👩‍❤️‍👩 🤔 Out: Tinder. In: ... TikTok?

It’s Tuesday, Boston.

😍 And it’s free cone day! Which means Ben & Jerry’s is slinging free scoops from 12 to 8 p.m. Find your closest scoop shop here! Emily and Gia met some very sweet B-Siders at the Faneuil Hall location at the last free cone day, and you KNOW we’ll be running it back after work. So … see you there <3

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Student visas are dropping like flies

• Gov. Maura Healey’s first challenger

• The world of FKR-ers

Up first…

 LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS

Boston dating’s reality-tv twist

We can’t scroll our FYPs for more than five minutes without bumping into a made-for-social-media dating show (see: Street Hearts, Pop the Balloon or Find Love). 

And now, Boston has its own version:

👩‍❤️‍👩 Enter: Stoop Dating. Julz Radley created the new IG and TikTok show where she and her team match two singles based on their applications, and set them up on an on-camera blind date on a stoop in Southie. Radley guides the couple through games and questions, and at the end of the date, they clink their drinks if it’s a match, or sip if it's a no. 

❤️ The mission? Making dating authentic again. The inauthenticity of online dating has caught up to us, said Adam Cohen-Aslatei, Three Day Rule CEO (and former managing director at Chappy, Bumble’s gay dating app). “On these mobile apps, people develop personas that are very much not like how they act in the real world.” Radley said the stoop is meant to be a space where daters are forced to drop the “too cool for school” personas they’ve built online and just be themselves. The on-camera, in-the-moment nature of Stoop Dating doesn’t give folks the opportunity to put up walls.

💋 Think of it as matchmaking with a Gen Z twist. Sure, it makes great content, but curated, in-person dating experiences are a legitimate solution to many of Gen Z’s dating problems, Cohen-Aslatei said. “It feels like a derivative of matchmaking.” These shows provide young daters with free matchmaking and vetting, a guaranteed date, a charismatic host to quell the awkwardness, all wrapped in cute, reality TV-style branding. Compared to the work of finding, romancing, and managing an awkward first date yourself, it “saves a lot of time.”

😳 The results speak for themselves. Stoop Dating has over 600 applications, and so far, “all of our couples either exchanged numbers or went on a date immediately after the stoop date,” Radley said. 

🌹 And it's not just the TV-show format that works: The Southie Bachelor, an IRL, application-only dating event hosted by local influencers, received 800 applications for 44 spots at its most recent event — which resulted in over 90 matches. According to host Krissy, a.k.a. @narcolepsybetsy (who requested to not share her last name for privacy concerns), “so many people” told her after the events that their connections were people they “never would have matched with” on the apps.

👀 Interested? You can apply for Stoop Dating here, or keep your eyes peeled for the next Southie Bachelor event here.

QUICK QUESTION!

🌹 Would you go on a social media dating show?

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🧑‍🎓 Local student visas are dropping like flies. Over the weekend, the Trump administration revoked at least 17 student visas from international students or recent grads of local colleges like Harvard, UMass Amherst, and UMass Boston. And on Monday, even more were announced. It's unclear why exactly these schools and students were targeted, but it's all part of the admin’s nationwide effort to punish students who have allegedly engaged in criminal activities — some officials say even traffic violations count — or pro-Palestinian activism. 

🏫 Is Boston still Boston without its colleges? It’s actually a great question. President Trump’s recent cuts to higher ed funding pose a high risk to Mass., where our colleges power everything from our state identity to our tourism $$$. And with billions of federal funding dollars in limbo, Mass. schools are having to cut jobs, rescind acceptances, and scale back research. Combine that with local businesses already feeling the vibecession — not to mention this week’s stock market crash — and we have a problem on our hands.

🗳️ Next year’s gubernatorial race is already taking shape. Mike Kennealy became the first Republican to officially throw his hat in the ring for next year’s Governor’s race — 16 months before election day. Kennealy worked under Gov. Charlie Baker, and is likely looking to get his name out there early in what could be a crowded ballot for GOP candidates. Per his campaign video, he’s concerned about Mass. heading in the “wrong direction,” from the MBTA to Beacon Hill to our shelter crisis, and wants to restore “common sense.”

🏀 The (March) Madness is finally over. And New England came out with a huge W! The UConn Huskies won this year’s women’s tourney despite entering as a No. 2 seed. And it wasn’t even close. Meanwhile, the No. 1 seed Florida Gators took home the men’s title, while Duke (and Maine hometown hero Cooper Flagg) got booted in the Final Four. Congrats to B-Side bracket challenge winners biancajs and r.janczy who fell into the 97.2 and 99.9 percentile of brackets (omg). Shoot us an email and we’ll send you your prize. <3

GIVEAWAY!

Together with Rock Spot Climbing

Enter to win a five-pack of climbing passes. To enter, just refer a friend and have them accept your invite by the end of the day on April 9, 2025. If you have already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below*

18+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules & an additional entry option here.

ONE LAST THING

The world of Karen Read fandom

A Globe reporter tried to write a story about Karen Read diehards who changed their tune. What could go wrong? Turns out, a LOT.

A few hours after posting an inquiry in a pro-Karen Read Facebook group, she was met with 863 angry responses that maligned her status as a journalist, her looks, and more. And when she decided to delete it, Turtleboy himself got involved. Yeah.

But amidst all the anger, she did hear from a number of ex-Karen Read fans — who were, for the most part, completely terrified to let the word get out that they’d changed their minds. You can dive into the full, juicy story here.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

⚖️ Thanks for reading! We’re not saying we could have predicted this, but … it’s not exactly surprising. 

🐯 The results are in: Looks like Phat Thaiger is getting the B-Side Certified treatment next month, with 29% of the vote. One reader said: “Malden is low key the best food spot outside of Boston. COME AT ME!!!”

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].