After experiencing the museum, Montgomery felt different. My class was silent. Nobody cared to crack any jokes. The air even started to smell different — like rotting garbage, reminiscent of the Southern Magnolia that Billie Holiday sung about decades prior. 

“We will fight this tooth and nail, to the last man,” said Alex Mancebo, a Back Bay resident. “If the applicants want to endure that, we’re ready to do it. We live here.”