Post Number 496

It was on April 20, 2006 that the Dot Matrix got it's start, under its original, eponymous title "Whalehead King." The first post, full of Whitmanesque bombast, is here. This esssay today, was originally going to be entry number 495, but impulsive events transpired to make this number 496, not that I work on much of a schedule. I start with a rough idea every evening and then just write, without outlines or without really knowing how things are going to end or what ground will be covered from start to finish. All I know when I sit down is the subject, usually Dorchester, Mass. What you get here is pure improvisation. Call it jazz if you will. Some people call it balderdash. Who am I to judge? I'm the creator, not the critic.

I don't really know what a blog is beyond being a "web log," some kind of online journal that other people can access. Until very recently, I would never have spoken in the first person, if I appeared at all. When I did appear, it was in the third person as Whalehead King spelled out, no 'the'. King is my last name, not an honorific. I rule nothing beyond the boundaries of my own skin. I always understood a blog as being an online diary and I don't find my day-to-day existence particularly interesting and I am not a diary keeper. If I can't remember something, it probably wasn't worth writing down to begin with. This is intended as a record not of my life, but of where I live and what I see. There will never be a mention of medical complaints.

Originally, I didn't think of this site as a journal so much as a repository of stories, works in progress, perhaps, about my surroundings, some more grounded in fact than others, but all of them built around a kernel of truth. Even if Dorchester wasn't founded by Atlanteans, the 'Dot Pot' is a fact of cryptoarcheology and the Dot is still a marvellous place with a storied history worth investigating. If you want the hard facts, Dorchester has a newspaper, the Dorchester Reporter, which I have lauded previously as the best source of news in the neighborhood. I tried to subscribe to the paper edition once but it involved an email that was apparently lost in the shuffle, so I read it online or from the convenience store. Nothing beats the hard copy because you can miss some things when it is all Internet-based. Think about signing up for USPS delivery. It's worth it. In fact, since my mail delivery fell through, I missed this tidbit that explained Dorchester's proper boundaries.

I've recently begun to include a few more Boston-wide stories, always trying tie them into my theme that Dorchester is good, a microcosm of the larger city and an irreplacable part of its fabric. I've introduced the pronoun 'I' with some misgivings. After all, you, the reader, is already getting a biased view of things. Do I need to inject my personality any more? I am already the filter and the conduit through which this rosy colored information is being delivered? The Matrix is becoming more 'bloggy' and less 'Dotty.' I'm not sure this is a good thing.

The truth is, I don't spend as much as my time as I would like in Dorchester. I work a day job in another part of the city, for instance, and that takes up a big chunk of my daily experience. Though I do as much of my shopping in Dorchester as I can, there are some things I have to take the inbound Red or the Green or Blue or Orange lines to get. Or my bicycle, or my motorcycle when I have to go to Quincy (at which I say "Shame on Boston!"). After two years of mining the Dot, my daily life has left me a bit bereft of newly authentic Dot experiences. Instead of being the "Dot Matrix," this blog will be, by default, more 'bloggy' and become more of a "Whalehead Matrix." I'm not convinced that needs to happen. The answer is for me to spend more time in Dorchester, which I am happy to do...the people are a cut above, the culture is deep and vibrant, the scenery can make a curmudgeon weep at its unsurpassed beauty. There are, however, only so many hours in a day.

Dorchester is the biggest and best part of Boston, hands-down, no doubt about it. I've been to other parts. They're good. All of Boston is good, but if you can have filet mignon for the price of showing up, you don't order the chuck wagon steak they serve in Fanuiel Hall. I was in Fanueil Hall this morning. A roast beef sandwich cost $7.99. I'd rather take the Blue Line to Royal Roast Beef in Eastie. I have yet to find a good, reasonable roast beef sandwich in Dorchester.