PHOENIX – Indiana Fever forward Aliyah Boston headed into the WNBA All-Star break with a smile on her face and a lot of hope for her team this season.
Boston is averaging 18 points and 9.5 rebounds in July alone while shooting 65% from the field. While preparing for her second WNBA All-Star appearance in two seasons in the league, Boston is excited to share the weekend with Fever teammates Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell on the court while having the chance to play with top WNBA talent she usually competes against on a nightly basis.
She attributes some of her success to building chemistry with her teammates Clark and Mitchell but gives the majority of the credit to her intentional efforts off the court to focus on her mental health.
“I feel like I started protecting my peace,” Boston told Andscape at the WNBA All-Star media pods on July 19. “I just made sure that I was doing stuff that I needed to do that benefits me so that when I get out on that court, I’m not really worried about anyone, anything — just me.”
Advertisement
May was a hard month for the Indiana Fever. They finished with a 1-8 record, and Boston finished the month averaging 11 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, shooting 45.2% from the floor. The start of Year 2 wasn’t what many expected from the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year.
“I feel like it’s taken a lot of mental strength over anything because to start this season, honestly, I was not in a good spot. I felt like I was honestly starting over,” Boston said. “I’m trying to figure out my footing with everything again, and so I feel like there was just so much talking behind the noise, which was a big reason I got off social media. [I needed] to make sure that I’m doing what I need to do. Since then, I’ve just been able to focus on me [and] continue to work hard.
“Being an All-Star was definitely one of [the goals] because I feel like being an All-Star as a rookie is really impressive, but it’s always hard to come back and do it again.”
Indiana Fever forward Aliyah Boston (right) shoots the ball against Minnesota Lynx forward Alanna Smith in the first quarter at Target Center on July 14 in Minneapolis.
David Berding/Getty Images
Advertisement
In May, Boston deleted social media, choosing to connect with family, spend time reading her Bible, and do whatever else she felt was necessary to preserve her mental health.
“I also ignore people, as silly as that sounds,” Boston said. “I do because I feel like sometimes to protect my peace it really has to be about me and that’s hard when you include everyone else in your life. Everyone feels like they need a little piece of you and sometimes it’s just like, ‘No, I’ll keep it.’ “
The social media scrutiny, especially on X (formerly Twitter), was deafening for Boston. South Carolina’s head women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley understands how social media and comments can impact a young player.
“It plays on your psyche a little bit, and you have to adjust,” Staley said. “What I really am proud of is her ability to adjust and I think she’s better because of it. I don’t think she has the type of season that she’s having if she didn’t have to adjust to a different way of thinking [and] a different way of playing.”
Transitioning into the WNBA isn’t easy. Boston knows there’s a high level of talent in the league and that finding your footing in it takes time.
“I feel like the biggest misconception people have is that this talent just all of a sudden dropped out of the sky,” Boston said. “Because sometimes you’ll see people make comments like, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn’t know you were good.’ It’s like, ‘Did you watch [me]?’ So it’s kind of like with these new eyes they speak without thinking and I feel like when you really pay attention to this league you know the amount of talent that’s here [and] how hard it is to be in this league.”
Advertisement
Protecting her peace off the court has translated onto the court for Boston. She’s keeping up with Clark’s pace, cashing in on transition baskets and connecting with Clark on pick and rolls. Since the 1-8 start, the Fever are 10-7 (11-15 overall).
“I just continued to make sure that I’m being consistent for my team, making sure I’m finishing my shots, finishing around the rim, making sure I’m running the floor, doing all little things because at the end of day like we have a great team,” Boston said. “We have a great squad and I’m making sure that I’m doing everything I can. It’s gonna be important for our team.”
Indiana Fever forward Aliyah Boston (left) and guard Caitlin Clark (right) sit on the bench before the game against the Seattle Storm at Climate Pledge Arena on June 27 in Seattle.
Steph Chambers/Getty Images
Since their rough start, Boston and Clark have showcased their chemistry on the floor. Clark was excited about getting to play with Boston, and the two No.1 overall picks (Clark in 2024, Boston in 2023) are a big reason why the Fever are currently in seventh place in the WNBA standings.
“She’s only getting better and better each game [and] continues to improve,” Clark said about Boston’s performance this season.
Advertisement
Despite frustration and finding consistency on the court, Boston has made a conscious effort to build a strong relationship with Clark. While Clark was excited at the opportunity to play alongside Boston, the two built a rapport off the court that helped Clark flourish during her rookie season.
“Not only is she a great basketball player, but she’s a great person. She’s a great leader in our locker room. She’s always had my back,” Clark said. “She’s just somebody that I can lean on. But I think our chemistry and our connection just continues to grow.”
Boston knows firsthand the pressures of being the No.1 overall pick and the expectations to immediately play well in the league. After Clark’s WNBA record-breaking 19 assists against the Dallas Wings on July 17, Boston believes her teammate is living up to the lofty expectations.
“The biggest advice I gave Caitlin was just to be herself,” Boston said. “I remember early on in the season I told [Caitlin] with the attention that you have coming in here, sometimes you’re going to be expecting certain things, and they’re going to try and prove to you like this is a big league. You’re here now. [I tell her to] continue to be her and be patient.
“I feel like giving ourselves grace is something that is hard, especially when we’re competitors and we want everything to be perfect. I think she’s done a great job. She’s handled herself really well over the course of the entire season.”
Advertisement
During the Fever’s first matchup against the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces on July 2, Aces forward A’ja Wilson noticed that Boston was playing with a level of patience she didn’t master until after the WNBA bubble in 2020.
“Aliyah is someone that really felt like she had to do it all in one motion or she felt like she had to do it all just because, once again, she’s the No. 1 draft pick, and coming in and there’s a lot of expectations,” Wilson said about Boston, who also played for Staley at South Carolina. “So I feel like she had to execute a lot of things all at once, versus this year I feel like she’s playing with a lot more patience, seeing things, dissecting the game, and picking it apart in a way that’s beneficial to her.”
Boston is heading into the All-Star Game with some momentum. She finished the Fever’s last game before the break with a season-high 28 points to go with eight rebounds and has posted double-digit points in 14 of her last 15 games.
Although the season was hard initially for the Fever, they have showcased some growth at the halfway mark.
“You just have to be in that moment and take that step back,” Boston said. “I feel like during the season, it’s really hard to really understand the growth that we had, especially when we’re looking at [it from] the wins and losses standpoint. But being able to take this break, to be able to see that, ‘Hey, we’ve had a great first half,’ now we just have to regroup and make sure that we finish out the rest of the season.”
Boston will spend the next several weeks resting during the Olympic break and hopes that when the league season returns on Aug. 15, she can fuel Indiana to its first postseason berth since 2016.
Advertisement
“Playoffs is definitely one of [the goals]. It’s been a while since we’ve been back and I feel like last year we were on the cusp of it. That is something that needs to happen. I think we have a great group and can do it,” Boston said.
“We have to be a little bit better at that going into the second half of the season because everyone is competing for a playoff spot.”
Mia Berry is the senior HBCU writer for Andscape and covers everything from sports to student-led protests. She is a Detroit native (What up Doe!), long-suffering Detroit sports fan and Notre Dame alumna who randomly shouts, “Go Irish.”
JetBlue will terminate all service to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire this summer, with the airline’s final flight scheduled for July 8, airport officials said Thursday.
Airport officials said on social media that they were “very disappointed” that the airline will be pulling its service. Manchester-Boston is the largest airport in New Hampshire and sixth largest in New England.
“MHT has worked diligently to promote JetBlue service at MHT, providing air service incentives, a substantial marketing budget, and conducting various promotional activities to create awareness,” officials wrote. “Unfortunately, those efforts were not enough to overcome their ongoing business challenges, which have only been exacerbated by the recent spike in jet fuel prices.”
While JetBlue has long been one of the largest carriers at Logan International Aiport in Boston, some of its routes to Manchester, roughly 50 miles north, have seen lower passenger numbers.
Advertisement
Aviation publication SimpleFlying reported that the airline’s least popular route last year were flights to Manchester from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, seating just 47 passengers on average.
JetBlue told the airport its decision came as they “make a tough call as to how to best support national connectivity in a time of capacity crisis,” officials said.
The announcement comes just weeks after JetBlue unveiled major route expansion plans in South Florida to fill gate spaces vacated by budget-friendly Spirit Airlines, which ceased its operations in May. A bid from JetBlue to buy Spirit Airlines was blocked in 2024 by the Biden Administration over anti-trust concerns.
JetBlue could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.
Bryan Hecht can be reached at bryan.hecht@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @bhechtjournalism.
Mass General nurse-turned-author Karen Winn brings Beacon Hill to life in her latest book. Add this to your beach bag.
“The Society” by Karen Winn. PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE/SLY PHOTOGRAPHY PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE/SLY PHOTOGRAPHY
Massachusetts General Hospital nurse-turned-author Karen Winn often writes in the Boston Athenaeum, watching tours pass by.
One day, in 2023, she joined one. And the seed for her next novel was planted.
Advertisement
“We passed by an oil portrait of Thomas Handasyd Perkins, a major benefactor to the Athenaeum in the 1800s. The docent alluded to this dark history as to how he’d amassed a large portion of his fortune in the opium trade,” she tells me.
“The tour group moved on — but I was stuck there thinking. I went home and fell down this rabbit-hole of research and learned, to my surprise, just how many of the Boston Brahman families made their fortune in the opium trade. It was fascinating.”
I went down a similar rabbit-hole. The Boston Brahmin opium fortunes are well-documented, including a past Harvard Art Museum exhibit, articles, books and website info including, speaking of Perkins, the Perkins School for the Blind.
Winn, who lives on Beacon Hill and was in a secret society (I asked) added bits and pieces from her own life into the novel-creating mixing bowl: What if there was a secret society built on old opium money in Beacon Hill, and a Mass General nurse was somehow involved?
“The Society” was born.
Advertisement
If you’re looking for a Boston-set page-turner — an “alternate universe Beacon Hill,” as Winn puts it — to kick off your summer reading, add this suspense to your beach bag.
Nutshell: The Knox, standing proudly on Mount Vernon Street in Beacon Hill, houses meetings of a secret society. Some in Boston believe it’s an elite social club — others believe it hides something sinister.
When Boston antique dealer Vivian Lawrence sees her family fortune vanish, she turns to a family legend that ties her to the Knox, seeking a way into the exclusive secret society.
Taylor Adams, a 20-something Mass General ER nurse who recently moved to Boston, becomes almost obsessed with old-moneyed Vivian, “a creature of wealth,” after Vivian lands in the ER one night. When Vivian disappears from Mass General without a trace, Taylor’s search for answers pulls her into the Knox and its dark history…
What interested me — before I knew anything of Winn’s backstory— was that it felt like it was written by someone who just moved to Boston and was in awe of the city.
Advertisement
Living here, we might think of Rachel Dratch and Jimmy Fallon and Denise and Sully in those old “Boston Teen” SNL sketches, or Casey Affleck as the “King of Dunkin” as summing us up, at least in terms of how outsiders see us.
But Taylor, the Mass General nurse, almost fetishizes Boston, and old-moneyed New Englanders she imagines walking down every street.
Example: when old-Boston-money Vivian lands in the ER: Taylor “swallows, a flurry of excitement building in her chest… she envisioned that the city would be teeming with these ladies… That she would get to move among their world, learn from them, drink in their fanciness… letting that old New England generational wealth rub off on her until she glimmered with something of its gold dust…It is Boston, after all: the city of cobblestones and beauty, of Harvard and MIT, of sophistication and history.”
Winn, who grew up in New Jersey, moved to Boston 20 years ago after meeting her Boston-native husband Gil at UPenn. They now live in the Beacon Hill area with their two kids and 100-pound (yup) Bernedoodle.
Advertisement
After two decades here, she’s still “in awe.”
“I grew up in a 5,000-person town in New Jersey. When I came to Boston, I was struck by this beautiful city. Beacon Hill is one of the most historic and charming neighborhoods,” she tells me. “Living here, one might almost be inured to it, but I have this awe. I’m always struck by the cobblestone streets and the gaslit lamps.”
Winn even started a TikTok account for @theknoxsociety, documenting life on Beacon Hill.
This is Winn’s second novel, after 2022’s “Our Little World.” But “I’m not an overnight success by any shape or form,” she says with a laugh.
“I was a nurse and a nurse practitioner, but always loved writing and wrote on the side,” says Winn, who left Mass General in 2010. “It’s a typical writer’s story: I had hundreds of rejections for short stories.”
Advertisement
One of those rejections — from JFK Jr.’s “George Magazine” in 2000 — actually landed her in Newsweek recently.
I called Winn to talk opium, strange graveyard tour, a terrifying house fire, TikTok, and more.
Taylor arrives in Boston with a burning curiosity about the city. “What is Boston? Who are these people?” questions swimming in her head.
“Absolutely. When I came to Boston, I was so struck by this beautiful city. In my head, I could very clearly see the Knox building: The front is on Mount Vernon Street, and the back, I imagined to look like Branch Street. Branch isn’t the back of Mount Vernon, so I gave it a fictional name.”
I love that level of detail, though. No one outside Boston — or maybe even Beacon Hill— would ever know: oh, Branch Street isn’t in back of Mount Vernon. You have other specific references, like dining at 1928.
Advertisement
“I almost wish I’d been a little craftier [with adding more]. For instance, at one point I had Taylor get her knives sharpened at Blackstone’s. And it was just too much detail, so I pared it down. But sometimes I’m like, ‘Oh, I wish I kept that!’ [laughs]”
[laughs] That’s how it goes.
I don’t think I realized the effect each reference would have. There are book clubs now that tour Beacon Hill and go to spots mentioned. A few toured the Boston Atheneum, or dined at 1928. I didn’t realize how much people would connect to the sense of place. It feels like it’s been embraced by people in Boston, which is so fun.
Now 1928 has a cocktail named for your book. What are more specific inspirations that went into the novel?
“For the Knox, I took inspiration from The Somerset Club and The ‘Quin — the beautiful room with fireplaces and ornate details.
Advertisement
“And I was in a secret society in college: Tabard Society at UPenn.”
Wow, what was that like?
“I can’t tell you. [laughs]”
[laughs] Fair enough.
“But I loved that experience. When I was rushing [or trying to get in] you’d find out if you were invited by getting handwritten notes slipped under your door. I tapped into that with The Knox sending notes.”
Advertisement
You said your husband went with you on midnight strolls through Boston?
“Yes! I dragged him to some graveyard tours. We did one that —it was funny, because I’m not sure how I found it, but it definitely, like, wasn’t very legit.”
[laughs] OK.
“It was just us and this guy — we weren’t allowed inside any of the cemeteries. We’d watch the tours go on the inside, and the three of us would be standing on the outside. [laughs]”
[laughs] Amazing.
Advertisement
“My husband’s like, ‘Where did you find this guy?’ I don’t know.”
[laughs] This feels like a “Curb Your Enthusiasm” episode.
“It was quite an experience [laughs] And then, of course, I had to go back. We had to go back and do an official tour.
“And I toured the Nichols House Museum in Beacon Hill, which was neat to see another historic building and learn about family that lived there. I toured the Forbes House Museum in Milton. Forbes family was one of the Brahman families, they made their fortune in the opium trade.
“Also we had lived, at one point in the South End, and actually had a house fire. We were home at the time. Luckily, we were fine. But our house was a total loss.”
Advertisement
Oh my god.
“We each grabbed a kid and ran out at the door. It was pretty traumatic. Five minutes later, we would not have been able to go out that door. So, I tapped into that when I wrote the fire scene.”
Wow. That’s terrifying.
“As a writer, you store all these things up, and then go into your basket of experiences, and you get to use them.”
You also created a TikTok for the Knox. What sparked that, and how long will you keep that going?
Advertisement
“I’m having fun with it. I had no expectations when I started. I wasn’t big on TikTok. But having the account for the Knox itself allowed more creative freedom because I wasn’t putting myself out there — I was putting the Knox out there. So I’ve enjoyed creating these videos. Especially since the next novel is brewing in my head.”
What are you working on now?
“My next book focuses on a minor character mentioned in “The Society” — the bookstore owner, Nicholas. I was telling you earlier about those rejections — I actually wrote a short story about him years ago that was never published. It’s been living on my computer and in my head for all these years. I’m ready to tell the story. It will be another very Boston book.”
Catch Karen Winn on July 29 at Quincy’s Next Chapter Books & More.
Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.
Advertisement
Lauren Daley is a longtime culture journalist. As a regular contributor to Boston.com, she interviews A-list musicians, actors, authors and other major artists.
Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
