tl : prologue

I was born and raised in a small town in upstate New York. I mean the real upstate New York, as in much further north than Yonkers, Rockland and Westchester counties.

If you are not from upstate New York, or indeed from the North East, you may be under the impression that all of New York is just a giant suburb of The City. I had a friend in college (also in upstate New York) who came from Southern California. She figured going to college in upstate New York meant weekend trips into The City, catching a Broadway show once a month. She had no idea that it would take as long to drive from our school to New York City as it would take to fly to New York City from L.A.

Upstate New York is nothing like New York City, my friends. In fact there are parts of New York State that just might be the most redneck towns north of the Mason Dixon line.

This is where I grew up. A small redneck town in the foothills of the Adirondacks. I found more solace in the trees and rivers than most of people I went to school with.