Boston, After the Marathon
As a lifelong Bostonian, I was dumbstruck by the events of April 15, 2013. Marathon Monday has always been one of my favorite holidays, and my first instinct was that there must have been some unannounced cannon fire from re-enactors. My next instinct, after my studies and training made it obvious to me that this was an intentional, planned act of terrorism, was to help my city in any way I could. In the short term, that took the form of combing through posts online, fact-checking what I read, and then re-posting all the facts I could for those who had a cell phone as their only way to access information or limited time and resources to double-check the slow and often inaccurate news coverage themselves. I continued to do this for the next week, and every day that it was safe I set out on foot in the city to document what was happening.
For me, viewing this immense tragedy was significantly easier through a lens. It put a little more distance between myself and something that hit not only my home, but the home of three generations of my extended family, and the home or adopted home of many close friends. Many people were afraid or unable to come see the impromptu memorials themselves, and showing this to the world seemed to be the only useful purpose I could serve. Moreover, those inaccurate news stories hadn't ceased, and many people on the national stage were attempting to twist what was happening to Boston to suit their needs. I heard that we were scared, held hostage, and ordered around by law enforcement against our will. I hope to show that in Boston the entire atmosphere was one of cooperation, hope, and resilience, as well as one of mourning, shock, and empathy.
I am grateful to all those who made a horrible just a little bit more liveable, including the civilians who opened their homes to runners, the first responders, all the branches of law enforcement who cooperated without ego, the men who tended to the memorials, the businesses that offered free and discounted services to cushion the blow, the medical professionals who prevented this day from being worse, the people around the state, country and globe who reached out to me and my whole town, and the City of Boston for reacting exactly like one would hope it would.
For some of my thoughts on the events of that week, see here and here.
Some of this work was featured in the Northeastern University Political Review, online special marathon addition, which can be found here. It has since been added to Northeastern University's digital archive entitled Our Marathon.
For me, viewing this immense tragedy was significantly easier through a lens. It put a little more distance between myself and something that hit not only my home, but the home of three generations of my extended family, and the home or adopted home of many close friends. Many people were afraid or unable to come see the impromptu memorials themselves, and showing this to the world seemed to be the only useful purpose I could serve. Moreover, those inaccurate news stories hadn't ceased, and many people on the national stage were attempting to twist what was happening to Boston to suit their needs. I heard that we were scared, held hostage, and ordered around by law enforcement against our will. I hope to show that in Boston the entire atmosphere was one of cooperation, hope, and resilience, as well as one of mourning, shock, and empathy.
I am grateful to all those who made a horrible just a little bit more liveable, including the civilians who opened their homes to runners, the first responders, all the branches of law enforcement who cooperated without ego, the men who tended to the memorials, the businesses that offered free and discounted services to cushion the blow, the medical professionals who prevented this day from being worse, the people around the state, country and globe who reached out to me and my whole town, and the City of Boston for reacting exactly like one would hope it would.
For some of my thoughts on the events of that week, see here and here.
Some of this work was featured in the Northeastern University Political Review, online special marathon addition, which can be found here. It has since been added to Northeastern University's digital archive entitled Our Marathon.
