Lisana's Lines

As some of you may know, I graduated from Boston University with an MS in Health Communications. The events at the Boston Marathon saddened and shocked me tremendously. I consider Boston my home as much as I do Atlanta.

I fell in love with Boston when I first glimpsed the skyline. I knew that I would love it and that someday, I would call the city home.

Boston is such a peaceful, beautiful and clean city, with a low crime rate for a city of its size. The Greater Boston 2010 census estimated 4.5 million people inhabited the area, making it the 10th most populous U.S. city. Atlanta has 5.4 million people in the metro area, the ninth most populous city in the U.S. and a crime rate that will give anyone shivers. Car jackings, home invasions, murders and other violent crimes are reported every day.

Boston is the only large city where I feel comfortable strolling through the parks or on the streets alone after dark. They have a safe, clean and efficient rail system called the “T” that I have taken many times and I have never been afraid of. Unlike the Marta in Atlanta, which really doesn’t go anywhere that it is needed. I would never be alone on Marta after dark.

Boston is rich in history. Paul Revere’s home is open for tours. The Old State House dates from 1713. Faneuil Hall dates from 1742. The Old North Church was built in 1723. The oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, Harvard University established in 1636, is in Cambridge, a short commute from the city center.

Some of the churches in Boston are of beautiful architecture, including Trinity Episcopal at Copley Square. This church is of Romanesque architecture and it has exquisitely detailed murals painted on the interior walls and gorgeous opalescent glass windows. This has always been one of my favorite places to go in the city to get pictures and to enjoy the tranquility.

Boston is home to the Bull and Finch Pub; also known as the Cheers that the television series was modeled after. The exterior is what was actually used in the opening shots of the TV series, but the interior couldn’t be more different.

Boston has many row houses, or brownstones, in the Back Bay and Beacon Hill area. One of my dreams is to own one of the dwellings on Beacon Hill. That area is so beautiful. This will happen when I win the lottery, because I can’t afford the price of one of those brownstones any other way.

Many of my friends, classmates and former professors currently live in and around Boston. At this point, they all appear to have been out of harm’s way. When the news first broke about the bombing, I was so worried that someone I knew would have been near the explosions.

I was saddened to learn that a student of Boston University was one of the fatalities and another Boston University student is on the injured list.

A few friends of mine from other parts of the country messaged me after the news of the bombing broke to say how glad they were that I wasn’t currently living in Boston. Because they were sure that I would have been there at the finish line taking pictures for some media outlet. There assumptions were true; I would’ve been there.

At press time, one of the two bombing suspects was dead--brought down in a shoot-out with Boston police. Hopefully the bombing is an isolated incident in the great city. So many questions fill my mind, like why did these guys choose such a wonderful city? Why did they do it at all? Time will tell. Hopefully something like this never happens again anywhere.

This terrible tragedy that happened in my favorite city in this country does not scare me away from Boston. I will never fear anything there. That city has a big part of my heart.

Lisana Eckenrode can be contacted at [email protected].