Snow Day, March 15, 2017

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By on March 21, 2017

There’s something totally relaxing about sitting in the comfort of your warm home while Mother Nature unleashes her winter fury all around you. Why does it relax me so? It’s not because I’m taking the day off from work. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I can work anywhere, anytime, 24/7 (as long as the electricity is working, but that concern was so last week for most people and so two weeks ago for me, but more on that later…). It’s not just because I can rest easy, knowing my family is safe with me (or safe wherever they are).

That’s all true, but there’s something else that relaxes me. It’s knowing that I’m sharing a common experience with everyone else in our broader community. There’s something to be said about this collective involvement. When a snow storm beyond a certain magnitude strikes, everyone stops. Well, they stop once they’re finished raiding the local grocery store for such essentials as milk, bread, and (fill-in-the-blank-with-your-favorite-non-nutritional-snack). Once prepared, we all head home and wait.

Admit it, are you like me? Do you agonize in anticipation waiting for that first flurry? Do you Continue Reading “Snow Day, March 15, 2017”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged , , , , ,

Cuomo’s “Free” Tuition Plan Reveals His Techno-Ignorance

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By on January 14, 2017

And away we go… Even before Donald Trump’s Inauguration, the 2020 presidential race has begun.

During last year’s presidential primary sweepstakes, the ever plucky Bernie Sanders (can you call a septuagenarian “plucky?) infamously declared he would abolish all college tuition. Plenty practical folks brushed this Marxist rhetoric aside, but those were the adults in the room. The kids ate it up. (And I wouldn’t doubt the idea appealed to a few of their parents, especially after seeing the burden of the obnoxious levels of debt modern college attendance can require.) Still, no one considered this a serious policy. For any number of reasons, common Continue Reading “Cuomo’s “Free” Tuition Plan Reveals His Techno-Ignorance”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged , , , , , ,

When Should Greater Western New York Declare its Independence from Albany?

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By on July 5, 2016

DCF 1.0As many of you already know, I’ve been writing weekly and monthly columns for national publications for almost seven years now. One of the perks of serving as a countrywide reporter includes access to a coast-to-coast network of sources. I usually stick to my standard beat when sourcing questions. Every once in a while, however, I stray from that path and have a little fun.

Another thing you probably know about me is that I am a life-long booster of the Greater Western New York region. It’s one of the reasons I started a mutual fund called the “Greater Western New York Series.” It was one small way I could help promote the region. Once we started the fund I learned this: There are many more people who are Continue Reading “When Should Greater Western New York Declare its Independence from Albany?”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind

Western New York a State? Why Not?

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By on October 14, 2015

Author of 50 Hidden Gems of Greater Western New York to speak at Arcade Free Library

Why did Vermont split from New York State following the Revolutionary War but why didn’t Western New York do the same thing? On Saturday, October 17th at 11am, Posterthe Arcade Free Library will host a talk by Christopher Carosa, author of 50 Hidden Gems of Greater Western New York. Mr. Carosa will share the results of his research on this topic and other related fun facts and trivia concerning our wonderful region. “Western New York a State? Why Not”

Several weeks ago a group of Upstate New Yorkers met outside of Binghamton to discuss the idea of Upstate becoming its own state (they want to call it “New Amsterdam”). These New Yorkers are following in the footsteps of people in California and Colorado, who are also exploring how they could duplicate what West Virginia did and form their own state. Among the questions Mr. Carosa will answer includes:Continue Reading “Western New York a State? Why Not?”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged ,

The Heart of America Rests Peacefully Within the Heart of Greater Western New York

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By on July 1, 2015

(The following is an excerpt from the chapter “We’re Baaack”
in my 2012 book 50 Hidden Gems of Greater Western New York.)

The muddy road seemed to hardly merit the official route number New York State had assigned it. A “repaving” project had caused the traffic jam, and presumably most of the IMG_9916_daniel_shaysmud. The rain had stopped when we begin to climb the small slope that would lead us to Union Cemetery. Union Cemetery is closed to new burials now, but the grave I’m looking for is from 1825.

We pull into the gravel road that circles through the interior of the cemetery. I’m not sure where the grave is. My research indicates there’s a marker. I’m thinking it marks the actual grave. I see a marker by the roadside at the edge of the cemetery. Turning into the graveyard, I assume that’s where the grave is, but as I drive up the moist lane, I notice yet another sign – Continue Reading “The Heart of America Rests Peacefully Within the Heart of Greater Western New York”

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Wisconsin Wins This One

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By on June 14, 2015

If you’re so inclined to take a stroll through Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo and you happen to find yourself by Mirror Lake, look around at the tombstones. If you’re lucky (it ought to be easy to find, it’s the only one IMG_8669with the huge flagpole), you’ll find one that reads:

Sara M. Hinson
Dedicated Teacher
Who with Others
Gave Us Flag Day
1841 – 1926

On February 25, 1841, George Hinson’s wife gave birth to a baby girl. The parents named her Sara. Sara Hinson would go through the Buffalo School System before being sent to finishing school. Upon completion of her education, she began teaching at Buffalo PS 13 before being moved to School #4. In 1864, as the Civil War was ending, Hinson was 23 and she transferred to School #31, where she taught the fourth grade for thirty years before spending the next twenty as principal.

Hinson is credited with being one of the first to advocate the celebration of Flag Day. Although Continue Reading “Wisconsin Wins This One”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Christmas Carol

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By on December 21, 2013

King_of_Diamonds_stock_xchng_royalty_free-1“Sett’ e mezz’!” roared my grandfather as he rose from his seat. He towered over my meek ten-year old body like a grizzly bear rearing above its prey.

I saw hunger in his ferocious eyes. But I wasn’t afraid. I knew the next lesson was about to begin.

“Sam!” yelled my grandmother, instinctively and in that terse disapproving way it seemed she could summon up from nowhere. Immediately the aggressiveness vanished from my grandfather’s countenance and he obediently shrank back into his chair.

“What do you want me to do, Flo? Those are the rules,” he said, timidly trying to justify his actions. Sensing his own reticence, he tried to counter it by continuing with a voice rising in intensity and ending with a tone of self-assured purpose. “He dealt me the King of Diamonds. The rule is you have to let the dealer know as soon as you get it. You’re supposed to shout ‘Sette e la mezza,’ too. Do you expect me to treat him any different than anyone else? Sooner or later he’s gonna go out in the real world. You think they’re gonna treat him nice? No. Look at him. If he doesn’t toughen up, they’re gonna eat him alive.”

Continue Reading “A Christmas Carol”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged , , , , , , ,

Life is a (Small Town) Carnival

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By on May 30, 2013

Like any kid growing up in the snowbelt otherwise known as Blasdell, I looked forward to three things each summer. The beginning of summer would signal going to IMG_0016_Mendon_Carnival_Twilight_300Fantasy Island to celebrate a good report card, ride the steamboat and watch the live shootouts. The end of summer meant going to the Erie County Fair to see the vast array of other-worldly side shows on the Midway, the acrid smell of burnt oil and rubber at the demolition derby and the taste of my grandfather’s sumptuous pizza. Sandwiched in between, both chronologically and geographically was the Big Tree Fireman’s Carnival. I think it was actually called the Big Tree Firemen’s Annual Field Days. But for kids (and headline writers short on space) it was the Big Tree Carnival.

Here’s the real difference between Fantasy Island, the Erie County Fair and the Big Tree Continue Reading “Life is a (Small Town) Carnival”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Civil War Memorial

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By on May 23, 2013

America’s Civil War left nearly a million casualties and a national wound that would take generations to heal. Heal it did and the process began almost immediately. IMG_8721_Memorial_Day_Museum_300While a small hamlet in Greater Western New York was busy forgetting its recent past, another of our villages became the first to keep from forgetting. If we travel east of Town Line on Route 20, we pass through the heart of our region. Just past Geneva and before we reach Seneca Falls, we come to the not-so-small Village of Waterloo in Seneca County. Waterloo’s a big village, reaching into three towns – Waterloo, Seneca and Fayette.

When the Union veterans began returning to Waterloo, a forty-five year old druggist took note. He noted how the residents greeted all those who returned with honors and celebrations. What bothered him, though, were the ones that didn’t return. Who would honor their memories? Perhaps he was compelled by his own personal experience. He Continue Reading “A Civil War Memorial”

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I’ll Have One for the Road and Two for the Sea

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By on May 7, 2013

And let me the canakin clink, clink,
And let me the canakin clink.
A soldier’s a man;
A life’s but a span;
Why, then, let a soldier drink.
– Othello

The reason James Fenimore Cooper strode into Hustler’s Tavern has disappeared into the hazy mists of history. By 1821, his life had been less than pristine. Kicked out of
IMG_3230_violin_cocktail_300
Yale after three years as a trouble-maker (he blew up a classmate’s door), the son of a (probably embarrassed) Congressman who founded the City of Cooperstown did what any other lost teenager trying to find himself did in the early eighteenth century – he joined the Merchant Marine.1

Perhaps he remembered his earlier, albeit brief, stay in the Niagara Frontier just before the War of 1812.2 Serving mostly overseas, he saw some of his best crewmates taken from their ships and forced to serve aboard British warships against Napoleonic France. Like the rest of America, he detested Continue Reading “I’ll Have One for the Road and Two for the Sea”

Posted in Western New York State of Mind Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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