We ARE the spaceways

I was just reminded by Ryshpen that the new govenor of my fair state, Massachusetts, is the son of a member of Sun Ra's Intergalactic Arkestra, the late Pat Patrick. (more here) Gov. Deval Patrick was not at all close to his dad, but according to an old teach who interviewed Pat in research on a Sun Ra project, Pat was aware of Deval's success earthbound. As if anyone needed any more evidence that our state, where the legislature will spend today (again) fightin over gay marraige, isn't quite in the same orbit as the rest of the country...

While I'm on topic, I was grateful for the outcome of the election, though not due to either Deval's name or his jazz roots. Patrick's major opponent, Kerry Healy, ran a tasteless, bitter campaign, trying to tar Patrick (unfairly) as a lover of rapists and danger to children and small animals. And it didn't work. It was nice, at least here, that voters were energized to beat back such a vicious and unnecessary attack. (Don't get me wrong, I don't mind negative ads, if they're on issues. My favorites of the year are probably these two, this rather off-color bit run by one of the others vanquished by Patrick in Massachusetts, and this one that ran in several swing races across the country. Negative, yes. Below the belt, absolutely not. (insert joke here) There's a difference.

Now, let's see what our new govenor and his bastion of excited supporters (myself included) can do. There's no lack of hard work to do...