{"id":80818,"date":"2024-10-29T14:00:55","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T18:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earlham.edu\/?p=80818"},"modified":"2024-10-30T08:49:25","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T12:49:25","slug":"earlham-politicos-john-moran-is-leading-efforts-to-help-bostonians-recover-from-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlham.edu\/news-events\/earlham-politicos-john-moran-is-leading-efforts-to-help-bostonians-recover-from-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Earlham Politicos: John Moran is leading efforts to help Bostonians recover from addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\u201cSo this whole question of jobs and how we live, and what kind of society we\u2019re gonna have, who’s got a right to live and who doesn\u2019t, who can eat and who can have a home and who can\u2019t\u2026 all those questions being thrown at us are <\/em>real moral questions that we gotta deal with.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
-General Gordon Baker<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Everywhere you turn, news inundates us with talking points and sound bites about the fast-approaching U.S. presidential election. It gets hard sometimes to filter through all the noise and really get to the meat of what\u2019s concerning this country and what we as Earlhamites can do to continue fostering good will and unity and peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which is why we asked others for their thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this ongoing series we\u2019ll talk to a smattering of Earlham alums, staff, and current students, all impressively engaged politically at either the local or national level. You\u2019ll hear from a gay Bostonian serving for the ninth Suffolk district working on a drug addiction recovery program; a sophomore politics major who\u2019s working as the campaign manager for Indiana Senate candidate Susan Fortenberry and diving deep into local issues; current Earlham faculty and staff trying to rock and maximize the vote; a homesteader and representative of Maryland who\u2019s working on parole reform and renewable energy and a strategist working for Earlham\u2019s Center for Career Education looking to have healthcare for all and fight for the rights of the people with low-income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, let\u2019s hear from Rep. John Moran of Boston, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/div>\n\n\n\n\nRep. John Moran, Massachusetts state representative for the ninth Suffolk district, credits Quaker acts of service for leading him to his path in politics. The Clifford, Pennsylvania native didn\u2019t even major in politics while studying at Earlham. He earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in Japanese studies with a minor in economics, then went to work for the Japanese government as a coordinator of international relations for Japan\u2019s Wakayama prefecture as part of the JET program. Moran also spent two summers working for the New York City Commission for the United Nations (UN) working on a baseball exchange program between Japan and the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter that I went to Tufts, thinking I was going to become a diplomat, but got really interested in business, partly because that was where my intellectual pursuits were at the time,\u201d the 1989 Earlham graduate says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After receiving a Master\u2019s degree from Tufts University\u2019s Fletcher School, Moran spent roughly 30-plus years working for a variety of companies including Gtech Holdings, Bose, Liberty Mutual, and Biogen. But even while working for business, Moran had a heart for politics and diplomacy, working on Robert Reisch\u2019s governorship campaign, Pete for America, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe political side never went away,\u201d he says. \u201cI felt that was very important. I realized the skills I developed in business were just as applicable to politics, and after moving to Boston and living here with my partner and feeling welcomed, I felt compelled to run for office.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, in 2021, he volunteered for Boston City Council member Tania Fernandes Anderson\u2019s advisory council, and from there went to run for and win office for the Massachusetts House of Representatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s interesting because you go to college and you go in planning to do one thing then come out doing something completely different because of the people you encounter and relationships made,\u201d says Moran. \u201cI would not be where I am today if it weren\u2019t for Earlham. I heard the call of service, and it has to be because of what I picked up during my time there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the incumbent for the ninth Suffolk district, the top three issues for Moran this political season are affordable housing, the ongoing opioid epidemic, and LGBTQIA+ and reproductive rights, which he believes to be synergistic. He prefers a multidisciplinary approach to key issues, particularly surrounding the opioid epidemic and how it manifests in his district and the area of Melnea Cass Boulevard and Massachusetts Avenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n