Thursday, October 16, 2014

A good example of a profile

There's a good profile by reporter Michael Jonas in this month's Commonwealth Magazine of UMass alumnus and longtime state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, who represents Hampshire and Franklin counties in the Massachusetts Senate. He is poised to become the Senate president, soon, a rare position for a western Massachusetts senator.

Here's how it begins:

"IF LIFE HAD taken a different turn, Stan Rosenberg might be an Orthodox Jewish rabbi today. That was his ambition while studying for his bar mitzvah in the early 1960s at Temple Israel in Malden. Had he followed that path, his days would be filled leading prayer services, wrestling with complicated questions posed by religious texts, and helping people with seemingly intractable dilemmas in the manner rabbis have done for generations. 

"When he didn’t get accepted to Yeshiva University in New York, Rosenberg struck out instead for Amherst, where he enrolled at the University of Massachusetts and has lived ever since. He found his way into politics, and has spent nearly his entire adult life in that world. Now, after 28 years in the state Legislature, where he has earned a reputation as one of its sharpest policy minds and a go-to guy for handling politically thorny assignments, Rosenberg is poised to take the reins in January as the new president of the state Senate." 

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