Pauline Ryan

Pauline Ryan

Location of photo: 62 Flaherty Way, South Boston
Title of photo: Cathleen’s dogs

Because it was such a beautiful day when I visited South Boston, it was very difficult to decide on a photo. But, ultimately I decided on a photo of Cathleen’s dogs because they sparked such an incredible and informative conversation. Cathleen was a middle-aged Irish woman, who had lived in the D Street Projects her entire life. I was lucky that she was so open to sharing her experiences; without prompting, she touched on many of the major themes we’ve discussed in the course. Perhaps, most interestingly she talked about the 1970s busing crisis and the consequences for South Boston schools today. She talked about the genuine fear the whites in South Boston had of Roxbury and what they had “heard about white girls getting raped over there.” Her aunt, who she described as having the “most promise” in the family, dropped out of high school rather than attend Roxbury High. Even today, Cathleen says that Irish families won’t send their kids to public schools, instead they all attend Catholic schools. If Cathleen had kids, she said she would never send them to public school because they’d be the only white kids and get bullied by the “blacks and Hispanics.” At the end of our conversation as I was thanking her for taking the time to talk to me and saying once more how adorable her dogs were, she laughed and said: “All yuppies love my dogs.”

Map: Social Disorder and Crime in South Boston
I include the map that I drew on most in my paper: a map created on Boston Research Map showing level of social disorder and crime in South Boston. The map is zoomed so that the frame is almost exclusively South Boston (i.e. no other neighborhood is in the frame). The more red an area, the higher the level of social disorder and crime. Looking at the map, it is evident that the “West Side” of the neighborhood has much higher levels of social disorder and crime than the “East Side.”