What It's Like
Here’s What It’s Like to Go Glamping in Maine
Glamping is a divisive term. To those who relish the outdoors and all the dirt and bugs that come with it, it seems decidedly frivolous. […]
What It’s Like to Be a Florist During the MFA’s Art in Bloom Festival
It’s 5:53 a.m. on a rainy Wednesday morning at the New England Flower Exchange. Grey clouds loom eerily above the brick warehouse in Chelsea. The forecast, […]
What It’s Like to Be a Mover in Boston on September 1
It’s 5:56 a.m. on the first day of September. The sun has yet to rise, and dozens of brawny men clad in maroon t-shirts are […]
What It’s Like to Hang Nasturtiums at the Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is closed to the public on Tuesdays, but on this particular Tuesday, the place is a quiet flurry of activity. […]
What It’s Like to Be a Helicopter Tour Pilot
Jeff Hubbard thinks he watched Top Gun too many times growing up. That’s how he says he got into aviation. Now, Hubbard spends his days cruising around […]
What It’s Like to Be the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Horticulturist
“I’m usually a behind-the-camera-type person,” Grace Coburn says. Barely tall enough to reach the top of the chrysanthemums she’s rotating, Coburn is the horticulturist at the […]
What It’s Like to Build Boston’s Doors
Breathtaking brownstones and brick beauties line many of Boston’s historic streets. Yet, the iconic double-leaf doors providing entrances to them are a marvel of their own. A surprising […]
What It’s Like to Be a Sailmaker
Crack open a sailmaker’s toolbox and you’ll find a few key instruments needed to create a sail by hand. Fabric, scissors, and an industrial sewing machine are a few […]
What It’s Like to Be a Professional Sand Sculptor
The Revere Beach International Sand Sculpting Festival attracts masters from around the world to local shores. But for Deborah Barrett-Cutulle and Steve Topazio, the journey […]
What It’s Like to Be the Greenway’s Play Coordinator
If Katherine Levesque feels like bringing huge bubble wands to the workplace, she will. When she gets there, she might build with some giant spongy blocks. And […]
What It’s Like to Be a Conservator at the Boston Athenaeum
Dawn Walus picks up a hefty book. The cover is tattered and its binding has worn thin. The book, filled with rare atlases, dates back […]
What It’s Like to Be a Bartender in Boston on St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day may be a lovely day to celebrate your Irish heritage, but it also conjures up a less savory image—a cavalcade of debauchery, […]
What It’s Like to Be a Florist on Valentine’s Day
In a temperature-controlled warehouse in the South End, hundreds of floral designers are crafting arrangements by the thousands right now. Emptying bucket after bucket of roses, the employees […]
What It’s Like to Be a Standardized Patient
When Sarah Davis pretends she’s sick, she’s not avoiding her job—she’s doing it. For the last 16 years, Davis has been part of UMass Medical […]
What It’s Like to Be an Artist-in-Residence at the Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s artist-in-residence program, founded by director Anne Hawley in 1992 as a way of continuing its namesake’s tradition of supporting contemporary artists, comes […]