Sperrys: Lost & Found

Item Information

Title:
Sperrys: Lost & Found
Description:
PHOTO CAPTION: After the second bomb exploded on Boylston Street, I flew out of my Sperrys. Among the chaos, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev can be seen walking away on the left hand side of the photo wearing a white baseball cap. The Boston Marathon is my favorite day of the year. My family and I experienced the energy of the marathon from Abe & Louie's for many, many years. As a college student, I was especially excited to share the Boston Marathon with fellow students who were from out-of-state. At Abe & Louie's, my friends and I took in the marathon watching the thousands of runners push through their final steps to the finish line. We loved everything about the day - the electricity of the crowd, the weather, the cheers for all the participants, the camaraderie we felt, and the hot dogs & ice cream! I was so proud to be a Bostonian on Marathon Monday. Around mid-afternoon, we heard the most confined and sharp bang that we had ever heard. The crowd went from high-spirited enthusiasm to dead silence. Then panic. As I reached down to grab my posters, we heard the second blast. This time, the sound and vibrations were unimaginably louder & stronger for we were just a hundred feet from this explosion. Shaking uncontrollably, we immediately turned to bolt away from the blasts. As I twisted around, I was pushed over by the wave of spectators heading away from the explosions. On my way to the ground, I flew out of my Sperrys. Within seconds, my friends pulled me up as I sprinted towards the Charles River with them, barefoot. Seeing this photograph of my shoes on Boylston Street a few days after the Boston Marathon bombing was surreal to me. And now a year later, it is still disturbing to me to think about how close Suspect #2 was to us, to think about the terror he inflicted upon our city, and to think about the lives he took and the lives he changed forever. Despite the fear and trauma we felt at the 117th Boston Marathon, no one or no happenstance will ever take my favorite day away from me.
Creator:
Gechijian, Sophie
Date:
April 2013
Format:
Photographs
Location:
Northeastern University Library
Collection (local):
Our Marathon
Series:
Public submissions
Subjects:
Boston Marathon Bombing, Boston, Mass., 2013
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
Link to Item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20261811
Terms of Use:
Copyright Not Evaluated. The copyright and related rights status of this Item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Requests for permission to publish material should be addressed to Northeastern University Library's Digital Scholarship Group (dsg@neu.edu).
Contact host institution for more information.
Notes:
Crowdsourced submission originally received via the Our Marathon "Share Your Story" page.
Notes (historical):
Contributor Name: Sophie Gechijian; Contributor Age: 19; Contributor Gender: female; Current Location: 02115