I sit here in a coffee shop in idyllic Beverly, Massachusetts—birthplace of the American Navy–a little town just outside of Boston. I’m here to visit my friend “Veronica.” She’s a woman after my own heart. She writes like a dream and is the only other thirty-something year old woman I know who happily lives in what is basically a dorm room.
She and I met when she lived in Texas, but Massachusetts is her birthplace, and it’s also the perfect place for her to pursue her lifelong dream of being a writer. She works just enough to cover her very minimal expenses and yet she still has quality healthcare provided by the state. “In Massachusetts,” she says, “I can have an interesting life.” In Texas, she would be compelled to work a full-time job that wouldn’t suit her considerable passion and talents, merely in order to have healthcare.
But here in Massachusetts, with healthcare provided, she commits her days to writing, except for Tuesdays when she takes care of a severely autistic 39 year-old man. Not incidentally, the man’s parents moved to Massachusetts from California specifically because Massachusetts has some of the best support and care in the nation for people with special needs.
More at the jump….
Yesterday Veronica and I stopped by her parents’ home. Her brother Paul (aka Pauly C from the North Shore) stood in the kitchen–hungover and profoundly stoned–frying up hash browns, eggs and bacon. “How,” I lamented, “did Scott Brown get elected?”
“I don’t know,” Paul said. “I voted for him. Veronica, who’d you vote for?”
Veronica stayed silent.
“Come on, who’d you vote for?” Paul teased.
“I didn’t vote,” Veronica mumbled, embarrassed. “I’m still registered in Texas…I forgot to get my voter registration changed.”
Paul looked at me, as if to say, “THAT’S how Scott Brown got elected.”
Quick correction – Pauly C. from the North Shore in fact voted for Martha Coakley, as did his and Veronica’s younger sister. What Veronica lacks in follow through, she makes up for in goading the young. Another fantastic, well-written piece, MP. You’re so good you make it look easy.
health care already available in massachusettes…hmmm…and so many wondering around in a daze wondering how a dem could lose that seat.
i don’t watch pundits – and lately i engage in many political discussions…but this seems like a pretty pink elephant in the room.