Rome is where the heart is.

Posted in Community ::: January 8, 2009 3:02 PM

There was a very interesting article just recently in the New York Time's travel section.  You can find it here: http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/travel/escapes/26Rituals.html

The sum and substance is that a NYC couple, in the wake of their disappearing 401(k)s, instead of traveling to Rome, Italy, decide instead to visit my hometown of Rome, New York.  Upon hearing that much of Rome's founding ancestry came over from Italy, the couple planned to encounter a piece of Old World Italy here in Upstate, New York.  Well, they didn't quite find that.  They came across some delights (Chicken Riggies, Gualtieri's Italian Market, St. Peter's Church, Tomato Pie) and some things they could have done without (Little Caesars, unremarkable buildings in Rome's Little Italy) but ultimately came to this conclusion - the town they expected was not the one they found and what they found was "an upstate town that didn't pretend to be more than it was."  That says a mouthful. 

Rome is a great place when it and its inhabitants are realistic about what it is and don't pretend it to be something it isn't.  Granted, Rome is a lot more than the authors of this article saw and I would relish the opportunity to show them more of it.  Yet, we aren't Boston.  We aren't New York City.  And we aren't Rome, Italy.  I've been to all three - we ain't them.  We are a clean, safe, small city where it is great to raise children and which contains some of the most down to earth and hard working people around.  We have all four seasons (boy do we) and are centrally located to lots of great places.  We are a small city that has done relatively well in the post-industrial and post air force base days but still have a long ways to go.  And that's what we are, nothing more and nothing less.  Let's not pretend otherwise - people will notice if we do.

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  1. Posted :: February 12th, 2009Jennifer Shadduck

    Rome is where my heart is and will always be! I moved away from Rome, NY right after I was married in 1993. My husband and I moved to Greenville, SC because we didn’t want to get "stuck" like our parents. We knew that two kids barely of legal drinking age, with a vocational school education and a few years in the Navy wouldn’t get far in Rome, NY. So we packed up our three year old daughter and drove hundrends of miles to embark on a new life. I’ve always considered myself a big romantic. I would soak in the warm spring sun amidst the smell of melting snow and fresh mud in the early spring back then. I would play down by the "crick" under the cool canopy of huge maple trees during hot summer months…or should I say weeks. Starting school every fall was so exciting….new clothes, new friends, and old ones too! Seeing how everyone changed over the summer. The crisp cool, then soon, frosty fall mornings and the explosive, magical beauty of fall foliage. No matter how old I am, the first snow is always exciting! During this dark frigid time, we layer ourselves in warmth. Not only in clothing, but in our loved ones over the holidays. It’s a time to slow down and enjoy the company of family and friends. Just writing this makes me miss home, even after nearly 16 years away. We left our family, friends, hang-outs, favorite places….everything, to pursue the "American Dream". That dream was not to be had for us in an economically depressed area with outrageous taxes and high cost of living. We now live in a beautiful but modest home in a lovely suburban neighborhood…my husband would kill me if I called it a subdivision! The area is beautiful, clean, people are generally friendly, great shopping, restaurants, lots of opportunity, low taxes and low cost of living…along with years of debt….therefore, we are stuck, just as our parents were. The American Dream is in my heart, and my heart is and always has been in Rome, NY. I would give anything to be home again, but now my children have established their own friends, favorite places, and beautiful memories. Their home is here, therefore so is mine.

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