Buffalo Chips, cont'dAnd how does that relate to Buffalo? Before I answer that question,
let me clarify that I am not equating the Jewish experience as
quantitatively equal to the experience of being Buffalonain (or
"Buffalo-ish" as I said in BRO) but I am saying it is qualitatively
equivalent. In other words it is a similar experience in all the basic
dynamics, there are numerous parallels, etc. Nothing compares to the
Holocost and I'm not suggesting we take the analogy to that level. But
it is a valid analogy for all the reasons stated. And now the answer to
the how question.
Like Israel, Buffalo was established in a
very rich, fruitful, but often contentious piece of geography. The area
was settled by various foreigners who found themselves melded, over the
years, into an identity that was stronger for what they had in common
locally than for what separated them in their heritage, although
heritage still mattered. You could say the Twelve Tribes of Israel are
a metaphor for the tribes of Europeans and Africans who settled here
and comprised the various ethnic cultural threads in Buffalo's
population. The tribes were distinctive and ongoing, however the common
Buffalo identity was eventually stronger and more pronounced. Like
Israel we had our golden era. Like Israel it didn't last long, which
was followed by an era of decline and decay (Rustbelt,
post-industrial). Like Israel we Buffalonians are proud of who we are,
the place we have in common, and the rituals and culture we have
created together. Like Israel we find ourselves always misunderstood,
subject to derision by much of the rest of the world because of where
we come from and becasue of stereotypes about our place and our culture
that are gross distortions of the truth. Like Israel we depend on
waging war to assert our strength, our worth, or just to protect our
honor and our way of life. In our case, that "battle" is some type of
athletic contest, mostly on the professional level, and primarily major
league. Our wandering in the wilderness could be described as the years
between the departure of the AAA Bisons and the arrival of the NBA and
NHL. In that sense you could call Paul Snyder and Seymour Knox our
Moses. And Ralph Wilson, of course, espeically in the sense that the
success of the Bills played a major role in attracting the Braves and
Sabres.
A sub-criticism of the article (which was actually
shorter than this rebuttal) was that too much was made of sports, our
obsession with it, and its purported salvific role in our collective
and individual lives. I beg to differ. From a sociological perspective,
Buffalo has used its sports to make its case to the rest of the world
that we are not their stereotypes and we are not loser-hicks, we are as
good as or better than any other city in America. Our athletes do
battle on our behalf, not only as soldiers but more significantly and
importantly as priests, acting and re-enacting the drama of
deliverance. If they win, they part the Red Sea for us (or at least the
Niagara River). If they lose, we grumble and complain like the
ungrateful Israelites wandering in the desert, wondering if they'd be
better off back in Egypt.
The final facet of the Jewish
metaphor is that of the Diaspora. Despite their return to the Holy
Land, more Jews live outside of their country than inside of it. They
have been scattered across the earth for very practical reasons, not
least of all safety and security. In the same way, there are more
ex-Buffalonians, more ExPat's than residents in the Niagara Frontier.
And although those who never left or left briefly and returned cannot
understand or appreciate the indelible pull that Buffalo has on its
Diaspora, those of us who are ExPat's know exactly what I'm talking
about. Our identity is forever linked to Buffalo. Our hearts forever
long for Buffalo. Even as we may be happier or more prosperous because
we left than we could have been had we stayed (and some, no doubt will
take offense to this comment) we still feel incomplete for not being
there. It is truly a Jewish-ish experience.
Now to address the
second issue: the weather. Buffalonians who haven't left are very
defensive about the weather. This is understandable. Buffalo's worst
sterotypes are related to snow and winter while the world is basically
ignorant of our three delightful seasons. Still-- and this is not just
me because I'm always talking to ExPat's about this-- the winters can
take so much out of you, it puts a damper on summer and certainly fall.
The worst thing-- perhaps the only bad thing about fall in Western New
York is the knowledge that winter is not far behind. It's like young
love. By the time you realize you're really in love, feel the ecstasy
of that realization, you almost immediately start dreading the breakup
which you know is only a matter of days or weeks at best.
Now...
the caveat: Those who don't have to go anywhere, or who have 4x4's and
snowmobiles, can and often do enjoy the winter. Winter can certainly be
beautiful in Buffalo. And it can also be cold white hell. Again, if you
don't have to go anywhere or you have the means to get around in
blizzard conditions, more power to you. It's a like a snow-day from
school for a lifetime. But those of us who have to travel extensively
by car and frequently by air are constantly under stress worrying about
flights being cancelled, roads being closed, billable hours lost,
opportunities extinguished. Those who are restless, who have
wanderlust, who suffer a form of claustrophobia if we can't move about
freely and at maximum speed at will, just can't take the snow. The
cold? Cold schmold! The wind? Bring it on! But the snow-- the snow is
the great demoralizer. And the gray days. I never noticed it until I
left Buffalo, but now, if I don't see the sun at least a couple of
times in a week, I'm ready to kill myself.
So let it be clear!
I'm not saying Chicago has better weather than Buffalo. Three seasons
out of four, Buffalo is much better. But in the winter time, as I said
in the article, Buffalo is on the wrong side of the Lake, and Chicago
the right side. The difference: about 50-80 inches of snow. The real
diffrence: much better mobility. Much less stress. Hopefully I have
explained myself, though perhaps not to the satisfaction of the
snow-masochists who reacted to my original comments.
And this
is especially for some Buffalo blogger named "Paul," I did not move to
Chicago to get away from Buffalo winters. I first moved to Pulaski NY
on the wrong side of Lake Ontario (which unlike Erie,
never
freezes) for purposes of employment and discovered that there is at
least one place on Earth that gets more snow than Buffalo. Twice as
much. Two hundred twenty inches per year. Four to five foot dumps
overnight. You wake up and need heavy construction equipment to tunnel
out of your front door. School isn't canceled on a day like that, just
delayed two hours so the monster trucks can clear the roads. So it is
with that post-Buffalo double down on the snow experience that I
express my reticence to live in Buffalo full time, at least in the
winter. But no, I didn't leave Buffalo for Chicago. I left Pulaski for
Santa Fe, and from there, ended up in Chicago, which with the memory of
Pulaski still fresh in my PTSD, seemed significantly better than Buffalo during the season that mattered the most to sanity and mobility.
Even still--
would I move back if I
could?
Even despite the snow? Probably so, were it up to me. But it isn't. I
have a daughter who's a Chicago native and deserves to live in the
place that has always been home to her, until she leaves for college. I
have a wife who was uprooted from Cuba at my daughter's age, and forty
years later still hasn't gotten over it, so I owe some her some stability, as well. Now, when my daughter goes off to college, all bets are off.
(Who knows, maybe she'll go to Niagara or Canisius!) Then its my turn. Buffalo, beware!
-jwh-