Transcript of an interview with longtime Boston resident Maureen Reed. The interview was part of the We are Boston: Stories of Hope, Struggle, and Resilience oral history project created in 2018 by poet and Boston artist-in-residence Daniel Johnson. Reed discusses her experiences growing up in a close knit community in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston including police presence in the neighborhood, her time at several public schools and Catholic schools, the busing crisis, and public transportation. She goes on to speak about her jobs at the Prudential Center, GMAC, and Beth Israel; her experience going back to school at Roxbury Community College, Wheelock College, and Salem State University; her work as a social worker; her Irish heritage, raising children in Boston; aging in Boston; challenges facing seniors like affordable housing and transportation; and advice for the future.
