Tale Of Rabid Raccoon And Murderous Vegetarian Jogger Wows Journalism World.

A Bangor, Maine Daily News article about a rabid
raccoon attacking a jogger is a literary masterpiece.

By all accounts Bangor (Maine) Daily News reporter Alex Acquisto hit it out of the ballpark recently when she wrote a local story about a jogger being attacked by a rabid raccoon.

Rabid raccoons happen all the time but the first two paragraphs of Acquisto's excellently-written piece is something I will always cherish:  

Here it is:

HOPE, Maine - While jogging on a familiar, overgrown wooded trail near her home on a recent warm afternoon, Rachel Borch thought to herself, 'what a beautiful day.'

Little did she know she was about to be attacked by a rabid raccoon she would end up killing with her bare hands."

The story goes on to tell us about our normally mild-mannered vegetarian jogger drowning the offending raccoon in a puddle.

It's a grim but absolutely glorious read, so you ought to get past the survey you have to answer at the Bangor Daily News and read Acquisto's article.

Bangor Daily News reporter Alex Acquisto proved herself
as one of the best writers and journalists out there.

The raccoon bit Borch on the thumb and wouldn't let go. "Imagine the Tasmanian devil," Borch told Acquisto.

Acquisto's article has sentences like this: "Connecting the dots quickly, Borch, then on her knees, dragged the still biting raccoon, which was scratching frantically at her hands and arms, into the puddle."

In any event, Acquisto's story went viral. Esquire magazine called it "a literary masterpiece."  Someone else tweeted that the lede of her story belongs in every journalism textbook.

By the way, Esquire's analysis of Acquisto's piece is also very much worth a read.

For the record, Acquisto tells us Borch has had rabies and tetanus shots and is doing well.

Even better, a journalistic, literary star is born.

Now, Maine: Happy Tears at Every Gay Marriage State

As readers of this blog know, I married my husband Jeff on August 26, because we are lucky enough to live in a state (Vermont) that allows same sex marriages.

Every day, I wake up thinking I'm the luckiest guy in the world because I'm married to him.  Thanks, Vermont lawmakers!

Our wedding day was an emotional moment, to say the least, but there are other happy emotional days that have nothing directly to do with Jeff and me.

Every time a state passes a same sex marriage law, and the first couples get married, I confess to shedding a few happy tears.

Steven Bridges and Michael Snell get married in
Portland, Maine Saturday. Congratulations
to the happy couple!

So it was with Maine today. During the November elections, Maine residents voted in favor of same sex marriage. The first of those weddings happened today.

That very first Maine couple to get hitched was Michael Snell and Steven Bridges, wbo put rings on each others' fingers early Saturday morning. . The Portland Press Herald reports the happy couple has been together nine years and   had long hoped to get married.

They look like a great couple and of course I wish them, and all those couples getting married in Maine, long happy marriages.

I know people have religious and other reasons to oppose gay marriage, and they have the right to not like it. But, really, from my perspective, it's so hard not to have your heart melt when you watch those couples committing their lives to each other.

One of the most touching things I've seen when same sex marriage is legalized in various states is the crowds that turn out to wish the newly married couples well.

So it was in Maine. A large crowd gathered in front of the Portland, Maine City Hall.  Maybe the sweetest thing I saw out of this  crowd was when someone playing a terribly off-key trumpet led the hundreds of people singing, shouting really, the song "All You Need Is Love."

Indeed. The video made me get teary eyed again.  Maybe you will, too, when you watch it. It's so sweet.: