Boston Public Library

When I first moved to Boston, I couldn’t stop comparing the city to New York. I was unconscious of doing it; the way obsessed Red Sox fans continuously wear their team’s jersey even when it’s not baseball season.

Of course in my mind, Boston didn’t measure up. But how could it? New York is “home” to me, not just a city. I didn’t grow up in Manhattan as a child, but I did as an adult. And while many see filthy, crowded, noisy streets, I see sacred spaces in which I learned some very hard life lessons that made me who I am today.

Over time, however, I came to see that no city could ever compare to New York because of my emotional connection. Therefore, like a switch turning on a light bulb, I started to see Boston in a new light. And one thing that shines so brightly for me is the Boston Public Library.

When I took the free tour, the docent wouldn’t stop comparing the BPL to the New York Public Library. This made me chuckle. But I found it absurd when he kept denigrating the NYPL. Clearly, he didn’t know much about the New York institution and how much value it contributes––not only to New York City residents, but to the world.

Nevertheless, I have grown to love the BPL for something so much more than its history, art and architecture: I love the “public” aspect of its reading room.

In the room gathers the power of the brain; strangers sit together in one room to read, write, calculate, research, think––whatever everyone is doing in silence. In the reading room, it’s like a giant think tank with no outside distraction and we are all in this one space free of charge.