The Foggy Goggle is a bar on Boylston Street, located just past the glare of the boutiques at the outer perimeter of Newbury Street. It's a dive -- the kind of place where they serve beer in 8 ounce Dixie cups and don't apologize. And for one night, it was the most earnest place in Boston. Two weeks ago, Bostonist joined Socializing for Justice (SoJust) as the group held its January mixer, "Putting the 'Social'......

There is no sign or banner, but it is easy to find the Tuesday meeting of Poly Boston at Somerville's Diesel Cafe. Just look for the people who are hugging each other. "Poly people are openly affectionate," admitted Jonathan Woodward, an outgoing polyamorous professional. "But not more so than a monogamous couple might be." Diesel is a terrible place to hold a meeting. Last night, Poly Boston members crowded in clusters around three or four......

"It's an important civic concern," Bos explained. "All of us are in the public sphere and we have to agree on the same tests of truth. Right now, we have different tests of truth."...

The game was tucked in the dark corner of the Cambridge Common last night, away from the lamp-lined paths and trees covered with Christmas lights. From afar, it looked like some kind of goofy science project: a pair of lights darting back and forth in the night. But when you approached the field and saw the players, you realized that it was something even more bizarre. Those floating lights were frisbees. The Illuminated Frisbee Nighttime......

Last Saturday, a group of wallflowers, mostly in their twenties, lined the auditorium of Allston's International Community Church (ICC). The event had all the markings of an awkward youth group mixer, from the empty checkerboard floor to the folk singer on stage. But the attendees weren't there to pray. They were there to eat. It was the Launch Party for the Boston Vegan Association (BVA), and tables sat covered with food donations from members and......

A visitor to the Fall Celebration held by the Boston Association of Cabaret Artists (BACA) last Monday could be excused for getting a little lost. The event took place in the hidden back room of Club Cafe on Boylston Street, beyond an empty and darkened corridor. But, when you came within range of the tinkling piano keys and the rousing rendition of "Luck Be a Lady," you knew you were in the right place. According......

"There's always a small cataclysm," Merry Rutrick explained. "That's what we talk about." Rutrick is a co-host of Drinking Liberally Boston, and the cataclysm last Wednesday night was the impending vote in the US House to overturn President Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program funding bill. "I'm so psyched that Tsongas got elected," said co-host Ethan Tavan. "I hope she gets sworn in in time for the vote." (She did, and......

Mike "Flash" Flaherty was only on hand to win the Iron Butt title. On a chilly and damp October Sunday, Cruiser Club Boston met at the Honey Dew on Lowell Street in Wakefield for its last official ride for the season, and Flaherty had some other place to be. But he couldn't miss the final odometer reading if he wanted the title. The Honey Dew -- known as "the Dew" -- is a biker......

Last Thursday, Noah Goldman closed the visor on his steel helmet and straightened his body for the blow he was about to receive from his teacher's sword. It was the first practice of the season for the Boston-area Schola Saint George Western martial arts study group, and Goldman needed to christen his new headgear. Group Leader Charles Deily pulled the wooden sword back and slammed it into Goldman's head. The crash reverberated through the empty,......

The New England Backgammon Club (NEBC) plays its tournaments in an out-of-the-way seafood and burger joint, tucked at the end of a commercial strip in suburban Malden. The Dockside is a cavern of a restaurant, dedicated to Boston sports, Keno, and beer. Despite its distance from the city's center, it's the kind of place that could exist only in Boston. If you aren't talking Pats or Sox, you might as well be speaking Greek. It's......

The Joiner is a newcomer to Boston and a compulsive joiner of clubs and organizations. He shares his experience joining Boston area groups weekly at Bostonist. Last Wednesday, Geri Sullivan presented a visitor to the Somerville clubhouse of the New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA) with a gift: A hand-colored copy of her Hugo Award winning fanzine, Science-Fiction Five-Yearly. Printed on vintage, musty Fibertone paper using a mimeograph (named "Mr. G") and hand stapled, the......

The Joiner is a newcomer to Boston and a compulsive joiner of clubs and organizations. He shares his experience joining Boston area groups weekly at Bostonist. Pedestrians trying to navigate the Atlantic Avenue sidewalk on the Boston Waterfront at 7:30 Sunday morning had more to contend with than the usual pointing and clicking tourists. They also had to bypass the mound of tripods and camera bags piled outside Dunkin' Donuts, where members of the Boston......

The Joiner is a newcomer to Boston and a compulsive joiner of clubs and organizations. He shares his experience joining Boston area groups weekly at Bostonist. The scene at Downtown Crossing's Alley Bar the afternoon of Saturday, September 1, should have been more somber, considering New England's only gay rugby squad had lost its first match of the season by a score too embarrassing to relate. But that's not how rugby works. After the match......