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“Coming to Boston has been a huge eye-opener. I came from a small town in Rhode Island and I was pretty sheltered. Coming to Boston has been amazing. On Newbury Street, most of the people next to you are not from the U.S. It’s a huge culture shock for me. In Rhode Island, we’re all Italian, pretty much. It’s really opened me up to a lot of different things in my life.” MARISSA CASTELLI


strange but I think it helped us out. It will be fun to have so many hometown fans cheering us on, an experience and opportunity that few will ever get.”


Castelli and Shnapir love the city, its


boundless energy and its diversity of people, who have helped create one of the most eclec- tic and dynamic places to live in the country. One of the nation’s oldest cities, Boston


and the surrounding area is a tight-knit com- munity that bonds over its significant history, the abundance of educational and occupation- al offerings and, of course, the success of its many sports teams. In April, Bostonians showed their resil-


ience and strength in the way they reacted to the terrorist attack at the Boston Mar- athon. Tree people were killed and 264 injured in two explosions near the finish line on Boylston Street. With the world watching, the manhunt for the bombing suspects took place in close- knit suburbs.


Te tragedy hit Cas- telli and Shnapir hard as they returned from the World Team Trophy in Japan.


“It was


tough,” Shna- pir said. “We had landed in


Washington D.C., and pulled out our phones and there’s the news. Fortunately, we got


home that day and spoke to our families and no one was hurt. It was very scary and very unnerving, and in the days that followed it felt a little strange with all the media presence and law enforcement presence. “We know people who live in Watertown,


like (Team USA’s) Ross Miner, and police were blocks from his house. I think it brought ev- eryone together. We were all communicating a lot more with each other, making sure ev- eryone was OK, if anyone needed anything. I walk around and I still constantly see people wearing Boston Strong T-shirts. I have one, and every time I see one it does something ex- tra special for me and us in our hearts and our minds.”


Castelli has attended the marathon nu-


merous times and has walked past the explo- sion sites. “[On the day of the marathon,] my boy- friend was debating whether to go and stand by the library, which I’m glad he didn’t,” she said. “But the fact that someone I cared about could have been there is scary. It was amaz- ing to see the SKATING magazine with the Haydenette skater [Devin Wang] who was ac- tually pushing the wheelchair and helping out and didn’t run, didn’t hide. “It affects everyone daily because now


we think twice about going places. I think the bombing was originally meant for the Fourth of July celebration, which I went to, which is scary. But at the same time we are going to keep on having the marathon; it symbol- izes Boston, it symbolizes that they are going to run for the survivors and the people who passed away. I think it’s a wonderful thing. “Our city is great; we really support each


other. We are a rowdy bunch of people; we love our sports and we love our city.”


SKATING 29


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