<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="widows: 1;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Becoming Bostonian </span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">I hear the music of seven languages</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">on a four-block stretch of Harvard Square,</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">see the copper glow of the Hancock</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Tower at sunset, feel the familiar</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">bump of cobblestones under my feet.</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Mark Twain said people in New York ask</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">"How much is he worth?" while Bostonians</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">ask "How much does he know?" That burning</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">desire to discover keeps the city humming,</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">yet we’re grounded in history, too,</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">still treading on sidewalks made of</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">baked clay. I stand</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">one night on Beacon Hill, gaze up at the</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">few stars city lights allow to shine,</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">feel myself stretched between past and future</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">the pull of the earth on which</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">our forefathers stood, the pull of the moon,</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">which they could not have dreamed their descendants</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">would visit. Or perhaps they did.</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">One historian reports that</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">"there were books on Beacon Hill while wolves</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">still howled from the summit." Perhaps some</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Englishman closed his book one night and stood</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">where I stand, dreaming of what we’ve become.</span><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><br style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> - Lawrence Kessenich</span></div></body></html>