February 2, 2015
It’s a snow day in Boston. As I write this, the wind is swirling and there is already a foot of new snow on the ground. Our radiators are hissing. Downstairs, my husband is making the kids their breakfast. I can hear the clinking of bowls, the baby babbling, and our seven-year old bopping around the living room, likely looking for a ball to bounce.
When I think of homelessness, I frequently think of the 7-Eleven on Dartmouth Street in the Back Bay of Boston. As a child and young adult growing up in that neighborhood, I shopped at this 7-Eleven for drinks, batteries, ice, and other convenience store items. I walked by it on the way to Copley Place or Prudential Center. I passed by it on the way to Copley Station where I took the T to school every morning when I was younger and to work every day when I came home from college. It was on the way to the library, to nice restaurants, and to the supermarket. It is safe to say that I passed by this location almost every day for two decades.
On Tuesday January 27th, as the blizzard went on and most were inside keeping warm, I was reflecting on Jeff’s words and decided to take a walk in the snow. This is what I found.
Monday night during winter storm Juno, in the shadow of one of Boston’s wealthiest neighborhoods, someone stayed behind this dumpster.
In cities and towns around the country, individuals and families seeking shelter and safety out of sight, down alleyways, in abandoned buildings and tunnels, under bridges, on crates in drainage pipes, on our sidewalks and at our very feet have become commonplace. We call this “homelessness,” yet this term is empty because it does not transpose onto our hearts the reality of suffering and resilience that take place. Empathy requires context.
8:42 p.m. January 26th. Cambridge, Mass.
As I write, New England is hunkering down for what the TV meteorologists are saying will be an historic storm. A swath of the east coast from Philadelphia to Boston is bracing 2-3 feet of snow in a 24-hour period. The predicted storm has already caused the cancellation of hundreds of flights--including several for our own staff. The governor of Massachusetts has declared a state of emergency, banning drivers from the roads, closing the state, and predicting hundreds of thousands will be without electricity.
