I have written in broad terms (here and here) about the 36 United States Senate (“Senate”) races which will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the Senate after the November 2018 midterm elections[1]. Including Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Democrats control 49 seats; Republicans hold the remaining 51 seats … Continue reading 2018 U.S. Senate elections: the state of play after Labor Day
Author: Matthew Berger
I am a data geek, history researcher, writer and househusband with academic training in political science (BA, Yale; MA, Harvard), biostatistics (MA, Boston University) and epidemiology (PhD, BU). I published Interrogating Memory: Film Noir Spurs a Deep Dive Into My Family History...and My Own in 2022. As of July 2026, I seek a publisher for its completed follow-up, The West Philadelphia Story: An Immigrant Jewish Journey. I plan a third book on my idiosyncratic GenX life. My musical trinity is Genesis, Miles Davis and Stan Ridgway. A liberal Democrat, I know a healthy democracy demands cross-partisan cooperation. I grew up just outside Philadelphia, and I live just outside Boston, where my wife and children keep me happy, sane and grounded.
John McCain and the essential bipartisan impulse
I eagerly anticipated the evening of Tuesday, November 4, 1986 for months. As a 20-year-old political science major and political junkie, Election Day was (and remains) one of my favorite days of the year. Plus, as a lifelong Democrat, I was particularly excited by the prospect the Democrats could win the net four seats necessary … Continue reading John McCain and the essential bipartisan impulse
Visiting Philadelphia: …very few answers
The first indication of the nature of my recent trip to Philadelphia was the absence of SD’s and my favorite server at the Westgate Pub my first night there (the night before a Thor-like thunderbolt short-circuited the air conditioning in my hotel room for four nights). As I detailed here, I shoehorned seeking answers to … Continue reading Visiting Philadelphia: …very few answers
Visiting Philadelphia: Many questions, but…
My “interrogating memory” project began as a July 2017 conversation with my wife Nell about writing a book in lieu of finding a new position in my two-decade-long career as a health-related data analyst. In my head, I translated her intended meaning (write a mystery—something that would sell many copies) to “I could easily expand … Continue reading Visiting Philadelphia: Many questions, but…
Visiting Philadelphia: Restaurants and Rituals
My preferred driving route to Philadelphia from Boston has evolved over the last 30+ years. My first route was simply an extension of departing from New Haven, CT in the mid-1980s, so I became used to taking I-95 south directly through New York City via the Cross Bronx Expressway; after crossing the George Washington (GW) … Continue reading Visiting Philadelphia: Restaurants and Rituals
Moving serendipity
The moving van arrives Tuesday morning. Friday afternoon (yesterday as I write this) we finally drove two packed cars to the storage unit we rented when we relocated my mother-in-law to the Boston area five years ago (the stuff one can accumulate over more than four decades in a three-story Georgetown brownstone is mind-boggling). Our … Continue reading Moving serendipity
Moving memories
I asked Nell to marry me in June 2007. Thankfully, she said yes—sending us scrambling to find a place to live together by summer’s end. After touring apartments that were either “absolutely not” or “great…wait, it’s already been rented?,” it was crunch time. Going into internet overdrive, Nell (then I) could not believe our good … Continue reading Moving memories
Updating the Doctor(s)
This spring, we learned that the charming three-story brick townhouse whose ground and basement floors Nell and I have occupied since September 2007 was being sold. As a result, we four will move into a nearby Brookline apartment (nicer and with a spectacular view of Boston, to be fair) at the end of July. While … Continue reading Updating the Doctor(s)
A Supreme opportunity to overcome partisan rancor
During my senior year at Yale, I took a seminar called “Political Uses of History.” The topic of my final paper (accounting for most of the course grade[1]) was the history lessons used to defend/critique the nomination of U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Appeals Court) Judge Robert Bork to … Continue reading A Supreme opportunity to overcome partisan rancor
Bipartisanship as patriotism
I started quietly screaming here. But my deep revulsion for what the United States government, my government, the government elegantly outlined in our founding documents, is doing along our southern border (not the northern border with majority-northern-European Canada, mind you) boiled over the other night in this (annotated) 1,000+-word reply to a similar cri de coeur on … Continue reading Bipartisanship as patriotism
Just Bear With Me... 