Susan Senator

My column for this week’s Brookline Tab delves into the absurdity of local politics by taking a humorous look at the use of traffic signs all around town. I have been struggling with whether I want to run for Town Meeting again in my precinct, which not only would mean spending an entire day at the polls asking for people to vote for me, but also would mean six nights a year sitting through Warrant articles about any of the following: zoning changes, money spent on playing fields, being required to say the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of Town Meeting (yes, it’s true, this one did come up!), resolutions to impeach the president, leaf and snow blower laws, leash laws, and other minutiae of running a very diverse community. Do I have the koyach to do this? I hate these votes that end up making your own neighbors mad at you! Who needs that?

And yet… and yet. As Ned says, I am like a moth to the flame. I get drawn to passionate conflict, excitement, and intense debate. Town Meeting is 240 of my fellow Brookliners, sitting in the Brookline High auditorium, and sometimes, I have to admit, it feels like a big party. It is the very essence of what it is like to be a part of a community.

Oy vey, I’m probably going to run. It’s not until May, anyway. And you know what will happen if I lose, or get thoroughly disgusted? Another “I hate Town Meeting” garden!