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Two weeks ago, on Tuesday, Sept. 9, in my Community Column entitled “Memories are gone or in ruin,” I wrote that just about every place where I had gone to school or worked in Warren was either one or the other.
Two things have happened since: One, I was very pleased and actually surprised that so many of my friends and acquaintances had read that column. Two, I received a not entirely unexpected bit of sometimes gentle (sometimes not) flak for writing such a downer. Even my fellow Community Columnist, Kyle Tennant, wrote on Sept. 12 what I consider a subtle rebuttal (that rhymes!) by telling about three area experiences we might want to add to our calendars. Maybe he didn’t mean it to be a hint to me to be more positive about where we live, but that’s how I read it. Thank you, Kyle.
I certainly could have been more positive, but I had hoped you could have read between the lines that those places still live in my heart. I think my generation understands this.
Perhaps it could be said that we are stuck in Warren. I had read in the Trib about Ken and Dan Mizicko, the two brothers from Vienna who are known for their extreme sports video, T- shirts, and bumper stickers that all say “Stuck in Ohio.” Maybe I could learn something from them.
As a sort of penance, I spent over a half an hour on line watching their video, stuckinohio.com. It featured extreme water sports, snowboarding, skateboarding, BMX racing, and on and on. Omigosh! I got out of breath just watching. The group I hang with has trouble getting through a game of dominos or Trivial Pursuit without yawning and wishing for a nap. If any of my group is reading this, I’m talking about my other group.
I tried putting my baseball cap on backwards like some of Ken and Dan’s contemporaries, but I couldn’t pull a tuft of hair through that gap above the adjusting band – there wasn’t any. There was just a patch of wrinkled skin there. Did you ever see a guy in his eighth decade trying to look younger? Arrgh!
Maybe we should try the idea of emulating our “Stuck in Ohio” heroes with “Stuck in Warren.” We could make bumper stickers and T-shirts, but I don’t think we could make a video that could be anywhere nearly as dynamic as Ken and Dan’s. However, I think we have much to be proud of in Warren that would make a good video – maybe it should be a bit more sedate, though.
A word of caution – when I went to Argentina as a Rotary leader on a Rotary Group Study Exchange with four young professionals, we took a video with us telling about the wonders of our area. It was so Utopian, that no mere mortals could possibly inhabit such a heavenly place as depicted. After listening to all the oohs and aahs from the members of our host clubs, we decided to stop showing it. The point is, if we are ever to make a video entitled “Stuck in Warren,” we must be positive, but remain real.
So, what has Warren, Ohio, got that sets us apart, makes us special, gives us some one-upmanship over all the other communities that are similar to ours? I mean, what do we have that makes our day-to-day life better or different? Nothing.
Sure, we’ve got Packard Music Hall, the National Packard Museum, the amphitheatre, and many other attractions we can name. These things are great, but they’re not going to change the every day.
A total stranger can move in to Warren, take up residence and very quickly be quite at home here – with the feeling that she / he belongs. Maybe that’s what “Stuck in Warren” should be about.
We’re nothing special – that’s what makes us special.
Mumford is a resident of Warren. He can be reached at editorial@tribtoday.com