Happy Birthday, Ed Markey!
Happy birthday to our Senator, climate champion, and fighter for working families. Here are a few of our favorite moments, and a horoscope!
Ed Singing Happy Birthday to Me
- Isabella Rocha
A birthday during quarantine doesn’t seem like something to look forward to. Given that we’re currently in a global pandemic, you can’t exactly have a party or go out somewhere.
For me, my quarantine birthday wasn’t that great. It followed a day of struggling with homework and crying over the stress of AP tests. The day got marginally better when my friends put on a drive-by birthday parade in front of my house, but I was really looking forward to the Students for Markey campaign kick-off call later that evening.
Senator Ed Markey was going to make an appearance, and before he joined the Zoom, I asked in the chat if he could wish me a happy birthday.
A lot of the students on the call wished me one, but I was unsure if Senator Markey actually would.
However, shortly after he joined, the Senator sang “Happy Birthday” to me in a beautiful voice that I didn’t know he possessed. I had my family around me to watch and I was crying because I appreciated and loved it so much.
Senator Markey turned an average birthday into what may be the best one I’ve ever had. This year, I hope that Senator Markey has a great birthday in quarantine like I did. Happy Birthday, Ed Markey!
Ed Markey and the Green New Deal (Thank You for Fighting for Us)
- Zoe Vittori-Koch
“People try to put us d-down (Talkin’ ‘bout my generation)”
These words, sung by The Who, evoke the experience of so many young people like me in 2020. We are in the midst of many crises, but one specifically that continues to loom over us, and is especially important to younger generations, is the climate crisis. Despite the mass of voices that “put us d-down” when words like “there is no planet b” or “climate justice for all” are heard by youth across the country, Ed Markey’s is not one of them. He continuously shows that he truly cares about issues like climate change, racial justice, and a fair healthcare system; all of which are addressed in THE GREEN NEW DEAL. This is a vision for how our future could look. One where they are not filled with the worry of increased and damaging storms, of having a fair-paying job, of affording a home, or of having access to free healthcare. The GND, and climate change, are now national conversations and are something that I know my Senator is fighting for through and through. By introducing this bill along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ed Markey has given my generation hope for an equitable future and a habitable earth. So, Happy Birthday, Ed Markey. Thank you for giving us this hope.
If you want to learn more about this fabulous piece of legislation that Ed helped bring to life, go take a look at The Markey Times article written by Hannah Podol that breaks down the GND!
Ed Markey’s Stars
- Matt O’Connell
Ed Markey’s birthday is July 11, just 8 days after my own, which makes Ed’s astrological sign Cancer. I do not pretend to know much about astrology, in fact, I have a tweet sitting in my drafts that reads “whenever i dont know what to talk about, i just ask someone to explain astrology to me.” However, as a fellow Cancer myself, and having gotten the lowdown on what that means countless times from friends, I know one thing for certain: Ed Markey has HEART. He is a deeply emotional and caring individual, and it shows through every aspect of his policymaking.
Ed’s sign shows through his commitment to a fair, just, and dignified life for everyone who calls this country home. As we all know, Ed co-authored the Green New Deal with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a bill that shows Ed’s care not just for the future generations that will someday hope to inhabit our planet, but also for those who will be transitioning to green jobs in the future, assuring not just a fair, but a beneficial transition toward good, eco-friendly, union jobs. But Ed’s deeply caring nature doesn’t stop with his most notable legislation to date. It extends to Ed’s staunch support of Medicare for All. As an original co-sponsor, it is clear that Ed’s heart has been in the right place since the beginning, and that his care for the people of our country and commonwealth is always there, even when it was politically inconvenient or unsafe, as it was to support single payer all the way back in 2017. Ed cares about people, and it’s clear through his work on the Green New Deal and Medicare for All that he is willing to put up his hard shell and unleash his crab claws on large corporations, be they fossil fuel, airline, pharmaceutical, or beyond, to protect those he cares about: the working people of this country.
Look at any aspect of Ed’s legislation over his career. Be it education, telecom, LGBTQ+ rights, civil rights, his responses to the coronavirus and police brutality, and you might be able to guess Ed’s sign right away. He has shown his caring nature by standing up for what’s right, even early in his career, when things like fighting for our LGBTQ+ community hurt him politically. We know Ed goes full on hard shell, claws out on the floor of the Senate, but we know that it’s because under that shell, Ed lets his deeply caring emotions about his constituents and fellow Americans guide every decision he makes.
Happy Birthday to Ed Markey, and we’ll thank our lucky stars he was born a Cancer!
