In class today, Ryne was looking at his phone, which is against my rules. "Put that thing away," I say to him. He looks up with that mild expression of his and says, "Somebody bombed the Boston Marathon and two people were killed."
"Whaaaaat? Keep looking."
Boston is one of my cities. As my boss, Edward T. Wilcox used to say while chain smoking, "This is the Athens of America."
It's also the city where Robert McCloskey set Make Way for Ducklings. It's home of Fenway Park and the Boston Red Sox. It's home of the Freedom Trail and the Union Oyster House, Louisburg Square, Houghton-Mifflin, baked beans, and the glorious Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
It's the Charles River, the MTA, the BSO, and the magnificent First Church of Christ, Scientist. It's magical.
It is obscene that someone bombed this city.
THank you for this post, Louise.
ReplyDeleteI was in Boston such a short time I did not know all these places you mention other than from pop culture but I did appreciate this post and what this city means to you.
ReplyDeletethis is really beautiful.
ReplyDeleteLouise, have you read Joseph O’Neill's book "Netherland"? Because I haven't but I've been reading reviews tonight and it looks like A) a book I am going to read when school gets out and B) a book that you should read immediately.
ReplyDeleteI could hear sirens all afternoon, a mile and a half from the bombs. My train ride today took at least twice as long; police are everywhere.
ReplyDeleteWhen my brother was four, he refused to go into a grocery store because he remembered seeing Yankees balloons at the check-out counter (nevermind why the grocery store sold Yankees balloons). Somehow he was coaxed in, but that mentality stays: Bostonians have nothing but disdain for the Yankees -- even for those of us who can't name a single player. Of all the images of love flooding in, somehow it's the sports references that choke me up, the ones saying, "Yes, we like the Yankees, but we're all rooting for Boston today," or the Chicago sports section saying "we are Chicago Red Sox/Chicago Bruins/Chicago Patriots."
It's truly horrific.
For the record, Rachel, there was a lot of love in Yankee Stadium for Boston on Tuesday night (the first time they played after the bombing). They even played "Sweet Caroline."
ReplyDeleteOh I know! It's been so touching, because I know how much they love their teams. The Yankees playing "Sweet Caroline" would make me cry, if I were a crying person. Lots of love for Boston this week.
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