Gen Z is going coo-coo for coconuts
Plus: 🦃 A (tur)keyed car
It’s Monday, Boston.
🏅 We’re not sure which Olympic moment we love more: Flavor Flav being the ultimate hype man (and sponsor) for the U.S. women’s water polo team, or Snoop Dogg meeting a French bulldog in a beret and naming him Pierre Cardin.
👀What’s on tap today:
- The CharlieCard store glows up
- Our new hometown hero
- A (tur)keyed car
Up first…
POLITICS
The brat race to the White House
Image: Stephanie Scarbrough/POOL/AFP. Illustration: Gia Orsino.
Coconut tree memes, brat summer, “femininomenon.” VP Kamala Harris’ campaign is embracing Gen Z trends to capture young voters. But is Gen Z actually buying it?
Here’s what to know:
📱 Harris’ rise to social media stardom goes something like this: President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Harris as the Democratic nominee. Pop star Charli XCX (the singer behind the chart-topping album “brat”), then posted “kamala IS brat” on X. Harris’ campaign shortly changed the banner of the “Kamala HQ” account to brat’s signature chartreuse and the bio to “providing context,” a nod to the coconut tree memes.
🤯 The internet (and her campaign’s social media) then effectively exploded. Her campaign soon posted a TikTok calling for a “femininomenon” (shout out to Chappell Roan fans), racking up over 6 million likes; Harris launched a personal account with an eight-second video that’s garnered over 25 million views; even politicians like Sen. Ed Markey jumped on the meme bandwagon, posting a photo of Harris and himself falling out of a coconut tree on the cover of the “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” children’s book. And don’t even get us started on the fan edits.
📈 Yes, the memes are goofy, but they’re clearly speaking to the right audience. Remember: According to a Pew Research survey, 56% of all 18- to 34-year-olds in the U.S. say they use TikTok. And in the two days after Biden dropped out, Politico Playbook reported that Vote.org saw its highest levels of new voter registration of the whole cycle (most were 34 and under).
☎️ Think of making a fan edit of a politician as modern-day phone banking. Annie Wu, a Democratic digital consultant in Philadelphia, told The Boston Globe that “People are feeling like they’re part of democracy and making their voices heard, and it might sound silly that making memes and edits . . . is a part of that, but I really do think that is how people feel when they’re being engaged in these movements and this community online.”
👯 And the relatability factor is just as important. One B-Side reader suggested the question of “Would I do a TikTok dance with them?” is the new “would I get a beer with them?”
🥥 But once the viral moment fades, the issues still remain. Tightening poll numbers and record-breaking fundraising dollars aside, skepticism among some young local voters hasn’t gone away, according to a report from the Globe, specifically on issues like the war in Gaza, her record as an attorney general in California, and climate change. One B-Side reader warned: “Don’t lean so far into the memes that the message gets lost!”
🗳️ Something we can all agree on? Coconut tree memes > Pokémon go to the polls. IYKYK.
TOGETHER WITH SEASTREAK FERRIES
A vacation on the way to your vacation
☀️🚢 The best part of your island getaway might end up being the ride there. Hop on board a Seastreak ferry and feel the breeze from an open-air top deck, sip a refreshing drink from a fully stocked bar, and soak in stunning ocean views on your way to Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard. With morning departures and evening returns from New Bedford, you can skip the Cape traffic and actually enjoy the journey. Book your next ferry trip now!
CITY
Quick & dirty headlines
Pictured: A ghost gun. Image: Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press
💪 Consider Mass.’ gun laws strengthened. On Thursday, Gov. Maura Healey signed a long-awaited, sweeping gun bill into law, and it covers a lot of ground, including: cracking down on so-called “ghost guns,” a.k.a. privately made, unserialized guns, and expanding our “red flag laws,” which allow health care pros or others close to a person in crisis to petition to have their right to possess or carry a gun suspended. It also bans non-law enforcement officials from carrying guns in schools, polling places, and government buildings, beefs up the application process for owning a firearm, and a whole lot more.
🚇 It’s easy to dunk on the T, but we can’t deny it’s getting better. Recent MBTA data comparing trips from June 2023 and 2024 found the Red, Orange, and Blue Lines are all running over 50 more daily trips than last year, significantly decreasing wait times (in the Red Line’s case, by over 4 minutes on the Ashmont and Braintree branches). On the bus front, the number of “dropped” trips, a.k.a. scheduled trips that never happen, decreased from a staggering 8.3% to just 1.8%. The cherry on top? Regular service on the Red Line is set to resume today after that awful closure.
💅 The CharlieCard store just glowed up. Approximately two days before CharlieCards officially go out of style, the CharlieCard store has rebranded to the “Charlie Service Center” and relocated to new digs downtown. After operating out of temporary offices since last fall, the new store opens today across from Walgreens. But despite the new look, the store will provide pretty much the same old services to riders, like buying passes, adding credits, replacing damaged or expired cards, and requesting Senior or TAP cards.
🏅 Mass. might have a new hometown hero on its hands. We told you that Stoughton native Frederick Richard was a rising star in men’s gymnastics. And after seeing his first Olympic performance this weekend, we think it’s safe to say we were right. Richard carried Team USA in the qualifiers, putting up the team’s highest all-around score (this jaw-dropping high bar routine made Emily audibly scream). We’ll see if he and the team can seal the deal and nab a medal in the final.
THINGS TO DO
Weekday checklist
Image: Matt Conti
🎉 Ring in the start of feast szn. The feast of Saint Agrippina kicks off Thursday in the North End for a long weekend of Italian food favorites, music, and the iconic procession of the festival’s namesake.
🎥 See the OG “Godzilla” on the Greenway. The Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Greenway have partnered up to bring a 35mm outdoor screening of this sci-fi classic to the public on Wednesday.
🎨 Make your own art in a museum. The new WNDR museum downtown is hosting a paint and sip night Thursday for those 21+. All you have to bring is a can-do attitude (they provide the supplies).
👗 Sniff out a vintage treasure. The Brighton Bazaar is back again for its monthly night market on Wednesday. Come prepared to sift through goodies from 100 local businesses and snack on food and bev from Speedway staples.
🦞 Set sail for a lobster clambake. That’s what’s going down at Spectacle Island on Thursday night, where a ticket gets you a roundtrip ferry ride, a three-course New England clambake, games, and stunning sunset views of Boston.
🎶 Head to Roslindale for a night of free tunes. It’s Rozzie’s turn for Boston’s neighborhood concert series tonight at Fallon Field. The band of the hour: Rusty Randoms.
🌇 Stretch out with a view. Head to Piers Park in Eastie on Wednesday night for a free yoga class overlooking spectacular views of Boston Harbor. Make sure to bring your own mat and water!
🧶 Knit without boundaries. This Wednesday, The Foundry is continuing its series of freeform knitting classes meant to teach crafters how to turn their would-be scraps into all new, wearable pieces.
ONE LAST THING
A (tur)keyed car
Illustration: Gia Orsino
It’s no secret that Boston turkeys are brazen. But they’d never key your car … right? Well, that’s exactly what happened to Brighton resident Alicia Mastroianni. And no, we’re not kidding.
Mastroianni was leaving her Brighton home when she found that the entire side of her car had been scratched up — with a note left on it. A neighboring driver had watched (and crucially, videoed) a massive turkey carry out a ruthless attack on Mastroianni’s car by pecking and kicking it.
Needless to say, the video went viral on TikTok. And although turkey experts say that the bird probably had an issue with its reflection in the car, we wouldn’t put it past a turkey to have been plotting this for weeks.
— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario
🦃 Thanks for reading! As one commenter said: “he’s a true masshole i guess.”
💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, Seastreak Ferries, for supporting local journalism and making summer travel in New England more affordable and accessible.
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