The Boston Diaries
- Savin Hill work Wharf District Downtown Coolidge Corner Newburyport coffee Middleborough Mass Ave politics Quincy Boylston St Kendall Square South Station Central Square Mayoral election fieldwork JFK Financial District MBTA Harvard Square museums public art jazz Cambridge Starbucks Boston Harbor Thanksgiving cinema Prudential food Faneuil Hall Mihailidis Friendly Toast T Tremont St community art Chinatown MIT Emerson fall exhibition Wenham McKenna's Copley Square Old Harbor community Harvard Dorchester Boston Common Rose Kennedy Greenway trees EGL Hoop Dreams snow art holidays South End New England Brookline Boston Public Library stations collective memory foliage Government Center Roxbury noir home trains Art in Transit Pavement Coffee House Newbury St Al Dente Bay Village Back Bay Portraits of America books UMass North End libraries
Category Archives: Boston Diaries
Day 15: Facilitating co-existence in urban public space
One of the challenges facing multicultural urban communities – and one of the ways of nurturing co-existence – is motivating people from different backgrounds to learn more about each other’s history and culture, thus facilitating empathy and tolerance. In the … Continue reading
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Boston Harbor, Chinatown, collective memory, Downtown, fieldwork, memorials, public art, Rose Kennedy Greenway
Leave a comment
Day 15: Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway
Walked, photographed and observed the entire Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway – Boston’s linear urban park that spans a huge area from Chinatown via the Wharf district to the North End. The Greenway was opened in 2008 after the 20-year … Continue reading
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Boston Harbor, Chinatown, community art, Downtown, fieldwork, Haymarket, JFK, politics, public art, Rose Kennedy Greenway, South Station, trees, urban planning, Wharf District
1 Comment
Icon
“You have to have been a Republican to know how good it is to be a Democrat.” (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis)
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged art, Back Bay, JFK, Newbury St, Portraits of America
Leave a comment
Day 14: Back in town
Back in town. Funding bid on media literacy and civic learning submitted after months of preparations. Celebrated with a jazz CDs shopping spree at Newbury Comics. Particularly intrigued by The JFK Quintet: New Jazz Frontiers from Washington (1961 recording, “inspired … Continue reading
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Back Bay, Boston Public Library, coffee, Copley Square, jazz, libraries, Newbury St, shopping, Starbucks, work
Leave a comment
Autumn Leaves
The falling leaves drift by the window The autumn leaves of red and gold I see your lips, the summer kisses The sun-burned hands I used to hold Since you went away the days grow long And soon I’ll hear … Continue reading
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged fall, foliage, jazz, Portraits of America, trees, Wenham
Leave a comment
Day 13: Columbus Day at Wenham
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged coffee, diner, fall, foliage, food, holidays, New England, trees, Wenham
Leave a comment
Newburyport Mural
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged murals, New England, Newburyport, Portraits of America, public art
Leave a comment
Day 12: Wenham, Newburyport
“Citation for excellence in Urban Design awarded to the City of Newburyport by the Boston Society of Architects for the extraordinary efforts of the city and its citizens in the redevelopment of the downtown and waterfront” (September 1984)
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged coffee, commuter rail, fall, foliage, food, holidays, New England, Newburyport, trains, trees, Wenham
Leave a comment
Boston Public Library
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Boston Public Library, Copley Square, libraries, Portraits of America
Leave a comment
Day 10: Charles/MGH Station
“Local Art – Global Heart: Be The Change You Wish to See” Community art project created by the students and faculty of The Advent School led by George Anastos. The work is made of 40 panels of woven recycled materials … Continue reading
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Charles/MGH Station, community art, fieldwork, MBTA, public art, stations, T
Leave a comment
Day 10: Copley Square, Boston Public Library
“In large cities, not only neighborhood libraries but central research libraries – the nucleus of what would become some of the greatest research collections in the world – were open to anyone with a library card. When the grand Forty-second … Continue reading
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Boston Public Library, Copley Square, fieldwork, libraries
Leave a comment
Front Cover
“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.” (John F. Kennedy, May 18, 1963)
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged home, JFK, Mayoral election, politics, Portraits of America
Leave a comment
Halloween Symmetry
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Dorchester, Halloween, JFK, Portraits of America, Savin Hill
Leave a comment
Day 9: Savin Hill
Working lunch at McKenna’s; developing a framework for the analysis of urban civic culture; thinking about the challenge of preserving memory and encountering the Other in multicultural societies; oh, and by the way, school buses are back, after a strike … Continue reading
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged coffee, Dorchester, food, JFK, McKenna's, politics, Savin Hill, schools
Leave a comment
Day 8: Boston Common, Boylston Station
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Boston Common, fieldwork, MBTA, stations, T, trees, Tremont St
Leave a comment
Day 8: Emerson College
Observing innovative pedagogy on crowd-sourcing, community participation and digital engagement – at Emerson College.
Day 7: Boylston St, Tremont St, Park St Station
Fieldwork on preserving collective memory in public space, using art to engage pedestrians. First foray into the Boston Common. Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet Street Pianos Boston: Play Me I’m Yours Boston Marathon Memorials
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Arlington, Boston Common, collective memory, community art, fieldwork, public art, trees, Tremont St
Leave a comment
Day 7: Emerson College
Working on civic learning and urban youth empowerment at Emerson College, with Dr Paul Mihailidis.
Day 6: Andrew Station
Ross Miller’s installation at the Red Line’s Andrew station was part of MBTA’s 1993 “Art in Transit” project and was used as a case study of how art can enhance public spaces. Twenty years later exactly, I visited and photographed … Continue reading
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Andrew Station, Art in Transit, fieldwork, MBTA, stations, T
Leave a comment
Day 5: Shutdown
Rainy Sunday at home, catching up with readings. I finally found the right word to describe the difference of (some) residential communities in the US and the UK and that word is “extrovert”.
Day 4: Harvard Square
Watched The Act of Killing at the Harvard Film Archive – queueing for 45 mins was worth it as I got to see and hear from the director Joshua Oppenheimer himself. Great vibe at Harvard Square.
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Cambridge, cinema, Harvard, Harvard Film Archive, Harvard Square
Leave a comment
Day 4: Downtown
Transcribing interviews for public space / civic culture project. First foray into downtown Boston.
Day 3: Savin Hill, UMass
Rainy day, feels like proper autumn. Starting to draft a curriculum framework that merges urban environmental education and media literacy, enabling students to utilise new media so as to engage with local issues.
Day 2: Old Harbor, JFK/UMass, Savin Hill
First exploratory fieldwork session, collecting visual evidence of how civic engagement is embedded in public space. Turns out I’m neighbours with Martin J. Walsh – one of the two candidates in Boston’s mayoral race. 25 C, sweating in shorts and … Continue reading
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged Dorchester, fieldwork, JFK, Mayoral election, Old Harbor, politics, Savin Hill, trees, UMass
Leave a comment
Day 1
Breakfast at McKenna’s Cafe. Beautiful sunny day, friendly people, great to be here.
Posted in Boston Diaries
Tagged coffee, Dorchester, food, JFK, McKenna's, Savin Hill
Leave a comment
Day 0: Wheels Up
On my way to Boston on a four-month research sabbatical at Emerson College. Very excited for my first sabbatical after 11 years in academia.
Posted in Boston Diaries
Leave a comment