😵‍💫🚃 The MBTA’s fav hobby? Closing.

👻 Think YOUR Halloween costume was cute? These adorable NICU babies at Boston Medical Center might give you a run for your money. Just look at this tiny pumpkin!

🚨💅 Free ticket alert! Jonathan Van Ness from “Queer Eye” is coming to The Wilbur Theatre on Nov. 22 for their “Hot and Healed” tour, and we have TWO free tickets for one lucky B-Side Member. Start a 30-day free trial, then enter tomorrow at 10 a.m. 

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

Green Liners: Do you get déjà vu? ‘Cause from 8 p.m. Nov. 4 through Nov. 13, the line is OOO again, this time between Park Street and Union Square.

Here’s what to know:

🚇 Traveling between Park Street and North Station? Take the Orange Line. There won’t be any shuttle buses running between those two stops, so the MBTA recommends you walk through the Winter Street Concourse between Park Street and Downtown Crossing and hop on the Orange Line, which will take you to North Station. Easy … right?

🚌 Traveling between North Station and Medford/Tufts: Use a shuttle bus. Local shuttles will be replacing regular service. Here’s exactly where they’ll stop.

🚏 Traveling between North Station and Union Square: Use a *regular* bus. Again, there won’t be any shuttle buses here. The 109 bus will be the best dupe, which operates between Union Square and East Somerville and runs every 15 minutes or better. The 91 bus can also get you from Union Square and East Somerville, and the 87 bus can take you between Union Square and Lechmere.

🚨 Also on the chopping block: The C branch During the shutdown, the C Line will stop service at Kenmore. For service beyond that, hop on the B or D line.

⏰ Say it with us now: Budget. Extra. Time. The MBTA estimates the diversion will add “at least” 45 minutes to a commute to Park Street from Medford/Tufts. *screams*

🚲 Thankfully, Bluebikes are coming to the rescue. The city of Boston is offering everyone (even non-Green Liners!) five free Bluebike unlocks during the shutdown using code MBTAGREEN114 in the app. 

⚠️ What’s this all for again? Installing the Green Line’s fancy new Green Line Train Protection System (GLTPS), which will hopefully curb its little ~crashing and derailment~ habits. The good news: At least for now, we don’t see any other shutdowns scheduled for the line this year. Remember that when you’re shlepping on the 109 bus. <3 

🚃 Any other questions? Find the answers here!

🍎 November SNAP payments are officially in limbo. Two separate federal judges have ruled that the Trump admin has to dip into emergency funds to (at least partially) resume SNAP food benefits during the government shutdown. That’s a hopeful sign, but without a timeline on when the cash will flow, 140,000 Bostonians — many of whom have already missed payments — are in limbo. The good news: Gov. Healey and Mayor Wu are both beefing up support (read: $$$) for local food shelters and non-profits, and a bunch of local restaurants are offering aid.

💩 That dirty water may get a little dirtier. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is considering a controversial plan to tackle the Charles River’s ~sewage overflow situation~. Rather than finish the long, pricey process of completely eliminating sewage overflow, the MWRA wants to reclassify the river’s water quality to explicitly allow for some sewage discharge. Technically, the plan would still reduce pollution flowing into the river, but for advocates who’ve been working toward a swimmable Charles for decades, the idea feels like a huge betrayal.

✈️ The vibes at Logan last week? Chaotic. On Thursday, two planes narrowly avoided a potential collision after being cleared to take off and land on intersecting runways at the same time. Ultimately, the landing plane, which had dipped to 200 feet, basically pulled a vertical u-ey, and thankfully, everyone was safe. Then, on Saturday, the airport was issued a delay advisory due to “staffing” issues, which may or may not be related to the federal shutdown that left air traffic controllers without pay last week. Yikes!

😋 Add these spots to your November foodie checklist. Boston magazine has some major dining news on deck. If you can’t make the trek to Central Square for Lanner Noodles & Bar’s dreamy hand-pulled noodles, their Seaport location is officially open. Soon to follow is Boston Public Market alum Hearth & Hug Bakery, which is finally opening its own shop in Davis Square on Nov. 8, per its IG. Then, mid-month, four-time Best of Boston sushi spot Cafe Sushi is re-opening its Harvard Square dining room after scaling to takeout-only during COVID. 

📚 Head to a reading rager. Yes, reading CAN be a party. Don’t believe us? Head to Cafe Zing on Nov. 3. Its reading party is free to enter, but an $8 ticket will get you a free cafe bev, a used book, and a raffle entry!

🥪 Send your taste buds to NOLA. To celebrate National Sandwich Week, South End Cajun spot Bootleg Special is offering a BOGO takeout deal on its fat poboy sammies from Nov. 3 to 7. 

✏️ Get sketchy in the Seaport. Every other Tuesday (including Nov. 4), a local artist runs a free drawing class in The Superette Courtyard. Supplies, live music, and good vibes will be provided, all you have to do is show up.

🤠 Scoot your boots to live music. Line dancing at Loretta’s Last Call is already iconic. But starting Nov. 5, its Wednesday dance nights will feature a LIVE band. To celebrate, this week, they’ll have a *special* giveaway.

💐 See the Pru in bloom. Fleurs de Villes, the one-of-a-kind flower show of mannequins dressed in flowers (see: these stunning gowns), is BACK from Nov. 5 to 9 with a Downton Abbey twist. Here are the deets. 

🥧 Meet a cutie, eat a pie! Literally: On Nov. 6, Dani’s Queer Bar is hosting a human scavenger hunt and singles mixer … which ends with a pie-eating contest. Grab tickets here!

🍂 Lock in on art girl autumn. LMH Artwork is bringing an autumnal paint n’ sip to Trident on Nov. 6. There will be pre-sketched fall scenes to paint while you watch “Over the Garden Wall.”

🔮 Manifest your 2026. Get a kick-start on your new year goals with like-minded folks at The Foundry’s free vision board and goal setting night Nov. 7.

Dictionary.com’s word of the year … isn’t a word. It’s a number. Or, to be more specific, two numbers: 6 7. For the uninitiated, 6 7 (that’s “six seven,” not “sixty seven”) is a Gen Alpha phrase, usually accompanied by this hand gesture, that took TikTok (and every middle school in the country) by storm.

So what does it mean? Well, no one really knows. Not even Dictonary.com itself. You can use 6 7 to answer a question, as a standalone statement, or just to deeply confuse anyone over the age of 22. For example: How was your day today? 6 7. What does 6 7 mean? 6 7.

But per Dictonary.com, all the confusion around the phrase is exactly what made it the right pick for this year: “It’s “meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical … all the hallmarks of brainrot,” according to the announcement post. “It’s the logical endpoint of being perpetually online, scrolling endlessly, consuming content fed to users by algorithms trained by other algorithms.” 

… It’s been a long year. 

— Written by Gia Orsino and Claire Nicholas

🔤 Thanks for reading! Other contenders for word of the year? Tradwife, kiss cam, aura farming, and broligarchy. 

🍬 The results are in: 36% of B-Siders say they HATE candy corn, while 31% love it, and another 31% are somewhere in between. One reader said: “I can eat a few pieces before the nausea sets in, but those few pieces are a delight.”

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