📝Contributor
massandra
👤 About massandra
About Me
Hello! I’m a Bostonian engineer with a passion for writing, a fascination with how words are used, and a drive to share it with others.
My Goal
I aim to write content that pushes toward a goal. Every post should either serve as a foundation for ideas to come, or build upon the ones that came before. I hope you can use the roots and branches to see how ideas grow over time.
Engage!
I invite civil disagreement at every junction from all ends of the spectrum, whether further left, further right, or some other direction. I’m always looking to be proven wrong so I can do better next time.
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Newton, MA
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Website
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August 16, 2025
Insights from a former conservative I grew up Boston Irish Catholic, raised on faith, family, and Republican talking points. Starting in middle school, I attended GOP rallies, collected signatures,... (Read more)
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August 15, 2025
Regressive opacity Massachusetts carries a lot of pride in being a progressive leader among the States. However, our state legislature is among the least transparent in the country; power in the St... (Read more)
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August 13, 2025
(Source: Mass.gov) Strategic silence We expect bad actors to spin and mislead in politics; that’s the nature of the game. The more insidious and ubiquitous rhetorical failure is when politicians an... (Read more)
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August 12, 2025
Semantic drift There’s an interesting phenomenon emerging in today’s fast-paced and buzzword-saturated political discourse. In short: A word comes into use, describing a phenomenon. The word gets w... (Read more)
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August 10, 2025
Background Parties, politicians, and supporters often take advantage of a rhetorical strategy I call “distraction discourse”: Using proxy arguments to shift public conversation away from the outcom... (Read more)
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August 06, 2025
Background The role of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Massachusetts is a subject of growing contention, even within left-leaning communities. While liberals and moderate Democrat... (Read more)
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August 03, 2025
Background The previous post covered the importance of recognizing that slavery was the principal reason for secession, the creation of the Confederacy, and the Civil War. This is important to coun... (Read more)
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July 31, 2025
Premise While this article is a deviation from both local politics and current events, the conclusions and lessons which can be drawn from this analysis have modern applications which will be usefu... (Read more)
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July 30, 2025 ⸱ (edited July 31, 2025)
Purpose The purpose of this post is to explain what happened with the Massachusetts legislative audit initiative: what voters approved, what has (or hasn’t) happened since, why it matters, and how ... (Read more)
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July 28, 2025
How to Get Involved Locally in Newton, Cambridge, Brookline, Danvers, and Allston You don’t need to be a politician or have tons of free time to make a difference locally. Each of these towns offer... (Read more)