A new Boston emerges

It's a city of tradition and a city in transition, a city of old neighborhoods and new faces who are bringing new ideas and new energy to places sometimes still resistant to the change.

But in many ways, change is defining the City of Boston. It can be found in a Buddhist temple nestled in a Brighton apartment, the impact of Salvadoran businesses on East Boston’s economy, the unexpected mix of voices and faces in once-homogenous neighborhoods like South Boston and the North End.

In the spring semester of 2003, we, the graduate students in JR610, an advanced print journalism class instructed by Jerry Lanson, set out to chronicle some of the transitions taking place in Boston's vibrant and distinct neighborhoods. We discovered a city that, like much of America, is much different from just a decade or two ago.