Re: "Boston is a muddy backwater?"
That song was describing half a century ago. Do try to catch up.
(Note: I'm an "out of control" Californian, through and through. I dislike the entire East Coast[0], and see absolutely zero merit to living there. But please, calling the Charles River polluted? C'mon. Find something real to gripe about ... )
[0]East of the Rockies, actually ... I could easily get behind the concept of splitting the US in two, right along the Continental Divide. Sorry, Denver.