A retired police captain has heard the joke her whole life. People ask her to say Boston words “like I’m a seal at the aquarium,” she says. She’s 60. She lived through the blizzard of ’78. Last month, Logan International Airport gave her a shot at the last laugh. It launched a contest for a greeting voice that feels like home. More than 5,000 people lined up to try. She didn’t make the cut. Eight people did.
The auditions ran live at Terminal A and online. The script was a tour of the city’s greatest hits. A lobster roll by the harbor. A cannoli line in the North End. A drive to Gloucester for salt air. Judges listened for three things. Clear speech, authenticity and what the airport calls the Boston Logan vibe. One word did most of the judging. “You had to pronounce Gloucester correctly,” said Rich Davey, who runs the Massachusetts Port Authority. It’s GLOS-tah, if you’re doing it right. Judge Sarah Lee listened to about 500 entries. She said that word weeded out the phonies fast.
Judges cut the field to eight, and the finalists sound like a city. One is a 37-year-old musical-theater performer and professor from Malden. At 12 she sang the anthem at Fenway Park. In her spare time she rates Dunkin’ drinks. She recorded her audition with two lucky props, a Larry Bird doll and a souvenir Dunkin’ cup. One is a 29-year-old Boston College law student who says his neighbors are kinder than the stereotype. One is a 41-year-old who sent two takes, one thick and one he thought outsiders could follow. A teacher, a pipe fitter and an entrepreneur are in the eight too. Even Ben Affleck recorded a parody with ground rules for visitors. Don’t call it Beantown.
The prize is the point
The public votes this week. There’s no prize money. The winner gets a small fee for recording the lines. That suits Phyllis Thibodeaux Beach fine. She’s 76 and retired from the DMV. Her father worked construction, and several Boston landmarks have his work in them. She wants a mark of her own on the city. “The voice that you hear at Logan Airport is Yaya,” she wants her kids and grandkids to say. About 130,000 people fly in and out of Logan every day. That’s a lot of witnesses.
Our read
This is a Retirement story (M10), and it’s about the part of the plan that isn’t money. Nobody in this contest gets prize money. A 76-year-old tried out anyway, because a second act needs a stage. We see the gap in reviews all the time. People plan the income to the dollar and leave the days blank. The happiest retirees we know have a Yaya project. Something with their name on it, that other people will hear or use or walk past. It usually costs very little. It usually starts with saying yes to something a bit ridiculous.
The concrete thing in your plan is the purpose line. It’s a list, and it doesn’t need a dollar sign. Three things you’d stand in line at Terminal A for. This week, write them down and put a date next to one. A plan that only covers the money is half a plan. We’d rather see the purpose line before the first gray day of retirement. That’s what a review is for.