Beyond Red & Blue

Young Bay Staters like their employers but aren't so keen on government

MassINC's groundbreaking report Great Expectations: A Survey of Young Adults in Massachusetts reveals that the under-40 set in the Bay State are optimistic about their economic futures (80 percent think their incomes will rise during the next five years) and happy with their jobs (87 percent are satisfied with their employers) but aren't so sanguine about state and local government (62 percent are "not too confident" or "not at all confident" about its effectiveness). The survey also reveals that 22 percent of adults between 25 and 40 expect to move out of Massachusetts during the next five years -- not good news for the state's economy.

Get the full report here, or check out the coverage in the Boston Globe ("Most young Bay Staters say future's bright") and the MetroWest Daily News ("Study: 25- to 39-year-olds optimistic, but not about government"). You can also hear an interview with MassINC Research Director Dana Ansel on WBUR.

Gloucester and the class divisions in quaint old Massachusetts

Seth Gitell has a primer on the Beverly/Gloucester rivalry (highlighted by Beverly parade floats mocking the teen pregnancy crisis in Gloucester), and other class tensions between towns in Massachusetts:

I can think of several other places in the region where a few miles means a major difference in income. Start where I grew up, Hull. Hull is bordered by Hingham, a former target of derision of the Globe’s Metro Editor, Brian McGrory. Nearby is Cohasset, an even wealthier town. Class was an essential part of the sports rivalry between Hull and Cohasset. Self-described “rich kids” from Cohasset even vandalized a portion of Hull’s sea wall adjacent to the high school after a football victory. There’s also the Winchester-Woburn divide.

I grew up in Malden, where there was a heated rivalry with next-door Medford -- which was only slightly more affluent but still mocked by my classmates as some kind of haven for the nouveau riche. At the time, Beverly and Gloucester were indistinguishable in my mind; both were part of ritzy, horsey Cape Ann. But every once in a while, we're reminded that just about any two neighboring communities in Massachusetts are, in fact, militantly distinguishable from each other.

It's pissah to talk like a Red Sox fan

Dorchester native Patrick Radden Keefe writes on Slate.com about what most actors get wrong in doing a Boston accent. His nomination for the most authentic-sounding actor: Ben Affleck in Good Will Hunting. Even though "the guy's Nawt from Dawt"!

And trying to imitate famous politicians from Boston comes with its own pitfalls, as James Horrigan explains in the new issue of CommonWealth.