Guest Editorial by Ben Hogwood 10/28/04
Like many people 10 years younger, this November will be the first time
I get to vote in a national election, not because I've been lazy in the
past, or even because I had other things to do (like take out the
garbage or TiVo Friends reruns), but because I just became a Yankee. And
what an election it is shaping up to be! Not only will my vote count, it
will likely be recounted and, possibly, counted again after officials
decide we need a "do-over."
Though you might not know from watching television, the presidential
election is not the only one taking place this November 2. The Town of
Cambridge even has a bond vote that day where Cambridgians can decide
whether to fix a school which, from all accounts, is about to implode a
la Poe's The House of Usher.
The point I'm awkwardly trying to make, like so many editorial writers
have done before me, is that this is the one shot you're gonna get at
voicing your opinion where you might actually get heard. What you write
down on those pieces of paper at the polls can affect what happens for
the next two years, or four years, or 20 years, depending how long the
additions to the school last before they need updating. And let's be
serious: this may be the last chance you get to vote before the world
starts to look like it does in the Mel Gibson movie Road Warrior (except
with better special effects).
Don't know who to vote for? According to fellow reporter Amy's old
bumper sticker, there's always Jimmy Buffett, who would probably
incorporate Mexico into the Union and change the name to the United
States of Tequila. Or, according to most other bumper stickers, there's
one group everybody supports: Our Troops.
So this election year, I'm going to vote "Our Troops" for president.
Sorry I couldn't be of any real help, but I was forced into this.

Since the News & Citizen's newest United States citizen, Ben Hogwood, is
leaving the job for a life in North Carolina, we offered this space for
his comments. We can only add - your vote does count!