The Great Soul Suck sets in...

A week ago tonight I was in Boston, MA. My motherland, if you will. I was hanging out with the most amazing, wonderful, awesome, intelligent, free-thinking, educated, inspiring, beautiful group of people I've ever known. We were all dressed up, having the time of our lives.

My hero, John Kerry was there.

There was a birthday party at a beautiful, grand, old hotel. The room was filled with excitement, enthusiasm, and possibility. I drank wine and laughed and cried tears of joy with all my wonderful new friends. I stood onstage with my hero. I looked into a sea of faces, all filled with happiness and hope. I heard thunderous applause.

We all went to a pub, and the Guinness flowed freely from the tap. We had amazing conversation, and for the first time in a very long time I felt like I was HOME. And I was.

But now I'm here. 3500 miles from home. In a dead-end, redder than red town. Looking forward to another rainy day. I'm stuck here for a while. I've made decisions that seemed like good ones at the time. Maybe they were...maybe they are, but they don't feel good right now. I hate it here. I have a hard time dealing with the fact that I'm going to BE here a while. Indefinitely. Years at least.

I can always visit, but it's not the same.

Everyone around me feels like they belong here, therefore they can't imagine how it feels to be where you don't belong. I'm wasting my life in this shit-hole, and after last week's poignant reminder of what I left behind, I hate it here now more than ever. I'm not getting any younger, that's for damn sure, but every minute I spend here is aging me a hundred years.

Get me out of here.

living deep inside one. But after all your stories, don't look at it as being stuck, look at it as entrenched. Keep that picture of you and JK close and know that you have a great escape in this group.

:hug:

entrenched is right. Right down in there in the hollow with the mud.

Vektor, I feel your pain, I really, really do. It just ain't no fun, truly. Find a way to let your "freak flag fly" in a tattoo, earrings or some small outward show of rebellion and know that for whatever reason, you've been sent to work on the front lines. You're not alone.

I know it sucks and wish I could say something better. I have a similar situation at work though, so I guess in a small way I can relate.

I guess the best thing is to "let your light shine" and know that you being there gives a few people some chance of seeing the light.

I can't tell you the number of times I've felt the same way, especially the last couple of years. The "I have GOT to get out of here" feeling, I mean. We visited Rochester, NY, this summer, and I don't have any idea how truly liberal that area of NY is, but it felt like a breath of fresh air to us! I spend a lot of my time here feeling like I don't quite belong--even though I have some really great people here that I count as friends. So I do understand what you are saying.

I'm praying for peace, encouragement, and a special blessing for you this holiday season, Vek.

:( Any Dem support around here is hidden--they must be there because a third voted for Kerry. I would suspect that there is a hidden Dem minority where you live, too.

It may seem like forever before you can come home, now that you got another taste of it. I know how you feel! When Tony was in the service, we always lived in less than desireable areas, only ever visiting where we wanted to be in our hearts.
In the meantime, try to turn around your current environment. Remember your coworker? You've sown the seed. So keep on planting the idea, open people's hearts and minds around you. Remember? This is what you have to do - because what we are fighting for is so much bigger than we are. Someday, when you are ready to move on, you can look around you and say; 'I made a difference'.

Thinking about "coming home" is the only thing that keeps me going nowadays.

Maybe when I get there we can baptize me in the Charles, and have a renaming ceremony?

Give me time on this one.

I love it.

Even dunking my head in the rank Charles. Though I have noticed you guys have REALLY cleaned it up.

"Bloom where you are planted"? Take it to heart honey. When I left the beautiful Berkshires in MA. I hated being back in Ct.! Even tho' my parents were here, as well as my husbands family. When I found myself alone, after my parents and husband died within three years of each other, I moved to a very small, sleepy town in the Litchfield Hills. TOTALLY RED!! (even tho' Ct. is a blue state) My friends in MA. couldn't understand how I could live here with the "pukes"!! Well, the very first thing I did after I registered to vote, was join the Dem. Town Committee. We all worked hard on the Kerry campaign. I got to work at the polls , and then afterward at headquarters "reconciling the voting lists with the vote tallies. We have only ONE place in town that we vote. The Town Hall!!! In my almost *67 years as a Democrat,I've never contributed to a Candidate until JK. It's easier to do on line with paypal or a credit card, then to send it in the mail as we used to have to do. I just couldn't be bothered. I figured there were plenty of folks better off then me that could carry the load. The most I ever did was to "check off the box on my Income tax return to donate a dollar"!!! LOL Well guess what? In the two years that I've lived here, "we painted the town BLUE" Because we got out there and met the voters at every pot luck dinner, every town event or fund raiser. We wrote LTE's(EN-MASS) at least5 or 6 a week in our local "weekly paper" We got a GREAT slate of candidates who worked their hearts out, and WE WON. Now just focus on y our immediate groups, and work outward, like ripples on a pond, and touch and persuade with TRUTH, verses lies. Use that "Kerry Charm" and glow that you have to the nth degree, and maybe block by block, neighbor by neighbor, you can turn things around!! It's amazing how one single life can affect thousands!:pals: Love ya ! DC P.S. *I was born a Democrat! Don't want to add any more years to my age!!

Since I've been home, I've felt extremely restless. It's a very strange feeling to try to explain, so I haven't really made an attempt to. Unlike you, I've never lived in Boston, or any other non-red place for that matter so I don't even know why I feel the way I do. The trip was only three days but it obviously made an impact on me (maybe I just needed to break out of the incredible rut I had been in for the past few years). I'm going to try to use this restlessness I feel, to make some changes in my life in regard to things I'm not happy about.

I'll leave it at that because I don't want to get too melodramatic. Hang in there Vektor, after having met you I know you'll find a way to work things out and you'll be great!

you want to be. I haven't a clue, but I know it's not Houston, TX, and I've lived here since '91 due to my husband's job demands.x(

and that should make you feel very special. Just think of the opportunity you have to change the hearts and minds of these people. It may suck to be around them, but you're carrying the banner for Sen Kerry and all of us in a very special way. We need you.

How far that little candle throws her beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.
-Shakespeare

edited Shakespeare (!) to change pronoun to feminine for the lovely Vektor.

Live it, work it, jeez when one of my neighbors had a party, I had a hard time deciding if I should go because of all the W stickers that were always visiting there (before the election)

But I DON'T CARE! I am a proud dem. Proud that I voted for Kerry. And I don't care who knows it.

Altho - I must confess, my roots are in Chicago, and as I watch Obama and Durbin, I wonder what it would be like. Fact is, I have gotten so used to McCain and Kyl and fighting everything they say and do, I can't imagine what it would be like to have senators that you believe in. And I could never imagine having Kerry for my senator - oh my - I would be wacko with happiness:)

Massachusetts is losing population, and may end up losing a congressional seat after the next census. So if any of our pals in red-state hell want to move up here, we would more than welcome you. Imagine having Kerry and Kennedy as your Senators. Feel the love. It's warm enough to melt the snow. :)

That they did a poor job counting college students - who should have been counted because it's based on where you lived on a specific day. I had read that your governor should have questioned a few towns' tallies, though I don't remember where.

It's not so much that Mass is losing people (3,000 is hardly a huge exodus) it's that other states are gaining people because of immigration and regular population shuffling around. Mass will, in 20 years have 6 reps and 2 Sens. with about the rate of growth we have. (Maybe, we shall see what happens with the extreme weather that affects the Southern states more than the northern states. We shall see. We could get a lot more Cat5 hurricanes in the next ten years. I wonder what that will do to population trends?)

And it is nice to have excellent Senators. Really nice. (But I'm not bragging or anything. Geez, we now have all these honorary Mass-souls. I have learned to share my toys, my ideas and my Senators with others. Sigh!)

whole nation in 2008.

I can sorta relate.

I can't even come up with anything to say that makes that one even remotely better. He is a two-bit tyrant and he just sucks.

You have my sympathies. (I can share a Senator, if you like. Whome won't mind if I share, as long as I don't give them away. After all, it does take a lot of time and energy to grow Senators. I can't just give them away. But we can time-share or something.) And Feingold is a great Senator. I like him a lot.

esp. lately. I'm so proud of him. And I got a chance to campaign for him and Kerry both during the 2004 campaign, as it was combined. Even some of our Republicans like him. They split their ticket so they could vote Bush, Feingold. His opponent was a doofus even by Repub standards.

Thanks for the loan of you Senator. I promise not to get him all wrinkley and stuff.

Virginia Beach is a double whammy: the military AND the religious right, all in one place. I completely understand where you are coming from: I'm from Conn., and ended up living in Indiana, Wisconsin (red area), Atlanta, Germany, and now VB. At some point, I figured out that I probably won't fit in anywhere. And unlike you, I have no nostalgia for New England (no offense, my fellow New Englanders) -- it's too damn cold and I find my friends in Conn. to be hopelessly provinicial, especially when they make anti-Southerner remarks when they don't know what the hell they're talking about. I also can't stand the constant "oh, you can't eat that, it'll give you cancer" talk. I honestly do no not miss the PC attitude about everything. I guess I'm a Democrat in the tradition of Roosevelt, JFK, and John Kerry, none of whom give a damn about such triviality. Did I mention that Ed Schultz is a native from Norfolk, VA?

My best experience of being the "other" probably was Germany, where I lived in a non-tourist non-U.S. military area, so I was quite literally the ONLY American wherever I went. Now this was during the Clinton 90s, so it wasn't that bad -- Clinton was very popular and many Germans would defend him. Obviously, nowadays, I would have to introduce myself and immediately say that I did NOT vote for *!! But picture yourself in a class to learn German, and you're surrounded by foreigners, who are mostly young -- we're talking from Africa, Brazil, Lithuania, Iceland, Czech Republic, Poland, Georgia (former Soviet Republic), the Sudan, Pakistan, Iran. And my teacher liked to get everybody talking (in German), so his two favorite subjects were love and politics. I still remember one African from Cameroon (west Africa) spouting anti-Americanism and I'm looking at him like "excuse me, I'm sitting right here", and my German teacher totally defended Clinton (Kosovo, Bosnian policy). I tell you, you can be as liberal as anything, but put yourself in a foreign land surrounded by foreigners, and listen to unfair anti-Americanism and that patriotic part of yourself usually dormant just comes out. Obviously, things are different now with * as president, and I'm against the Iraq War, but wholesale anti-Americanism (NOT from a lefty American but from foreigners) gives one the ultimate "I don't belong here" syndrome. Anyway, later on the Iranian, who was an alcoholic, made a scene at school so I did have some camraderie with some of the others. This was 1999, and here we were -- the Pakistani, the guy from Sudan, and me (they were both Muslim) at the tram station talking about what an idiot the Iranian was. (Oh yes, and I educated the Sudan guy about how Americans are very religious and MUCH more conservative than Europeans. He really had no clue. That's the irony: al Qaeda denounces both the free decadence of western culture AND * and the American Right, not realizing the two are different aspects of our culture)

Who knows, you may find an issue where you are in complete agreement with the others, and have a moment of "fitting in". But here's the thing: you went to Mass. and had an awesome time, but it was unique. If you lived there all of the time, it's not like you would be always having a beer with JK. Instead, you would be shovelling snow, and driving through the dirty, slushy snow all winter. You could end up working with conservatives (I know plenty of Repubs from Mass.). You know the expression: "the grass is always greener on the other side . . . ". I guess the key is to look at ALL of your goals, and then see if where you are at is where you should be overall.

First there was the election, which sucked and made me curl up in a ball for awhile. Then there was the mule kick when I found out Eleizabeth Edwards had breast cancer. (What, does Gawd hate Dems or what?) then there was the disgusting posts all over the allegedly liberal blogs that trashed Southerners. (That hurt me as much as the first two. It was so mean-spiritied and false.)

Honestly, I understand. I like New England (But then again, I like witer, as long as I am not waiting for people at the airport, sigh) but I can understand your comments. We are provincial. What I can never understand is why people on DU and other lib blogs were so hate-filled toward the South? That made no sense to me and hurt badly. (Geez, it hurt again when Katrina hit.)

Did you find any of us native Massholes to be excessively provincial or PC?

I am having some guilt about that. All these people came to Boston and left with, ahm, less refined language. Ahm, I'm not so sure that was a distinctive thing.

BTW, the Globe Magazine had a great article about this on 12/18:



http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2005/12/18/why_do_they_hate_us/

First, I'm talking about Conn., too, not just Mass. You guys are a little more "colorful" than my prissy, PC Conn. friends (who I love dearly, I may add). But here's a good cultural clash story from 1989:

I did a co-op at IBM and was friendly with a guy named George who came from Monticello, NY. We had low level jobs at IBM, and he was as regular a guy as you're going to get. Anyway, he went up to Boston with a friend and they ended up at a party at Tufts Univ. They walk in, and you know what they're serving? Champagne and bagels. George was like, "where's the beer and the pretzels and chips?" So they drove over to a package store (yeah, I remember that term), bought a six pack of Bud, and returned to the party. George claims people glared at him for bringing that lowly beer. Then he proceeded to get into an argument with one girl about gun control -- she was for it and he was against it -- until 4 AM!!!!! I mean talk about lamo!!

Considering this story, maybe it was best that I didn't meet JK after a couple of beers, because officially, I absolutely DESTEST Yale!! I went to UConn, like the rest of the middle class people in Conn., and one of our joys, in our quest to stick it to the elitist snobs (for which I will throw the Bush family in there) of Conn., was to go down to New Haven for the traditional Yale - UConn football game. Our goal was to tailgate in the parking lot, having not bought a ticket to the game, thereby accomplishing several goals: a) not giving those Yalie snobs one dime, b) trashing their field, and c) winning the game of course, because Yale Sucks!!! Anyway, back in I think '88, those Yalie snots banned us from tailgating in the parking lot, so we could no longer trash their hoity toity campus. What a bunch of babies.

And, finally, I don't miss the New England music snobbery. I met some guy who went to Williams College in the Berkshires who was visiting at UConn, and someone mentioned that he loved classical music. I was totally into the Amadeus soundtrack, and mentioned that, and he snottily replied "Oh, I only listen to full operas and symphonies, not that commercial stuff". I could probably give a million music snob examples that pissed me off beyond belief.

Having said all of that, there are working class neighborhoods in Boston, and all over New England, for which I think at least some of you hail from. But the PC stuff (which includes putting us SAHMs down as an affront to feminism which I completely disagree with, but I digress . . . ) needs to go away IMHO. And, really, it is beginning to fade, especially with the rise of the new PC crowd -- Christian conservatives.

You know, I looked up some Boston history before the big event in Boston. (Cuz I like doing that kind of thing. I am geeky by nature.) That history is so damn weird. You forget how much half the people in MA couldn't stand the other half. I mean really. Yeah, it's like what you said.

Ahm, Yalies press your buttons, huh! Okay then, we shall back away slowly and mention that a certain Jr. Senator from MA has his law degree from Boston College. Peace? (Ahm, that might negate some of the Yalie vibes?)

I think he greatly appreciated the educational opportunities there, but he doesn't strike me as a person (and, sorry I have met people like this) who would look at me and say "Oh, you only went to UConn. I went to Yale". He's just not like that. Am I right? Before you even answer about what he was like, I feel I know part of the answer, which comes from Vietnam. We'll assume he was all snootty Yalie grad, but once he was on that boat, who you were, what school you went to, and what family did you come from became irrelevant. So, BC is cool, too (my sister looked into it before deciding on UConn), but it's Vietnam that defined Kerry for me, not Yale. And, of course, him travelling around the country and meeting regular people has certainly cured him of any Ivy League pretention.

But, he didn't strike you as snobbish, right? (Inquiring minds need to know!).

When he was younger, he had a certain verbal affectation that might have given that impression. I heard it in some of the clips from "Going Upriver". I think Vietnam and the anti-war movement did a lot to get rid of that. And I think that traveling around the country and talking to all sorts of people for 2 years cured him of his tendency to slip into Senator-speak in normal conversation.

He was warm, funny, down to earth, engaging, (did I say FUNNY AS HELL) friendly, approachable, accommodating, and OMG, he smelled GOOOOOOD.

GOOOOOOD? or DAMN GOOOOOOD?

DAMN GOOOOOOOOD!

Kerry, talking with reporters after addressing ironworkers at a local labor hall, contrasted the media's disclosure of the spy program with the White House leak involving Valerie Plame. (12/20/05)

We have this story elsewhere, so I am only excerpting the setting. Can you imagine John Kerry (or any other good pol) going into the Ironworkers Hall and asking for the brie, cheese and wine cooler section? Do you honestly think they would have invited him?

Sigh! Just, deep fricking sigh! Once more, with feeling, John Kerry is a US Senator today because he translated well with Democrats in working class cities. He actually didn't do that well in the preppy towns. Honest-to-gawd. to wit:

1996 vote Kerry / Weld -----Wealthy, wealthy areas of MA
Andover 6,410 8,988
Boxford 1,263 2,736
Cohasset 1,700 2,332
Concord 4,803 4,342
Groton 1,832 2,325 (Fercrissakes, his parents lived here then.)
Hamilton 1,484 2,390
Lynnfield 2,370 3,891
Manchester 1,123 1,816 (Ferchrissakes, he has family here.)
Westford 3,748 5,426
Weston 2,252 3,526

Are we sensing a pattern yet?

Now let's see where Democrats kill Rethugs in MA:

1996 vote Kerry / Weld -------Working class cities and towns in MA
BOSTON 113,466 50,060
CHELSEA 4,111 1,910
EVERETT 8,226 4,810
FALL RIVER 21,162 7,100
LOWELL 13,774 11,265 (Yeah, Lowell. You got a problem with that?)
LYNN 15,307 10,416
MALDEN 12,320 7,039
MEDFORD 14,619 9,038
NEW BEDFORD 22,095 7,390
PITTSFIELD 12,188 6,821
QUINCY 19,770 14,912
REVERE 8,811 5,776

Hmmmm, he didn't win the wine and brie towns. But he friggin rolled it up in the older, working class cities. I wonder how he did it if he was a stuck up Yalie who only spoke Senatese whilst having a manicure and getting fitted with LL Bean shirts. Geesh. Give me a friggin break already.

Any stats on Westport, MA?

I spent a week wondering what I would say to the Senator if I got a chance to talk with him. I asked my friends for advice. I sent out e-mails.
It never occurred to me that I would just be able to talk to him.
He may be a Senator, but he's a regular guy. Just a lot smarter, funnier, taller and better looking than most.
No pretention. Not even a tiny bit.

in Bosotn to deliver a flower for the lovely and talented Mrs. Heinz and nobody sicced a dog on us or called the cops or anything. No honestly, that has to say something. (Really, people in MA do not put up with pretension or fakery. It is a cardinal sin around here. From what I saw, I don't think my greatly esteemed Jr. Senator thinks much of it either.)

As evidence, the 'poll' question.
Humor, beauty and class. She's a gem.

This is probably treasonous, but I was more blown away at meeting Teresa than at seeing Sen. Kerry in Boston. (I've seen him before. Don't hit me, but I have. But I've never seen the lovely and talented and gracious and funny Momma T before. I was so star-struck. Hey, this is Massachusetts, I can legally go either way here.)

Anyway, thanks to the great and noble Commonwealth of Pennslyvania for loaning her to us from time to time. She is indeed a gem.

After reading your post my jaw just dropped!!!:wow: I know we've spoken before about how close we lived to each other in Ct....but the world just got smaller!!! I was born in Monticello, N.Y...........and.......my oldest Son played Nose guard for UConn in the 80's. I will PM you his name tomorrow, as it's very late now. When I lived in New Haven and worked for Beazley Realtors (right near Yale Campus) I used to resent all the Yalies coming into our Office looking for rentals for the semester, and how they wanted "the best for the least,.....yesterday!!! What a bunch of crybaby, think their shit didn't stink, spoiled rotten BRATS!! I don't know how many times I had to BITE MY TONGUE to keep from losing a commission, or struggle to keep from smacking them, ('cause like Tay Tay, I'm the mother of the world!!!) This all just gets "curiouser and curiouser"!!:hug:

There are quire a few people around who think I am a mother ..... of the world.

There's good and bad everywhere. One of the good things about hanging out in friendly groups like this is we get to air our differences and see through other people's eyes for a little while. It is deeply gratifying to me to talk with people from outside New England. I deeply suspect that I am indeed provincial and talking to others gives me chance to re-evaluate what I believe. (This alone is worth it's weight in gold. I just hope I have the wherewithall to say I'm wrong once in a while. It's good for me.)

about Yalies, I thought maybe I was not remembering things right or being too harsh. Your story confirms that no, my memory is just fine on their snootiness. But now I remember that Kerry was very unpopular at that exclusive St. Pauls high school, which I consider a badge of honor. *, on the other hand, was always very popular everywhere he went in the New England elite school circuit. But the funny part was that he used his grades (Cs) from Yale to act like he didn't "belong", thereby tricking many to think he was a regular guy, somehow apart from Ivy League elitism. In fact, he fit in just fine socially; he just didn't get along with professors who dared him to think differently about things. Kerry, on the other hand, always had very good friends, threw himself into extracurricular activities and sports, but would not be characterized as one of the "popular" kids, because he wouldn't compromise his core values just to fit in. I truly think that if his goal was to be the most popular kid, he could have pulled it off, but that is not what makes him tick. I also think that if he went to a typical public school he would have been VERY well liked. On a social level, he can get along with people from all walks of life, and people are naturally attracted to someone who has a lot of integrity, lots of ideas, and boundless energy. But in the midst of a bunch of snot-nosed, spoiled rich kids, I can understand how hard it must have been for him to find kindred spirits.

(oh, and just an aside that I don't think ALL rich kids are snots; it's just the ones who are ignored by their parents and endlessly passed on to the nanny)

Cap Cod envy. The rest of the country envies our giant peninsular penis. And our two beautiful testicles, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket.

:rofl:

I gotta get out more. I always thought of Massachusetts as the brains of the nation. The midwest is the heart and California is the ahm, ahm, other brains of the nations. (Whew!)

I like Vek's version better. Mui macho!

Especially the description of what it was like here during the DNC. It just cracked me up how cranky everyone was about traffic, etc. And then they didn't even extend the subway hours! The night my friend and I got into the convention, we had to take a cab home after it was over!!!

Damn, now I want a plastic donkey to wear on my head....

I found a kinship among people who are as foul-mouthed and rowdy as I am! Honestly, and I like Illinois, but my impression is that people here are only "nicer" in the sense that they're a lot more straight-laced - ie, MORE PC. My mom still frowns and tut-tuts every time the word "goddamn" pops out of my mouth (which is often). I feel an almost gravitational pull to return, and I've only been gone for nine days.

Meet ya there?

I'd seriously take a longer trip - you know, time to actually see some sites - now that I have a month off. You a taker, Vek?

I'd like to. I'll have to see what I have going on. I only have a month off and a shit load of stuff to do.

But I am so tempted.

Will it be as fun without any JK events to look forward to?

You? Me? Lunch with the Massholes, drunken good times, tearing shit up, and who the fuck knows - maybe we can email some people and meet up with him one more time! :D

You should get on AIM, I'm so terribly bored, and a little intoxicated, and I need someone to talk to.

:-)

HAHAHAHA. "It'll give you cancer!" (The Bostonians are way more fun and irreverent than the Provincial Connecticut Marthas you speak of!)

And Pat Robertson. Oh Christ. I am sooooo sorry.

bible story from Pat Robertson!! It's just not fair!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How's that for a little "it sucks living in red country" whining!!

and TayTay's and my foul language, you can come next year!

favorite cities in the U.S. I took my German in-laws there and they loved it, although they were stunned by the rudeness. And that is a hell of a compliment to you Bostonians, because I can tell you that the Germans have taken rudeness to a high art form, and for them to find you guys rude -- why that puts you on the map!! Why should only New York and Paris get such honors. To be fair there were also extremely nice and helpful people in Boston for when we got a little lost.

Is it possible that tonal inflections and certain mannerisms do not translate well between people from different countries sometimes? I dunno. I have heard the New Yorkers are rude, but never thought so. I have always found Bostonians to be very funny, jovial, and boisterous. (Bosterous?)

I'm sorry your in laws had that experience. Bring them to Boston again, and introduce them to our group. We'll see to it they have a blast!

I think the guy in question wasn't necessarily a Bostonian -- but from Mass. somewhere. We were at Quincy Market and some of my family went to get some food while we grabbed some tables. This guy in a New England Patriots shirt and a baseball cap comes over, and first asks if someone is sitting there. When we said we were waiting for our family, he became hostile saying "There's no saving seats!!! We've got kids here", and then took our chairs. The whole incident took my breath away, and I couldn't speak. To be fair it was Christmas season, when people do get stressed out. I also have a friend who is from Mass., lived in Boston, then moved to Atlanta. Recently she moved back to Boston, and said she has gotten into so many fights at stores. She thinks the people are thin skinned and sensitive if you question them. In Atlanta, the sales clerk would have just taken care of the problem, but she is in the 'burbs of Boston, and doing a simple return is a major battle. I can't verify this, and in fact, I think New Englanders are far more genuine than Southerners. And sometimes Southerners, who are usually quite nice and mannered, if provoked, can be downright mean. But I guess I had this friend in mine when you were waxing nostalgic for Mass. All she talked about in Atlanta was going back to Boston, but now that she is in Boston, she misses Atlanta. There's always something, it would seem.

Sounds like you ran into one of ours. But most of us are pretty friendly.

your Senators and every social gruop you belong to filled with Republicans! I hate it here too, as I grew up in New England but thanks to that Bastrd in the WH, I can't afford to move home!

Well, that's not entirely true; I don't hate every last thing about it. 49% of it is very liberal and that was enough to lock down this county for the Dems last time. But it's not so big, I'm bored with a lot of the people and things in it and I'm no longer convinced that my presence here is helping the Progressive effort. Plus, it's kinda stagnating my own development. Life's a series of trade-offs as they say, but I know it can be really, really frustrating to sit in a situation in which you feel totally isolated, especially in terms of values.