagement just doesn’t impress. If the primary wasn’t your bag, I really hope to see you on Super Tuesday in November. Be there or be a blank oval on the ballot, y’all.

The Dottie Hottie ventures into the South End every so often when there are spouses to see (well, really just one Dottie Biker spouse in particular) and yummy baked confections to enjoy at Flour. Flour bakery, while on the pricier end, is always enjoyable, but rarely has it ever snowed inside its quarters.

Today the Dottie Hottie entered Flour on the assumption that the Flaherty campaigners, including the councilman himself, were just handing out literature outside of the bakery.

The Dottie Hottie waved the literature away, but in a polite manner (natch), saying that the Dottie Hottie was a committed Yoonie. GO YOON!

However, then while ordering delicious maple oatmeal scone and chamomile tea, the councilman himself sidled up next to the Dottie Hottie to try and win a Dottie Hottie vote. Friendly enough guy, but was it necessary to bring his own video camera crew into Flour for some folksy footage? I mean, it wasn’t even 10 a.m. yet and already with the photography?!

The Dottie Hottie didn’t feel as though Flaherty was actively listening, just looking for little openings in the conversation to insert his qualifications…I was a District Attorney yada yada…I’ve worked with Sam blah blah blippity blah.

Here at Dottie Hottie Headquarters, we’re getting a little nervous about the impending primary. It would be great to hear that fellow Bostonians will be getting out to vote!!

***

Also, wonder of wonders, look who the Dottie Hottie ran into, almost literally, boarding the train at Shawmut? They were off to yon duck boats or bust! Wouldn’t the Yoons make a great first family of Boston???

“In the early nineteenth century, Dorchester was called ‘the model town of New England…”

Folks might find the previous statement, which serves as the back cover narrative for Earl Taylor’s masterful Postcard History Series of Dorchester, to be quite comical. Dorchester? A model town?

And yet the Dottie Hottie believes Dot has the potential to revive its nineteenth century grandeur. At that time, homes appeared well-maintained. Schools were the models for the rest of the country. Public transportation was outstanding and well-utilized. Jobs were plentiful. Today, we have the diversity, the beauty of architecture and green space, the investment and spirit, oh yes we’ve got spirit, to usher in revival.

If you read through Taylor’s book (and you should if you consider yourself a true Dottie hottie), the call to service is so evident in Dorchester’s history. If you didn’t belong to a church, a women’s group, or the Colonial Club, then it is questionable what business you had loitering around this civic-minded Boston borough.

Photo from Dorchester Postcard History Series

The Dottie Hottie is no polyanna when it comes to Dot’s lack of resources and representation. And that’s what makes the coming election, both for mayor and for city councilors so important. Kind of a ‘You are what you eat’ aphorism. The Dottie Hottie believes you ‘How you vote is how you live.’ If you haven’t checked out DotNews’ Lit Drop, it’s worth your while to take a gander over there and see what you can learn about the candidates.

Photo from Dorchester Postcard History Series

I hope the following will serve as evidence that Sam Yoon is a candidate of integrity and excellence.

From this past weekend’s Globe:

“I just want to encourage everyone to read as much as they can about Sam Yoon. He is the change that we need in the city, desperately,’’ said Marie Marshall, a 55-year-old Fields Corner native involved in her first mayoral campaign. She said she is postponing knee surgery until after the election and relying on regular cortisone shots to continue making her way door to door.

Marshall said she was drawn to help after Yoon and his staff swiftly waded through what she described as a bureaucratic morass to help her granddaughter get a bus to elementary school, when she lived mere feet from the 1-mile bus cutoff. “I was so thrilled I almost cried,’’ she said.

Yoon’s campaign is a way’s behind in funds, but where it lacks in dollars, it makes up for in drive. I hope you’ll contribute. As we saw in this past presidential campaign, even $10 from passionate individuals can go a long way. In fact, it can take a candidate all the way!