A heart-warming bit of local interest

To follow up on my Ben Franklin post from earlier this week, it turns out I'm not the only Bay Stater* who has been reading about Franklin lately:

Three hundred years after his birth in Boston, two classes of local third-graders are hoping to persuade Massachusetts state lawmakers to reclaim the legacy of one of the nation's founding fathers -- despite the fact Franklin fled Boston for Philadelphia at age 17.

"You might say he helped invent America," said John Dyer, a third-grader at the Winthrop Elementary School in Hamilton, testifying at a Statehouse hearing Thursday before the State Administration Committee.

Ahh, the wide-eyed youth of today, earnestly participating in government, oblivious to the evil machinations occurring behind the scenes.

I remember my own visit to the State House at that age, seeing the sacred cod hanging above the chambers of the legislature, and learning of its mystical power over our body politic. I also learned that students such as myself had actually introduced legislation to make the state something other be what it was.

If the students' bill is passed, as State Inventor, Franklin will join (among many other things) the State Muffin (corn), State Shell (neptune), State Cat (tabby), State Folk Dance (square dancing), State Game Bird (wild turkey), State Bean (navy), State Dessert (Boston cream pie, of course), State Polka Song ("Say Hello to Someone From Massachusetts"), State Donut (Boston cream, again), State Blues Artist (Taj Mahal), and, of course, the unforgettable State Mineral (Babingtonite).

So hooray for our new State-Inventor-to-be. I, for one, urge our Legislators to adopt the measure post-haste.

* official State Citizenry designation, adopted 1990