(Written 03 February 1999.Published in the Neighborhood
Journal.Posted
19 June 2009.)
There are some cities that just
intrigue me.I am intrigued to the
extent that someday I know I just have to go there just to see what they are
like and to say that I have been there.
Of late, for example, is Cincinnati.No, I am not a big Reds fan, and I never did
care much for Pete Rose.It's not the
Bengals--they are perennial stinkers.I
know that Cincinnati
is the home of Procter & Gamble, but I don't really have an interest in how
they make household products.As far as
I know, Cincinnati's
other claim to fame is that it is the home of the Kroger Company, but I am not
really "in" to groceries, except of course, to eat.What it is, quite frankly, is that Cincinnati has a cool
name.I mean, the first three letters
repeat themselves---pretty cool, if you ask me.
There are other cities with
similar cool names.Take for instance Albuquerque--what other
city do you know of that has two Q's?Or three U's?Then
there is Walla Walla,
Washington, a city whose name was
a running gag on "Looney Tunes"!
To me, a locale's name is what
makes it special and unique.It elicits
a visual image in the mind.What kind of
visual image do you get when I say, "Springfield"?Probably not much of one.After all, there are
something like a zillion Springfields, so the mere
mention of "Springfield"
brings up the inevitable, "Where?"I speak from experience on this, as I have lived in two Springfields--Missouri and
Illinois.I lived in the Missouri
one when I was still single and in college, and I lived in the Illinois version some
four years later after there was a Mrs. Schrader.An Olympiad and a change in marital status
didn't help the confusion, though--folks never could get it right that even
though the city stayed the same, the state changed.To some, Springfield,
Missouri, and Springfield, Illinois,
were one in the same.
Washington is another one that causes quite
a bit of confusion.Just about every
state has a place called Washington and a county called Washington.Washington, Missouri,
for example, is not in WashingtonCounty.Washington, Arkansas, is not anywhere near Washington County, Arkansas.Same with WashingtonCity
and Washington County, Illinois.To really make matters confusing, our
nation's capital is Washington,
and so is one of our states.When you
say you are going to Washington,
people want to know, "Which one?D.C. or state?"Which, of course, gets me to pondering why they named a state with
the exact same name as a "somewhat important" city.Don't you think they could have been a little
more original?Even "American
Columbia" would have been more original and less confusing.
In Arkansas, place names are a mixed bag.We have our Fayettevilles
and Newports and Jacksonvilles.We have many cities that are mere directions
of others, such as North Little Rock, West Memphis, and West Helena.But, we also have those that are uniquely Arkansas, places such as
Oil Trough, Possum Grape, and my favorite, Arkadelphia.(I like to tell the gullible that it was
settled by refugees from Philadelphia).
There is one place that has been
an obsession of mine for the past ten years--Boise, Idaho.Mrs. Schrader thinks it is because of the way
it sounds--"Boy-Zee".Kind of
sounds like some new rap group or something.I think it is because it is about the only place I, or anyone else for
that matter, know of in Idaho.Idaho,
to me, is like the state that no one thinks about--except when they are eating
a baked potato.When you think of Idaho, you think of
potatoes.Maybe deep down I visualize a city
built of potatoes or something--who knows.I guess I am doomed to have Boise
on the brain. (Sounds like some kind of disease, doesn't it?)Or am I?
"Honey--you really like
potatoes, don't you?You do!Good!We're going to Idaho!"
