And now...in news that is happy so far...

[the_future_modernes]

from jae The Ballad of Ruth Ellen Brosseau

I play politician during elections, but in my heart of hearts, I’m much more of a storyteller. I am such a sucker for a good political story. And man, is the story of Ruth Ellen Brosseau ever a good one.

She was a 27-year-old single mom who’d gotten pregnant at sixteen, dropped out of trade school, and now worked in a pub. When the the political party she supported asked her to be a name on the ballot on one of the ridings (electoral districts) in French-speaking Quebec that they didn’t have a chance in hell of ever winning (I mean, we’re talking the level of U.S. Republican chances in Brooklyn or Democratic chances in rural Utah), she said sure. She’d never been to the riding and didn’t plan to ever go, and her French wasn’t all that great, but sure, she’d go through the motions to make sure there wasn’t a big blank on the ballot where her party’s candidate should be.MORE