From kids to old people, all sit in silence on wooden chairs in an auditorium, among majestic walls with gold-leaf molding. The lights dim at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall for the May 23 recording of National Public Radio’s From the Top. The show spotlights highly talented young classical musicians from across the country; and in the process, promotes the idea that these prodigies are also regular kids.
In the darkness of a movie theater, yellow letters written in reverse shine on a light-emitted diode (LED) display hung next to the projector at the rear of the auditorium. On a Plexiglas rear window I have plugged on my glass holder, I can read the following message: “Welcome to Rear Window. Please adjust your reflector.”
Minutes later, a voice starts talking in the infrared headphones I’m wearing, describing what’s happening on the screen. I close my eyes and listen to the deep and dynamic voice. The details of each scene, from the characters’ movements, to the colors of their clothes, take me into the movie.
Watching the Boston Marathon as a spectator has given you ideas; and you feel you could run it next year. If you haven’t chosen your running shoes yet, there’s a place in Boston where you should stop.
In the quite Beacon Hill neighborhood, an ex-Olympic-athlete passes on the tricks he’s been learning for more than 25 years. He understands how running shoes are manufactured and knows exactly what kind of shoes will help you avoid injuries.
BY: Marybeth Kennealy, Phil Mattingly and Eva Zadeh
Long before the first shovel broke ground on Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel project, the largest public works project in U.S. history had money problems. Burying seven-and-a-half miles of highway under the city clearly would entail unprecedented costs, and officials were fearful of releasing a budget figure that was too high. Their number: $2.7 billion.
“The original estimate was fiction. It was political fiction,” said Massachusetts Senator Robert Havern, who served as the chairman of the Senate’s Joint Committee on Transportation during the Big Dig’s infancy, in an interview at his State House office. “I honestly don’t think anybody ever thought it was going to be $2.7 billion. I don’t think if it was estimated to be much higher that anybody would have done it.”
