Joseph Porcelli

Joseph Porcelli

My name is Joseph Porcelli. I’m 31, and I’ve been in JP — it will be six years at the end of January. I had started a business that wasn’t doing well in the New Hampshire and Vermont area, and found a mentor who had a business here, and invited me to come work with her in Boston. So, where’s the coolest place to live? She moved to JP. That’s how I wound up here.

I think the first thing I love about JP is the people. You can walk anywhere, and strike up a conversation. I think that the people that are here, chose to be here, because they recognize how important it is to be part of a community. Not everybody may know how to engage the community, but they’re here because they want to be, I think. The folks that have been in JP for a long, long time, have done a lot of really hard work to get it to where it is right now. I think one of my favorite things is meeting the people that have been here for a long time, because, like, the stories. We walk up and down the street, and we don’t really have an appreciation for what happened, and how it got here. I like meeting the people that — this is their real neighborhood. And I’ve moved all over. I’ve lived in 25 neighborhoods my whole life, and this is the first place that I feel rooted where I feel accepted, and cherished, and I get that everywhere I go here.

So what’s up with the nametags is, I’ve learned that through the organizing I’ve done, is people don’t think that they have permission to talk to each other. So when people are wearing nametags, and they’re at an event pretty much means it’s OK to come an introduce yourself, and say hello. I wanted to know what would happen if I wore a nametag everyday for a year. I wanted to do nametag day in JP, but no one really wanted to do that with me. So I said, eh, I’m just going to do it anyway. I started wearing one last New Years Eve, and I’ve been wearing one every day since. It’s almost been a whole year. It’s been awesome. Actually, 19 thousand people have worn a nametag for a day, this year. We did nametag day at Fenway Park, and passed out 10 thousand nametags there. It’s been awesome. Everyone has really had a good time with it, and it’s really an ice breaker. It gives people permission to say hello. You don’t have to be at a function, or somewhere where we already have that permission. I’m hoping we’ll have people think about that. Good morning, good afternoon, how you doing, what’s up? Because that’s where community starts, is when we start talking, and acknowledging each other.

My favorite community spot is the rotary at Hyde Square, because you can sit there and watch the cars go around, and every single type of people is in the car, and it’s like, aw, that’s cool. My favorite community place for dinner and drinks is the Milky Way, just because they’ve been so supportive, and it’s just such an open community there, which I really like. My favorite cool place is — sorry I’m such a dork — there’s this street between Chilcott and Glen — I don’t know the name of it — by Franklin street, where the street ends, and there’s this little pathway. You walk through this garden onto this other street. I just think that’s cool. I don’t know why. There’s not just one thing about JP that people like. It offers so much. You can pop down to Yelly’s and get a great dinner for eight bucks. Like a big, big dinner. You can pop into the Milk Way, and get the best Calamari, or stop at the Popusa and get some great Chicharron, you know? Some Yucca Frita, mmm. ‘

This whole place is warm. That’s what I think it is. You go to Cambridge, and there’s some cool cats there, but it doesn’t have the feel. The best moment I’ve ever had in my entire life was in 2004. It was 3 a.m., after the Red Sox won, and everybody was out in Hyde Square. I don’t know how many people I hugged, but if I could recreate that again, I’d be ready to die — just to go through that one more time. That was just awesome. Everybody was high-fivin’ it, huggin’ and screaming. I was watching the game somewhere. We were would there for three hours, screaming. I remember I was sick the next day because I screamed so much. My head hurt, and messed my sinuses up.

I’ve read gentrification and stuff in school, but I’ve never seen it happen. My neighbor bought a building — an entire triple-decker in 2000, for two hundred, seventy thousand dollars. He flipped each floor for over 400 thousand. Now I’m in a position where I can’t afford to buy here, so that scares me a little bit. There’s a lot of folks that I know are getting kicked out. I’ve seen that happen. That scares me. I shrivel at that. I also struggle with, am I going to be able to stay here. I could rent for the rest of my life, probably. But that’s not going to leave me in the best financial position, because of the work I chose to do, I’m not taking home a [billie] a year.

I think this is why I support this project, because people will be able to see and listen to where people are coming from, and have an appreciation for that, because it really comes down to modifications in behavior. The basis of my work is getting people to talk to each other, and make eye contact. I know that when that happens, amazing things happen. That first is the see-er conversation, and then there’s the relating, and I think every community faces that. I think we have the tools and infrastructure to continue that work, but as gentrification sets in — I think if we were able to relate to each other, we would vote differently. People would chose to pressure elected official to create millions in dollars in preventative programs, and health and education for kids. We did our Halloween party on Boylston Street that we’ve done every year. This year we passed out 475 hotdogs. I was curious to see what would happen if we got a hotdog truck, and drove the city, and did instant hotdog parties — just all over, to get people to meet each other. I asked the kids, how do you think the hotdogs would make a difference, and some of the kids said we wouldn’t be hungry. That’s it. I don’t think a lot of people think about how hungry sets in for their neighbors around the city, which makes me sad. So to answer your question, distinctly. I would say that our biggest issue that we’re facing is people relating to each other, and after related each other, modifying our behaviors, and our priorities so that everyone has what they need. Housing, education, health, opportunities.
MJ: Describe Jamaica Plain in three words.
JP: Love, possibility, and fun.