New York Times’ Feature Slams Worcester

Thursday, April 28, 2016

News Analysis

“Worcester wasn’t anybody’s first choice, at least not in my family,” is just one of a plethora of the less than complementary lines about Worcester from a feature to be published in this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine.

The article is written by Adam Davidson, the co-host of National Public Radio’s “Planet Money.” Davidson grew up in Worcester and much of the article is a reflection and tour of his family’s experience in Worcester.

Davidson says his journalism is about "trying to make a confusing economy clear and, even, fascinating."

"What Happened to Worcester?"

The article titled “What Happened to Worcester?” is a brutal attack on the demise and transformation of the city. The premise of the narrative is that Worcester was always a lousy city, but people came to the city to work and build a middle class life and get out. Now, according to Davidson’s thesis, it has lost much of its work ethic too.

“If you drive around Worcester now, it’s easy to imagine there is no rising middle class, no aspiration at all,” writes Davidson.

New York Times Sunday Magazine Feature

“A century ago, you could have picked any three-decker and immediately grasped the basic life story of all its tenants: where in the world they came from, which factory they worked in, what their hopes and fears were for their children. Today things are not so clear.”

Davidson’s interviews are few — two Clark University Professors are quoted, research with a genealogist on his own family, and he interviewed one Iraqi immigrant. There certainly was no interview with the Chamber of Commerce in Worcester. The article's photography is bleak and brutally urban.

Worcester in the middle

Davidson's self-absorbed reflection of Worcester seems to infer that the city is distinct. He sees Worcester to be unlike Providence or Springfield. But, the reality -- which may not fit Davidson's thesis -- is that all cities in varying degrees of transformation.

Photo essay paints a grim view of Worcester

His narrative glorifies everything from yesteryear, "Heald Machine, made a variety of industrial grinding materials — the rough disks and machinery that grind metal into shape. This was a crude, rough industry that required strong workers who didn’t need a lot of education. By working in these plants, my grandfather, great-grandfather and countless uncles and cousins found their place in the middle class."

The clear inference of Davidson's review of Worcester is that the city has far fewer hard working residents who are striving to create middle class lives. He may have not known that the New York Times purchased the main newspaper in town, cut the work force in half, closed one of the printing plants, and left the building with significant environmental contamination.

Related Slideshow: 20 Ways Worcester Changed America

Sources: Worcester Historical Museum, Worcesterma.gov, Centralmass.org

New York Times’ Feature Slams Worcester

Related Slideshow: 20 Ways Worcester Changed America

The American Revolution

J.Geils Band

First Bible Printed

First Dictionary Printed

Female in Presidential Cabinet

Bringing the Beatles to the U.S.

Introduced the Supermarket

Declaration of Independence

Glass and Steel Building Exterior

AIDS Test

Marshall "Major" Taylor

Casey at the Bat

The Three-Decker

Modern Gravestone Studies

Barbed-Wire

First Envelope Folding Machine

Central MA in Little League World Series

Discount Marketing

First Public Park in the U.S.

Freud's Only Visit to the United States

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