She will run for governor of Massachusetts. The 49-year-old Democrat is a political science professor at Harvard University, as WCVB reports. She hopes to be the first black woman governor in Massachusetts history. Allen is one of two Democrats to announce thus far. The other is former state Senator Ben Downing (D-Pittsfield), who announced back in February.
We were born the same year, our mothers old friends. Jenny and I were first friends. They didn't call them "playdates" back then, but the two of us hung out a lot as tykes — had tea parties and made typical pre-school messes while our moms sipped coffee and later scolded us for mushing Playdough into the carpet. I only learned that Jenny had been diagnosed with Down syndrome, which of course I didn't understand, when I heard we wouldn't attend the same school.
My neighborhood park had a wading pool. Larry was as much a fixture there as the water itself. Red hair, freckles, probably 40 years old, with Down syndrome, Larry never went in the pool, but he was a celebrity among the kids and parents, always wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt and plaid Bermuda shorts. He didn't seem to need a cane, but he always had one and inevitably flipped it, hook side down, and belted out Elvis songs into its rubber foot. Looking back, a day splashing around in 16 inches of water was only a good day if Larry was there.
