Moving Day (Boston, Ma.)

"One thing about pioneers that you don’t hear mentioned is that they are invariably, by their nature, mess-makers. They go forging ahead, seeing only their noble, distant goal, and never notice any of the crud and debris they leave behind them. Someone else gets to clean that up and it’s not a very glamorous or interesting job."
- Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance



Leases in Boston typically start on September 1. That means that on September 1, almost every resident of the student/immigrant neighborhood of Allston moves everything he or she owns from one Allston apartment to another Allston apartment. Double- and triple-parked U-hauls (booked weeks in advance) clog the streets, trashed furniture litters the sidewalks, and landlords and tenants shout obscenities over just about everything.

After moving myself on (or around) moving day four years in a row, I wanted to examine it from a different angle. This is the first draft of my attempt to capture the absurdity that is Moving Day in Boston. I focused on the frustration and exhaustion of moving, and the waste and filth that movers leave behind.