Sometimes I think Boston is the most melancholy city in North America. Case in point: the Globe Magazine Bostonian of the Year call for nominations. Ostensibly, they are looking for the person who we leave “the biggest impression here” in 2004. But, their examples from prior years are both negative:

In 2002, it had to be Cardinal Bernard Law. In 2003, the name — still eating away at the hearts of Bostonians — was Grady Little, for his decision to leave Pedro Martinez in for one batter too many against the Yankees.

Suggestions for this year are also not exactly optimistic: Mayor Menino for “his stubborn insistence that the Democratic National Convention would be a windfall when it wound up turning the city into a ghost town” and Nomar for creating another wretched curse on the hometown team. Sure, they throw in Mitt Romney and John Kerry, but I have a suspicion that they view them with the same lugubrious attitude. Are we only allowed to celebrate the dark side of life here? Is the Hub of the Universe a black hole?

They mention the “generic gay couple, for putting Massachusetts at the center of the gay-marriage debate” as a possible nominee. What is a “generic gay couple” –two men wearing non-name-brand clothing? Two women with nondescript features? There is a perfectly non-generic gay couple available for Bostonian of the Year — Hillary and Julie Goodridge — the lead plaintiffs and first homosexual married couple.

They have my vote.