Boston: Sunshine, Spirituality And Science?
by sarahcoggrave
With the end of my trip rapidly approaching, I’d hoped for some sunshine on the final day in Boston. Initially it seemed that I would be disappointed.
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Not only was the sky grey and the temperature cold, but rain was falling as well.
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Once again I resorted to indoor attractions. First, I found a bookshop in a shopping mall. Inspired by the Japan portion of my trip, I’d resolved to learn the language, and one day return – therefore, I spent my time in the bookshop poring over language texts and books about the country, some of which I would later order back in the UK. After killing some time surrounded by my favourite objects (books), I curiously approached an attraction referred to as the Mapparium – a weird glass globe located in a huge complex of church buildings.
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Being rather wary of religion in general, particularly in its more eccentric, evangelical forms, I felt awkward visiting an attraction surrounded by religious doctrine. The Mapparium is part of a huge Christian Science complex – an opulant array of buildings complete with a library dedicated to Mary Baker Eddy, the movement’s founder.
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Whilst waiting to be taken into the Mapparium, I wandered around the accompanying exhibition – a slick affair detailing somewhat (in my opinion) dubious claims regarding the powers of religion. Let’s just say I felt a little uncomfortable seeing certain statements and assertions presented as fact.
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The Mapparium itself was quite impressive – a globe made in 1935, thus documenting a different geography from a different time.
Standing inside it was a surreal experience, but sadly no photography allowed.
Leaving obscure theories and theology behind, I then visited somewhere completely opposite – the MIT Museum.
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Located on the campus of the world famous Massachusetts Institute for Technology (consistently ranked as one of the top universities in the world) the museum spans two floors of varied exhibits.
The first, was a little disappointing – the exhibits made great efforts towards interactivity, but aesthetically, they were just a little too plain and unexciting for me.
The second floor, however, was a much more interesting and thought-provoking experience.
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One of my favourite parts of the exhibition featured work from MIT students – science buffs who had elected to take an arts module, thus exploring the crossovers between art and science. The results were some quirky and unusual (but also functional) artworks.
This illustrates one of the biggest advantages that US higher education has over that in the UK. Whilst degree courses in Britain are perhaps a little more interdisciplinary than they once were, I get the impression that in the US students have a far broader range of subjects they can study within any given degree discipline. Hence science students can study art, and perhaps vice versa?
On my way back from the museum I encountered the newest form of graffiti – the padlocks on bridges phenomena.
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Seriously what is this all about? Overloading public landmarks with hunks of metal is just as bad as scrawling all over them with spraypaint in my opinion.
Certainly some graffiti is thoughtful and artistically executed, and perhaps there is a way for padlocks to be thus also, however, in their current forms of mass occupation I find them an eyesore.
As I pondered such matters on my walk around Boston, the sun briefly came out, and I enjoyed a walk in the snow-laden Boston Common.
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However, grey skies soon remained, reminding me of my imminent return to Manchester.
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I returned to the hostel to gather my things. Soon the six week trip would be over…
See also:
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum And Other Adventures In Boston
Tracing Other Places 