I gotta admit – I’m in a foul mood. Patrick Healy, the Boston Globe’s Kerry reporter, just took a job at the Times. I had remembered his byline from the campaign, but his name had always been weirdly familiar to me as well. Well, it turns out his career trajectory was pretty much the same as mine – got started at Foster’s Daily Democrat, did well enough there to get hired at the Union Leader, covering UNH. Exactly what I did (but was he a year ahead of me?? I can’t remember ever meeting him, but his name is very very familiar). Only from the UL he went to the Chronicle of Higher Education & worked for five years there, before getting hired by the Boston Globe to cover higher education. (there he discovered this Harvard grade-inflation scandal & went on to report on Afghanistan & Iraq).

I, on the other hand, stayed at the UL long enough to get the job here — it never really occured to me to work at a paper like the Chronicle. But I wonder if I’ve hurt my career by sticking as a general assignment reporter, and not developing a speciality…

Anyway – welcome to New York, Patrick … drop me a line if you self-google and find this – I’ll take you out for a beer and we can reminisce about Mary Pat & Rod, Charlie & Buzz…

Bastard.

UPDATE: Okay, after reading this clip from Healy, I don’t know what I’m complaining about. I’ve never written anything nearly as good.