On the Road: Pittsburgh
So we’re in Pittsburgh, where half the highways are closed for construction, but the city is beautiful and peaceful, plus we did a great booksigning at Mystery Lovers (there is no other kind of signing at Mystery Lovers) and then Richard and Mary Alice and Kathy took us out to a great dinner where Bob said, “I’ll have what she’s having” which, as Mary Alice said, proves we’ve been together too long. So Pittsburgh has been absolutely lovely except for the small argument Bob and I had walking back to the hotel where I said Pittsburgh was in the Midwest and he said it couldn’t be in the Midwest because it was east of the Mississippi, and I said that most of the Midwest was east of the Mississippi, and he said, “Well, then what’s the Midwest west of?” and I said, “The Hudson River,” and it all went downhill from there.
Well, we’re tired. Bob had to get up at four and I didn’t sleep at all because I always worry about missing planes when they’re in the morning since I usually sleep until ten or eleven, so I end up staring at the ceiling thinking, “Don’t oversleep, don’t oversleep,” which ends up with me not sleeping at all, and yes I have an alarm clock but I don’t trust it, which I explained to Bob which is when he snorted in scorn, and I got off the elevator and said, “Scorn, that’s what I need more of,” and the elevator doors closed and we called it a day.
But the signing was fun, as it always is with Mary Alice and Richard, and we met lovely people (Hello, Sarah) and got to see old pals (hello, Kathy and Nancy) and then they asked us to sign the bathroom wall because that’s what you do at Mystery Lovers except Bob’s name was already in there and mine wasn’t. Hmmmm. So I wrote “For a good time call” over Bob’s name and then wrote something sweet and touching over my name and I felt my work was done. And that was even before the geography incident.
We’re living the dream in Pittsburgh. And now it’s 8:30 and I’m going to bed because tomorrow is Chicago. Which is in the Midwest, and I don’t want to hear any garbage about the Mississippi River from a guy born east of the Hudson. I’m a Midwesterner. I know the Midwest, Bronx Boy. Although he does like the purse I bought in Little Tokyo which is black and white stripes appliqued with a skull with a bow on it, so clearly he learning to Appreciate Accessories which I feel is a step in the right direction. The right direction being toward the Midwest.
Four more days. I think we can make it without killing each other, depending on how fast he drops his obsession with geography.
At least you do not consider Pittsburg to be ‘on the East coast’. Or ‘back East’. As a Rhode Islander now living in the Midwest West of the Mississippi that bugs me.
The Hudson River? Jenny, babe, you know I hate to disagree with you, really I do, but Pittsburgh is not in the Midwest. Pittsburgh is smack dab in the middle of the Eastern time zone. In a state that borders on the freakin’ Atlantic Ocean. Well, it would if New Jersey would get out of the way. It is not a part of the Midwest. Neither is Ohio. Not sure where Ohio is, exactly, though I think it might be close by. Somewhere.
Take it from someone who really did grow up in the Midwest, in Minneapolis, in the Central time zone — you know, midway to the West? Here, look at a map:
http://www.hudsonmap.com/pages/upper_mw.html
But Bob is wrong too. Chicago is absolutely part of the Midwest, though mostly they’d rather not be.
The Mississippi has nothing to do with it. Unless you’re from the Bronx, in which case you probably think Minneapolis is in Michigan.
Go back to sleep. You’re going to need your rest.
There’s a skull on it, of course he appreciates it. Plus, it is an awesome bag.
From the Wikipedia:
and
Pittsburgh is in the far western part of PA.
Uh, time zone doesn’t determine whether or not you’re in the Midwest, either, as Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana are all in the Midwest *and* on Eastern time. I was born in Iowa, spent my younger years in Kansas, then grew up and went to college in Michigan. I now live in Minneapolis. All of those are in the Midwest, but time zone varies. For awhile, my mom lived in Indiana and her time zone varied by the season (1/2 the state went on daylight savings time and 1/2 didn’t).
Pennsylvania is in the “Northeast” region of the U.S. One of the Middle Atlantic states.
Yeah, I’ve heard just about anyone can write entries in Wikipedia. I think it’s a conspiracy. Conceived by Ohioans and perpetrated by Pittsburghians.
Good thing we Midwesterners are so darn nice and will welcome everyone who shows up at the door. Even if they’re geographically challenged. The entertaiment value makes it easier to survive winter. So I’ve been told.
So, I’ve been trying to post and I all my comments disappear. I hope they don’t just show up all at once and then I look like an idiot. Sigh, like that’s never happened before.
Okay - Pittsburg is directly below Buffalo, NY. Buffalo is Western, NY, but it’s not the mid-west. So, I just don’t see how Pittsburg and be the mid-west. But what do I know. Not much.
Philadelphia is in the Northeast. Pittsburg is in the Midwest.
Trust me, Ohio is not in the Northeast. Every definition I found on the net included Ohio (but not PA), but this is the one I liked the best:
Count me on Jenny’s side in the Geography Bee. I have been to Pittsburgh PA many times, and I am not going to be the one to tell them that they are not in the MIDWEST. And I am going to give you all the 3 rivers quiz that only we MIDWEST people have to learn.
Since Jenny and I both live in Ohio, (yes by choice), and The Today Show left NY(which is somewhere OUT EAST) and came to the MIDWEST to show the flooding, I do not see how we can be so callously flung out of our own region.
Now Kansas and Iowa, those are the Plains states.
(As long as he and she, him and her, find Cincinnati and Dayton, you all can call it outer Siberia.) But, you would be wrong.
They’re right up to a point– having grown up in SE Wisconsin, I have a hard time accepting that the Dakotas count as Midwest, f’rinstance– but the Eastern boundary of the Midwest is actually the best established one, because Ohio was the easternmost point in the old Northwest Territory. Just to make things more confusing, I would suggest that Pittsburgh feels Midwestern because it’s part of the Rust Belt, which also includes most of the cities in the eastern half of the Midwest, but from what I’ve seen the surrounding regions aren’t Midwest; SW Pennsylvania might actually be part of Appalachia.
I must have a psychological block against Pennsylvania being part of the Midwest. It just doesn’t feel right to me, I don’t care how far west Pittsburgh is. Maybe because it was one of the first states in the union. It’s been around so long. I think of the Midwest as Pioneer Land, not Colonial America land. A former colony doesn’t feel like “Midwest” to me. Also, the kids from Pittsburgh who lived in my dorm at the Univ of Mich did not come across as Midwesterners to me. Maybe that had more to do with them paying out-of-state tuition rates than anything else. Well, that and worshiping Bruce Springsteen, who I had never heard of until they pointed their stereo speakers out their dorm windows. We were all about REO Speedwagon and Ted Nugent and Bob Seger.
Huh. Who would have thought that rock bands would be a defining element of geographic region?
(-: I’m from Nebraska, and I have to vote with Bob. I have a hard time accepting that *Ohio* is part of the mid-West. And Minneapolis? Well, they like to *think* they are mid-West, but I know better. The mid-west is South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. OK, and I’ll allow Iowa. Possibly Oklahoma, but not Missouri. Everything else is East, North, South or West.
Although, if they served you Jello-salad in Pittsburgh, and the waitress told you about her bunions, I’ll allow it as an Honorary Mid-West. I think it’s really part of the Industrial Belt or Steel Belt or something.
(OK, maybe it could be both. MidWest is largely a state of mind.)
OT
Bob Seger- 3rd row- on the aisle, Senior Year at Bowling Green State University. Opening for him was a little known MIDWESTERN band called “Foreigner”.
OK. I know where I was. EAST of Pittsburg in a cute little town. Thanks Jenny for a lovely signing. I’d thank Bob here too, but I’m quite sure he isn’t reading. If he IS, he isn’t responding, which is the same thing, really.
I say that western NY and western PA are in the “Great Lakes region” … which is easy to identify on a map because the Great Lakes are usually large and blue. Midwest and Northeast and Middle Atlantic just don’t fit.
Jenny says that Andrew Cayton says: “At the very least, the Midwest is what people say it is, that is, what they perceive it to be. . .” A mushy anti-region? I guess that explains all the gravy. And jello.
I am reminded of a quote from another famous scholar: “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
Glad we cleared that up.
And so happy that you’re apparently feeling better, Jenny, and up to doing some late night research on weighty topics.
Geez, Corinne, if Ohio is part of the Northwest [territory] then I’m really confused.
Yes, BCB, more so than usual.
From the Left Coast perspective, anything past Colorado is Back East. The Mississippi river is right next to the Hudson, isn’t it? Well, relative to the Columbia it is.
Aw, she thinks I’m lovely! Way to create a fangirl-for-life
You were both lovely and gracious yourselves. Thanks so much for coming to town. As I said, I really enjoyed Agnes; you and Bob are sounding great together.
On the Great Question of Geography: bear in mind that Pittsburgh is also on the border of Appalachia. That explains a lot. As does the saying, “Pennsylvania is two major cities with Alabama in between.”
my dad said he lived in the midwest all his life till we moved to California, he was born in Wimber Pa, and i was born in Detroit Mi, where he had moved his family after being in one coal mining cave in with his dad. he saw little future in that.
said he liked ca better. no coal mines to work. but he missed the midwest seasons.
(-: Mid-West seasons? What, temperate, Broiling, freezing and TORNADAH WITH A SIDE DRESSIN’ OF HAIL? All in the same day?
Sigh. To tell you the truth, I miss it too. No place does thunderstorms like the mid-West. Fourth of July and a cold shower, all rolled into one.
I’m gonna go fix me some carrot and lemon jello — sure cure for homesickness.
For some reason I read it like this.
“I think we can make it without killing each other, depending on how fast he drops.”
I miss Pittsburgh. Sigh. I would so loved to have been able to go to Mystery Lovers, and buy Agnes, and meet Jenny and Bob, like last year. Sigh.
I like the last definition Jenny found for the midwest. Really, if you go by a map look, Ohio just sticks out and doesn’t fit anywhere. In my experience, people from the east coast tend to think Ohio is someplace out west, and folks from the west tend to think Ohio is on the east coast.
As someone who’s lived in both NE Ohio and western PA, these two areas are pretty darn similar. Right down to the rust in the belt.
Pittsburgh ISN’T back east? Oh.
Late to the party … but, I have to side on the not in the Midwest portion of the argument, Pittsburgh is not in the Midwest. I lived there most of my life and never considered myself a midwesterner. (Sigh, not that there is anything wrong with that.)
Actually, I’ve lived in Ohio for several years now and really never considered Cleveland midwest either. Pittsburgh and Cleveland are very similar cities except for their sports teams. And I won’t go there.
Philadelphia? Seriously east.
Oooh, I forgot.
It is always construction season in Pittsburgh, especially when you are traveling on the parkway or on 28 - you can not escape.
At least you were near a good bakery in Oakmont. It would have been better than the snickers bar.
Midwest — Jenny is RIGHT! I read once that it seemed wacky because it was so named before the rest of the West, as in the West Coast and points East were not part of the country. The Mississippi was about it. Basically we have the East Coast and the West Coast, a leetle bit of strictly West, like Texas, for example, and everything else is either South or Midwest. Heh. Is it any wonder visitors to our fair shores get confused? Anyway, Ohio is definitely Midwest, as is Chicago. Pittsburgh, I dunno. Pretty East Coast to me, at least in mindset. But otherwise, I’m with the Cherry.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one who obssesses about getting up earlier than usual for an appointment (or a flight), to the point where they don’t sleep at all. And, no, you cannot trust those alarm clocks. Twenty-four hour? Twelve? Too many choices when you’re trying to set the dang time. And still…what if there was a power failure?
And if I’m repeating a dozen other commenters, sorry, but I haven’t read them yet. ;+)
QUESTION FOR JENNY — how are those coupons going to work with the CBs who are buying books for those of us who can’t be at the signings? Will they be able to buy several on one coupon? Should they print multiple copies???
micki said…
No place does thunderstorms like the mid-West. Fourth of July and a cold shower, all rolled into one.
You have to visit Tucson during the monsoon, about the same time you guys are having your thunderstorms, apparently. Yikes. One whole night, no one got any sleep because the storm just hung over town and crashed and flashed, like trying to sleep in the middle of the clash of the Titans. Did you get that??? Crash, flash, clash??? Alliteration AND Rule of three. Go me!
I worked at the University Med School, and they even cancelled a lot of surgeries the next day, rather than have docs operating on NO SLEEP! I guess they don’t call it monsoon where you are?
(-: Well, actually, they call it a typhoon where I am, but typhoons are all audio, not much video, in my experience (I’m in northern Japan right now, so they tend to lose steam by the time they get up here). Some thunder, but not really any GIANT streaks of lightening from heaven to earth, splitting the sky like a river, leaving you blinded until the grumble of thunder rocks you to sleep.
Which is what they have in Nebraska, where I was. But thunderstorms aren’t usually all-night jobbies — they blow up quick, they wind down quick too.
(-:Tuscon in a monsoon! Sounds like fun if you are on high ground. (-: I have such a weird sense of fun. As long as there’s no hail, I love the pyrotechnics of a good thunderstorm, and the coolness that comes after it.
They have a couple of main streets in different directions built way up in the middle and way low on the edges, so the water can run off into the desert. When I first moved there I couldn’t figure out why the danged curbs on some streets were nearly 18″ high. First big rainstorm, and I knew. Typhoons always sounded so cool to me. I guess we’re both warped. ;+)