“Most people, when they imagine New England, think about old colonial homes, white houses with black shutters, whales, and sexually morbid WASPs with sensible vehicles and polite political opinions. This is incorrect. If you want to get New England right, just imagine a giant mullet in paint-stained pants and a Red Sox hat being pushed into the back of a cruiser after a bar fight.”

— Matt Taibbi, journalist and former athlete in Spanking the Donkey: Dispatches from the Dumb Season. He grew up in Greater Boston and attended fancy Concord Academy, in Concord, Mass.