kaitlin and i roamed boston today. we departed the t station and arrived near the capitol where a person performed patriotic (colonial) tunes that filled the square.
experiencing that area of the city presents a strange blend of times past and times present. architecture and store signs evoke a feeling of the olde, of history. nonetheless, this past is forced to share its space with signs of today. not even historic america is immune from invasions by modern capitalism.
after our brief tour of north end and the so-called freedom trail, we went to boston commons where we stumbled upon a tour group. i loathe tour groups. i found it absolutely hilarious that ones in new york and now in boston would have to stop in the cold whilst a guide explained the historical significance of the area. but what particularly struck me about this group in the commons was that the guide, dressed in stereotypically colonial regalia, was phenotypically black.
i wonder if anyone within the group, or anyone more generally, noticed this profound irony – the narration of a particular(ly dominant) history of euro-america by a person who would have been excluded from that history had he been alive at that time.
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