BDCWire Staff

Cara Bayles Correspondent

Cara Bayles is a contributor to BDCwire, a freelancer for the Globe, a writer, a teacher, and a person. She also worked a one-day stint at Sullivan's Castle Island. As a journalist, she's covered the city of Boston, the South Shore, and two parishes in rural Louisiana. She collects typewriter ribbon and bad puns.

Stories by Cara Bayles

News
Atlas-line
Pre-Bar Exam: It’s OK To Camp Outside of a Liquor Store If Rare Bourbon Is Involved
News

{“data”:[{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”It’s your last weekend of normalcy before the holiday crunch. Then, bam!: Thanksgiving Eve drinks with your high school pals, holiday tryptophan with your relatives, and then shopping madness begins \\(if you believe in that sort of thing\\), then it’s Christmas, then it’s New Year’s, then you’re another year closer to death. What we’re trying to say is: Relax this weekend, OK? We’ll keep you from looking ignorant with conversation topics about the Fed and Obama’s immigration whammy , you hit the bar and a museum or three … maybe not in that order.\n”}},{“type”:”html”,”data”:{“text”:” More

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Pre-Bar Exam: Westminster Smokers Are a Spirited and Patriotic Bunch
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{“data”:[{“type”:”text”,”data”:{“text”:”People are mad as hell about everything from cigarettes to homelessness to greenhouse emissions, and your ignorance about these important issues is only going to make them madder. Avoid a bar fight that ends with someone yowling, “Don’t you read the news?!!” and then breaking a chairover your head. Read on, be safe, and stay warm.\n”}},{“type”:”html”,”data”:{“text”:” More

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Harvard University campus in Boston
Pre-Bar Exam: Harvard and the MBTA May Be Watching You Pick Your Nose
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If you’re out this weekend and you get that paranoid feeling that you’re being watched, chances are, you’re right, and it’s not an indication that someone’s about to buy you a free drink. The NSA no longer has the market cornered on spying—now institutions as distinguished as Harvard University and the MBTA are in on the act, so you might as well spiffy up and quit picking your nose when you think nobody’s looking (someone is always looking). We can’t cut your hair or whack your index finger as it floats toward your nostril, but we can keep you from looking stupid with some worthy conversation topics from this week’s news. More

BDCWire
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Pre-Bar Exam: When in Doubt, Throw Chili Powder at Armed Robbers
BDCWire

It’s difficult to imagine hitting the bars this weekend after getting the news that forever-mayor Tom Menino passed away this week. But the big guy had a sense of humor, and he’d want an old-school Irish funeral, complete with admiration and laughs over his famous flubs. So toast his 20 years in office and then watch this very ’80s video of his City Council campaign and marvel at how much his career evolved and how his choice of eyewear didn’t. Then talk about everything else that’s been going on in town this week. It’s how Tommy M. would want it. More

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Crowded Green Line Train
Pre-Bar Exam: Light Fare for Green Line Commuters and $3 Million From Leaf Lovers
News

The Ottowa gunman, Mayor Menino’s battle with cancer, and the death toll in Syria are all important news from this week that you should read up on and discuss over the first beer of the evening—but man, they do not make for great bar jokes. As the night wares on, the banter gets lighter, and you want to make jokes while seeming to know something about the world around you, stick with the classics: bros rioting, angry sculptors, and the ever-comical Green Line. More

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Pre-Bar Exam: Smarties and Bad Decisions
Ridiculous

If you’re going out this weekend, don’t be that drooling moron who can barely piece a sentence together (unless, of course, you’re going out to Faneuil Hall). Instead, charm your friends and friendly strangers with your knowledge of local news, and these pre-packaged discussion topics, from drug testing to how to deal with the local scientist problem. Unless you’re going to the bars near Faneuil Hall, in which case, maybe you should do another shot of Fireball and not read on. More

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Pre-Bar Exam: Fishy Behavior and ‘Accidental’ Offspring
News

Braving the rain, the crowds, and possibly Ebola this weekend to hit the bars and unwind? Don’t be caught off-guard. Ignorance isn’t cute or charming (just ask the editorial department at the Boston Herald), so read up on the latest current events and prepare to wow your friends—because there’s nothing cooler than showing off your knowledge of fish populations. More

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Pre-Bar Exam: Brains Are In
News

Rejoice, sex-hungry nerds! Cosmopolitan has declared that brains are sexier than biceps and body hair! So flex your hottest muscle (the one inside that thick skull of yours) and walk into the bar with up-to-date knowledge of current events, from terrorist threats to GroundhoGate. You’ll be irresistible. More

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Pre-Bar Exam: Good Odds
News

There are so many will they/won’t they news stories to argue over this week, it’s like you don’t even need a casino in Massachusetts, because you could place your bets on the bottle bill, Scotland’s independence vote, the governor’s race and you could start a pool for how many more oopsies Joe Biden will make by Sunday. No idea what any of that means? That’s OK! We’ll give you the rundown before you crawl out from your rock and hit the bars this weekend … but you have to decide on the odds yourself. More