Flashes of Panic

I guess it was a big day in Northampton today. We didn’t get much of it in Amherst, though I did take a tech support call from a guy who wanted to talk about it while we waited for his machine to reboot. We both sort of circled the issue, not wanting to get in too deep if the other person turned out not to have the same viewpoint we did. I wondered if he’d been thinking about it more than I had.

Or maybe he has the attitude described in the current Valley Advocate:

[T]he next generation doesn’t think gay marriage is as big of a deal as their parents do. Like the Internet, cell phones and rap music, kids look to the world around them and accept it for what it is (whether or not they like it) and adapt accordingly.

I remember the day last winter, before moving back to Amherst, when I was coming home from work and traffic slowed to a crawl in downtown Northampton. Nothing new, but a lot of flashing blue lights in front of town hall, and noise. Music. Big crowd on the steps. I rolled down the window, and heard

Goin’ to the chapel and we’re
gonna get married…

I figured it out when I read the newspaper, of course. That’s always going to be one of my “Only in Northampton” moments.