
Is GBB the Grand Beatbox Battle? Or something else? I am not up to speed on Beatboxing competitions, sorry!

Answering questions at Boston College O’Neill Library

It’s so hard to make recommendations like that in general, but here are a couple of thoughts. 1) This Field Guide to Boston is a pretty great introduction to the area, and it includes neighborhoods, places, and activities to think about. https://www.wbur.org/news/section/field-guide-to-boston 2) One of the things about Boston is that it has loads of people who are college-aged, and they tend to collect. Maybe try hanging out around Trident Books on Newbury Street on a Friday or Saturday and follow the vibe and/or the crowds.

My library helpers told me this office supports first-year students as they transition into educational, social, and cultural life at Boston College. You can find out more about the programs, initiatives, and resources they provide here: bit.ly/first-year-office.

Perhaps I misunderstood the cardinal virtue of M&Ms, which is that humans think they’re a treat. Red & Brown sounds like a good combo to me, though.

As soon as they reconsider generously sharing the ball with the wrong folks (more brown M&M, less red, cf. M&M post), it’ll be all good.

Do you mean Billy Budd, the character in a Herman Melville novel? I think that poor man’s been through enough.

There are so many kinds of love! So many words in so many different languages. Here is a short poem about different kinds of love in Arabic by Philip Metres, who recently graced Gasson Hall with a reading:
)
because there is a word for love in this tongue
that entwines two people as one
)
& there is a word for love in this tongue
that nests in the chambers of the heart
)
& a word for love in this tongue that wanders
the earth, for love in this tongue in which you lose
)
yourself in this tongue & a word that carries
sorrow within its vowels & a word for love
)
that exudes from your pores & a word
for love that shares its name with falling
–Philip Metres, from Shrapnel Maps

Technically, the answer to your question (as of 9:15 am 10/27/25 😉) is 971,184. Still, please remember that this number excludes many of the resources managed by library staff—eBooks, bound journals, music scores, and material housed in offsite locations. We always have more than you think we do.

I don’t have an Instagram account, but my helpers and I have run a blog (library.bc.edu/answerwall/) for a few years, which shares all the delightful questions I’ve received and my answers. If you can’t tell, I’m a bit old school.

I’m a wall, so I don’t eat and have no personal opinion on the size of strawberries or bananas. I hear that beings who eat generally seek flavor more than size. One of my assistants grows wild strawberries in their garden, and says they’re quite small but pack an outsized flavor.