Take Me Home, Country Roads

In this area, we are fortunate to have a lovely community magazine called Findlay NOW. Published monthly, it highlights people, places and things that make our little slice of northwest Ohio special. I commend the Miller family and the publication staff for this little gem.

But there's a caveat to even the most glowing reviews (isn't there always?). I found a recent article in praise of flat land to be highly disparaging to my former home, West Virginia. Perhaps Mr. Boroff wrote his missive with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, or maybe he was serious. Whatever the true tenor of his writing, I still take exception to it.

First, he claims to have acquired native colloquialisms during his time spent in West Virginia. During the 50-plus years I lived in southeastern Ohio and West Virginia, I never once heard locals use the terms ole' Mississip and hornswoggled. Yes, we say "crick", drop our "G"s, and turn "I" into the longest vowel in the alphabet. But West Virginians do not use terms straight out of a Gabby Hayes western. We are NOT, Mr. Boroff, a entire state of Jessco Whites.

Next, he attacks our beautiful and ancient Appalachian Mountains. Breath-taking? Yes! Awe-inspiring? Yes! But, as a transplanted Mountaineer, I was just as awe-struck the first time I saw Lake Erie waves breaking on Marblehead. Every place has its merits -- scenery to take away your breath and make you say "Wow". Perhaps some people are simply more vocal about West Virginia's mountainous scenery than they are about the amber waves of grain in northwest Ohio. It's all still beautiful.

You mention the impracticalities of mountainous landscape. Driving poses no obstacle. Nor does building construction or a quick game of driveway basketball. You see, we adapt, making the most of what nature handed us. Don't believe me? Come ride with me on the curviest road we can find. I'll teach you how to straighten the curves while staying on the road.

Yes, we can expand our definition of scenic and scenery. I find the local fields of winter wheat at harvest time as beautiful as fall foliage in the Mid-Ohio Valley, a summer storm on Lake Erie akin to winter snows on Seneca Rocks, and the winds of northwest Ohio as forceful as those of Dolly Sods.

Yes, flat lands are remarkable and lovely in their own way. Except perhaps Kansas or the Bonneville Salt Flats. Having been across both in my childhood, I found them to be mind-numbingly dull and boring. At least the Salt Flats have land speed record trials to enhance their appeal. Kansas has . . . well let's just say, Dorothy can keep it.

In an effort to promote the positive values of northwest Ohio, please don't denegrate an area well-known for its beauty. Just be a better promoter of what we have here -- where I choose to live -- in northwest Ohio.