I am not Boston-born. I didn’t come for college and stay here, like many people I know. I chose this New England life 48 years ago and never budged.
My paternal grandfather moved his family from Germany to Italy before the Nazis could stop him, but then Italian fascism chased them to Switzerland, where my father met my mother. She had escaped the Nazi roundup of Jews in Paris — unlike her brother, who died in Auschwitz. I came to Boston after college because I wanted to live in a big East Coast city full of culture and interesting people. New York was too big and anonymous for me, but I had friends in Boston, so I came to check it out. I walked around the city one chilly, windy autumn afternoon, post-foliage — not its best look. But I was enchanted by the architecture, the history, and all the bookstores. I think the Charles River clinched it.
I memorized the initialisms — BC, BU, BPL, MFA, MGH, MIT, also The BI, The ICA and The T. Soon, I was correcting newcomers about the pronunciation of “Peabody” and “Worcester” . But I drew the line at “challah,” which local Jews pronounced “holly,” as “in deck the halls.”
It’s the best city in the world!
juliettekayyem Beautiful writing in a beautiful place
juliettekayyem I also moved to Boston in 1975 and left after college. I still miss the city to this day…
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