A Spring Night In Boston

After a long, hard winter, yesterday was the first day of real spring. But for most of it, we were trapped inside.

Yesterday, Boston University was on lockdown. The Dean’s office sent an e-mail at 9am to inform students that all classes and on-campus activities were cancelled. MBTA service including buses, the T, and commuter rail were suspended. Amtrak suspended all trains between Boston and Providence. For much of the morning, even cabs in Boston, Cambridge, Brookline and Watertown were suspended.

Thursday night’s crime scene was not far from Allston, a neighborhood which hundreds of Boston University students call home. At Governor Deval Patrick’s behest, the city ordered all residents to stay inside, and so Boston University did as well.

And so, for the most part, we stayed in. All classes were cancelled, and all school events were shut down as well.

But we were cagey on the beautiful spring day, and so many of us did what a real community does in times of trial: we helped in the only way we know how. BU Dining Services delivered meals to students in dorms with no access to dining halls, and students spread the word on social media to make sure their friends knew where the meal delivery points were. The university cancelled all scheduled Admissions events, shutting out hundreds of accepted hopefuls, and so hundreds of current students answered to prospective students’ questions on Twitter and Facebook.

BU journalism students tried to comb through all the conflicting information and connect their peers to the best sources. COM senior Emile O’Donnell turned her Facebook page into its own news source for her peers.

“News aggregate sites, like Huffington Post or Buzzfeed or Gawker or even Reddit can be really difficult to navigate. So I said, you know what, I’m going to do my own feed for me friends in Boston or even my friends in Delaware who are wondering what’s going on. Some people don’t know where to go…. If you don’t check the news very frequently, you wouldn’t know where to go. I am in this business, and I know some of the reporters so I know who to check and who to trust.”

Others could not resist the draw of the weather. Shortly after noon, when sun broke through the hazy clouds for a few hours, BU’s south campus bustled with groups of students eager to stretch their legs, taking advantage of the lack of traffic to stop for a conversation in the middle of the street.

This week, the collective heart of Boston broke as one of its most esteemed, most beloved traditions fell under attack. And after several months pockmarked by tragedy, our community mourned once again for the graduate student who perished in the attacks.

While some took to the Commons to celebrate last night, others gathered at the corner of Boylston to pay their respects. | Photo by Kelly Dickinson
While some took to the Commons to celebrate last night, others gathered at the corner of Boylston to pay their respects. | Photo by Kelly Dickinson

Boston is an old city. In many ways, it’s the birthplace of the American spirit (seriously– it’s on our license plates.) But it’s a young city. We have a large student population. No one who died this week was under the age of thirty. The police officer, the three victims of the blast, even the suspect who died were all under the age of thirty. There is a student population in the tens of thousands.

Last night, the community– students and permanent residents all– took to the streets to celebrate the end of that tension. A parade marched east down Commonwealth Avenue cheering. A crowd on a lawn blast Shipping Up to Boston on repeat.

This is a solemn time. A suspect is dead, as are four other people. But another suspect is alive, captured, and being treated. He will get his day in court. A terrified neighborhood in Watertown could rest easy last night. A tense Boston slept soundly and enjoyed the first night of what will be a beautiful spring.

About Kelly Dickinson

Kelly is a CAS/COM senior double-majoring in Psychology and Film. She was the editor-in-chief last year, but she ceded to Ingrid in a mostly-bloodless coup. Right now, she's Producing on QuadCast, checking off her BU bucket-list and hunting for one of those "job" things.

View all posts by Kelly Dickinson →

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