Sunday, August 14, 2005

This week's column:
In N.Y., no west for the weary

Living so close to Boston, I can't help but feel connected to the early history of our country. Bostonians are acutely aware of the path our Founding Fathers took toward independence, primarily because it's conveniently painted red so you can find it again if you take a detour to ride on the Duck Boats.

But one era I don't feel in touch with is the Old West - this despite the fact that my daughter's new idol is none other than Charles "Pa" Ingalls of "Little House on the Prairie." (Whom I recently discovered took his family to the Kansas prairie to escape the hustle-bustle of ... Wisconsin? That Pa really must have had a really low threshold for hustle-bustle.)

So with Pa as inspiration, last week I took my family and headed west. To New York.

To read the rest of this week's AT LARGE by Peter Chianca, click here.

3 comments:

Suzie said...

You were right on target...
I've found that the further away from the south you are, the worse the imitation of the south becomes. I have also found that in some cases, the closer the southern imitation becomes, the more scary it is.

The moral of my short story: Sometimes a distant look from a safe place is better.

mrs. awesome said...

being from kansas, let me field this one for you.

much of kansas (barring kansas city) is STILL the old west. you can do things like see the world's largest ball of twine, the world's largest groundhog, and smell the sweet scent of cow dung if the wind blows the right way.

although i love kansas city, and i went to college at ksu, i think you made the right choice there, pa. have fun in new york. :)

and, have you ever seen the real photos of laura ingalls wilder and almanzo? that was one of the great disappointments of my young life. they were UGLY. not like melissa gilbert and what's his name.

praynlady said...

Peter, Yall need to come on down and visit us here in Texas. Doesn't get any bigger or better than this! Sad that going to New York is taking your kids "south" haha Come on down anytime!