I've written a little bit about the twentieth century writers that have influenced some of my writing previous. Now, let me step back another century. Instead of taking the train to Boston, I could have driven. Yet that would have required me to be awake the whole way, drive around Cambridge and find a parking space. None of which seemed all that appealing to me.

My thoughts went to various comments by Thoreau about trains. I grew up reading Emerson and Thoreau. I recall Thoreau's discussion about the economy of trains. The economy is a bit different for me, because this is a business trip and I'll get reimbursed. In addition, it is a much longer walk from New Haven to Boston than it is from Concord. Finally, the nature of train travel has changed a lot since Walden. If I recall properly, Thoreau also wrote about trains in Cape Cod as well, but I don't remember any details.

Another nineteenth century writer that comes to mind is Walt Whitman. While he was talking about being on a ferry instead of a train, his comments about the people crossing Brooklyn Ferry reminded me of the people on the train, how curious they all are to me.

Yet as I reflect on the train ride to Boston, I don't have much for recollection of the people on the train. When I got on, just about all the passengers were asleep. I drifted off to sleep as well, and slept through the first half of my train ride.

It was dark when I got on the train, and when I awoke, it was still dark, but slowly the dawn came. It felt a bit eerie. There was a mist rising just about everywhere I looked. In one place, a small cloud of mist seemed to hover about twenty feet off the ground. In other areas, the mist rose up from mounds of fresh dirt or mulch, or spread out low over streams and ponds the train passed.

Grassy areas were covered with frost and in some places piles of snow from the weekend's storm persisted. The trees still had their multicolored leaves and slowly the dawn grew brighter. Eventually, the announcements started coming in of the stations around Boston.

I was going to Boston for the Society of New Communications Research symposium. It is a fairly academically oriented group studying social media. I have been working with people in Connecticut who are involved with the group and was looking forward to the day. As I got off the train, I initially headed straight for the Red Line to go to Harvard. Yet it occurred to me that I was right next to the Occupy Boston encampment, so I headed out a side door, up the street, across an intersection and was standing beside the large tent city. At eight in the morning, things were quite there. There were various political and logistic signs around. Nearby a few policemen were standing around. Mostly, however, at that hour it was quiet.

I checked in on Foursquare and then headed to the Red Line on on to Harvard. When I exited the T, I looked around and got my bearings. I've been on various trips to Cambridge before and the environs of Harvard were familiar to me. Somewhere near by was the Berkman Institute. I walked down Massachusetts Avenue and entered Harvard near the Lamont library.

Back in 2006, I had worked on Ned Lamont's U.S. Senate bid, so I knew the name and the history. I was running a little bit early, so I stopped and read a few posters on a kiosk outside the library. Then, I crossed the street and entered the Harvard Faculty Lounge where the meeting was being held.

I've always had a strange relationship to academia. I skipped my senior year of high school to head off to college, but when I got there, I had problems focusing on my studies and, while I completed four years, I did not end up graduating. The lack of a degree has rarely impeded my progress, yet I've often ended up feeling like an outcast or pariah around academic settings.

So, it was strange to be in the Harvard Faculty Lounge listening to researchers talk about social media. I don't feel that a lot of the content relates particularly to my writing here, except for one comment. One of the speakers spoke about how Thoreau, Emerson and others gathered for a lyceum. It struck me that in many ways, social media today is the agora and the lyceum, depending on how you relate to it.