Settling into Northeastern University Again, for the Very First Time

One of the first photos I took at Northeastern University. September 2, 2021.

Hi, folks,

Hunter here! Blogging to you live from Yankeeland!

After a long year of attending classes exclusively on Zoom, about 500 miles from the university I had applied to for graduate school, I finally made the trip up from Virginia to Boston, Massachusetts, on August 31. I’ve moved (quite comfortably, I might add) into an apartment on the third floor of a house in Mission Hill. It’s about a twenty-minute walk from the Northeastern campus, with a pharmacy and grocery store within spitting distance. I’m rather satisfied.

As you can imagine, it’s an interesting time to be at a university. For the time being, classes at Northeastern are in-person. However, there’s a veritable plethora of new rules and regulations from on high, all designed to stymie the spread of a certain infectious disease that shall not be named. In fact, the occasion for my first-ever visit to the campus was on September 2—the day after I moved in—was to get tested for the aforementioned disease, which I’m nearly certain is a weekly requirement for Northeastern students. The tears wrought from shoving a q-tip deep into my nostrils were considerable, but paled in comparison to those that I have shed during finals season. Which is really saying something. Fortunately, I’ve tested negative twice in the nearly two weeks I’ve been in Boston.

I used the event of the testing to walk around campus and snap some photos with my trusty Nikon, which I actually hadn’t used since August 2019! There was a lot going on—the campus was positively abuzz with orientation for new students, reunions of students who were remote last year, and the like. Here are a few of my favorites, not including the one at the top of this post:

Students hanging out and playing some sort of ball game on the Northeastern campus. September 2, 2021

A gorgeous mural I spotted on campus. As someone obsessed with flags, I couldn’t not take a photo. September 2, 2021.

Northeastern students taking social media-style photos (I think? I’m too old for this) on campus. September 2, 2021.

Anywho. In the time between my last blog post and this one, Student Brand Ambassadors with The HistoryMakers took about a month off from having weekly meetings. However, we still were expected to do work. For my part, I took the time to try and set up meetings with relevant faculty and student groups—all the better to ensure the work I need to do on campus runs smoothly. My first meeting, next week, is scheduled to be with Dr. Kabria Baumgartner, a professor of History and Africana Studies who’s really as new to Northeastern as I am! I also spent time combing the Digital Archive for relevant stories related to Northeastern, Massachusetts, and Boston—all the better for me to know what the heck I am even talking about when I showcase the archive.

Recently, I did a deep dive into the interview with Elma Lewis (1921-2004), a noteworthy Black artist in Boston who founded both the National Center of Afro-American Artists and The Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts. Even though she was interviewed in her old age, Lewis’s interview was a treasure trove of stories about Boston in the 20th century, as well as of the personal lives and relationships of figures like Malcolm X, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Louis Farrakhan—all people Lewis knew personally.

In closing this week’s post, I’d like to share one relevant quote from the Lewis interview that I thought was very relevant to me as someone who has just moved to the city of Boston.

“I'm arrogant about Boston. I say almost everybody whose name you know spent some time in Boston going to school, projecting their message, or just living. [Reverend Dr.] Martin Luther King [Jr.] went to school here. … Just about anybody who you can think of, came here for some period. … We have had very profound experiences. We who live in Boston, of people going through here, permanently, or what have you, that shaped the lives of black people in this world.

So, Elma Lewis thinks that it’s no coincidence that so many people who’ve lived in Boston have gone on to have a profound influence on African-American history. I’ve only been here a few days, but I like that idea. I’ll take it as a challenge. Can I make history, too?

In the meantime, I’ll keep you updated on how my work with The HistoryMakers goes. Until next time!

Best,

Hunter

A screenshot of clips I selected from the HistoryMakers interview with Elma Lewis.