“As Gertrude Stein called America her country but Paris her hometown, St. Louis may be where I was born and raised, but Boston is where I am from. When the Tsarnaev brothers bombed, shot at, and otherwise terrorized my beautiful city last week, they illuminated how much a place I didn’t grow up and haven’t lived in years still carries the formative imprints and instant solace that determines where we call home. And if my pale expatriate experience is any guide, the Tsarnaev brothers picked the wrong city to try and terrorize this fealty out of. For Boston’s very distinction is the unbroken chain of its people who have given themselves marathons to run and world orders to upend, and have responded to adversity with a reflexive determination and dignity.”

For more, read Elizabeth’s article on the Huffington Post.