DEAR READER,

I had an interesting, if dispiriting, conversation this past weekend with a friend of mine, who is an older African-American woman. Like a lot of other political liberals I know, she intended to support Sen Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary on Tuesday.

Outside of that race, however, her larger concern came from the remarkable number of Greater Bostonians who were expected to support Donald Trump. Without getting into all the typical talking points, she told me how upsetting it was to her that one in four white people have such disregard for people of color that they would openly back such a bigot to a pollster. As this ridiculous race for POTUS rages past Super Tuesday, I feel it’s more important than ever for the other three out of four white people to speak loudly about why our country deserves better.

Chris Faraone, News+Features Editor

OH, CRUEL WORLD

Dear Punxsutawney Pipsqueak,

Since I’m not a total schmuck, I don’t even know how the whole groundhog baloney works. Whether it’s that you see your shadow then we get spring early, or if you don’t see shit and we are doomed to eat snow and die. When your ritual went down weeks ago, I was paying close attention to real news. Because again, fuck you. I’ll tell you what though—if you didn’t predict this clear weather and prove your usefulness, I think it’s time to detonate you once and for all.