Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Love Note #9: I want to thank you for being my happy place

Name: Mary Staropoli
I am:  Mother of two beautiful daughters (9 & 6 yrs old), wife of a pretty awesome husband, member of a kick-ass family, neighborhood and city enthusiast, non-profit administrative professional (currently working for Rochester Downtown Development Corporation)
Years in rochester:  18 childhood years + 11 adulthood years = 29 years
Current home:  Highland Park neighborhood

Dear Rochester,

I write this love note sitting on a bench in Highland Park, my happy place. In fact, this whole city is my happy place. But I haven't always thought of you this way. I’m a Rochester native, born and raised here. I was the product of a self-doubting city (did they teach it in school?), and when I left for college, I was one of those people who said, "I'll never come back here." Rochester was for losers. I was going out into the big wide world and was going to stay there, thank you very much. I stayed away summers, and didn't spend more than a few nights back home over school breaks. I spent about 10 yrs living in the fine city of Boston, a place with a constant hum, with national sports teams, with shopping and culture galore. But it was a lonely place, full of transients, and community was hard to come by. I didn't know my neighbors and they didn't know me. When I went to the grocery store, the chances of running into a familiar face were slim to none. I was anonymous, disconnected. The decision to return to Rochester (dragging along my Boston native husband) was mainly due to my large and loving family calling me, and because it was a place we could afford to buy a nice house where we would start a family.

Returning as an adult, I began to see Rochester through a different lens, and what I saw was...
 -A town full of neighborhoods like mine (Highland Park) where people are connected to each other, and passionate about where they live
 -A town small enough to see people you know everywhere you go (and have fun figuring out your degrees of separation), but big enough that you will always keep meeting new and interesting people
 -A town that's "Big enough to get Springsteen. Small enough to get tickets.*"
 -A town with more festivals and culture than I could ever take in
 -A town where I can take my kids to a great ballpark without breaking the bank
 -A town with beautiful parks to enjoy, and in short driving distance to gorgeous natural sights and places to visit
 -A town with short commutes, where everything I need is in a 5-10 minute radius, so I get to spend my time doing things I care to do
 -A town with four unique seasons, where I've learned to embrace the beauty and fun of winter
I could go on.

Over the years I developed first a defensiveness, then an outright pride in my hometown. In fact, put me on a plane seated next to a stranger and I'm a traveling promotional advertisement for the place.

So I'm writing to say that I'm sorry I ever wrote you off, Rochester. You're one cool chick. And I want to thank you for being my happy place.

Love,

Mary
*Taken from a VisitRochester promo ad

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Love Note #8: I have left you but I'll always love you.

Name: Evan Lowenstein

I am: Dad, husband, from Painted Post in the Southern Tier, eternally awestruck by nature and humanity and committed to preserving both"

Years in Rochester: 1999-2013

Current Home: Charlottesville, Virginia


Dear Rochester, 

I have left you but I'll always love you. 

I will miss...

...the peace of Highland Park under a blanket of fresh snow
...bumping into friends at the Market
...apple shopping at the Market on a crisp fall day, coffee in hand 
...the smiles and laughter of kids busting through the doors of School 23 
...the kindness of my neighbors on my beloved Arlington Street 
...my beautiful--and affordable--masterpiece of an old house  
...the cooling breezes off the Lake on a hot summer day 
...the breathtaking beech trees 
...greeting folks on their porches on a sultry summer night 
...saying I share a hometown with Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony 
...the civic pride and spirit that makes Rochester so special 

Thank you for fourteen wonderful years. I hope I gave as much as I received. 

Evan Lowenstein

Monday, November 18, 2013

Love Note #7: I'm destined to be with you.

I am: Roc_Guardian
Current Home: Monroe Village
Years in Rochester: For life, except for college 

My Dearest Rochester,

I don't mean to be too forward, but I think I'm destined to be with you. This might seem silly coming from someone of my youth, but I have never been more sure of anything in my life. We've known each other for a long time, and the I older I get, the deeper my feelings for you grow.

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I've found that to be true. Every time I came home from college to see you, I realized why I could never really leave. When all the girls I met were stuck-up, selfish and boring, you were wholesome, down to earth, and full of surprises.   

So I've returned home, planted my roots, and give my life up to you. After this day, there is no woman in this world who could tear me from your side. I just hope that you can share with me your many ways of love, and we can grow old together, basking in the light of a world we have worked so hard to improve.  

Yours eternally, 
ROC_Guardian

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Love Note #6: You seduced me with your sophisticated and educated charm, Mr. Rochester.

We'll let Rochester be addressed as a man just this one time (notice what angst HE causes the author) with a note originally posted to The Sensory Cart 

Name: Stacey Rowe
I am: Communications/Marketing/PR pro presently seeking new adventures
Years in Rochester: 19.5 years
Current home: Rochester, NY

Dear Mr. Rochester,

I can't say that I never thought we'd reach this point. Alas, I think the moment is upon us.
I remember when we first met. I was just a child, but when visiting my grandmother, I recall the sense of dangerous attraction I felt overlooking High Falls from the revolving top of the First Federal Building in the early 1980s.  We would not meet again until I was 16 and in search of colleges.  In 1994 I arrived and began to make a life with you. Yes, Mr. Rochester, we've actually been together for nearly twenty years.
In my mid-twenties, my father warned me about your arrogance and your beautiful but damned existence. "I don't know who these Rochester people think they are," he said, forgetting he had married my born-Rochestarian mother. True to his Syracuse roots, I labeled him as resentful of the place that I thought could offer me more both culturally and economically.
You seduced me with your sophisticated and educated charm, Mr. Rochester. I fell hard for your proximity to water, your museums, and rich history. The trappings of high-end retailers, fine dining, country clubs with beautifully maintained golf courses, fundraisers, and personalities bigger than their britches certainly have provided a lot of social entertainment. There have been nights we've happily celebrated successes together and nights where you've managed to make a drunken fool of me. You've even dressed up as a woman for me on several occasions, but that was all in good fun.
I think that sometimes you forget that I've also seen your darker side, that flawed side of you that causes people to turn off the news at night.  I worked with the last of your Holocaust survivors drawing pictures of German soldiers. I walked door to door in neighborhoods ridden with poverty, filing missing person reports on your children. I've found razor blades lodged in my windshield wipers in said neighborhoods where, at the time, home tutors were being raped. I've experienced "good-old-boy," top-heavy, glass-ceiling management. I've seen your elders fall short of funds in senior housing communities only to be sent somewhere where medicaid payment is accepted but laden with state deficiencies and questionable care. I've had five car accidents here. I've been stalked, stolen from, yelled at, harassed, snowed in, and ice-stormed with no power for five days. Truth be told, I wouldn't change any of it because you have made me stronger. In fact, you have made me who I am.
Despite all of the ties that bind us together, lately I've noticed we seem to be drifting apart.  I suppose I can't blame you entirely.  We've had our share of indiscretions.  There was that time in 2003 when I contemplated leaving you for Arizona. Then again in 2006 when the vapid narcissism of southern California called my name. Neither could offer me the commitment I wanted and so I stayed out of loyalty and sadly, fear of the unknown.  I started to feed the urge to leave you by traveling halfway around the world and back, but ultimately you couldn't fulfill the financial resources it would take for me to continue that hobby. Over the past few years I traveled less and tried to make a life worth living here. I became more involved in volunteerism and community service at organizations that I believe make a difference in your well-being but ultimately, I'm just not sure it's enough. I suppose I could do even more for you. I could sport a myriad of apparel or accessories proclaiming my love and adoration for you.  But you and I both know I've never been one for public displays of affection; and I'm certainly not into something previously enjoyed by one of your other women.
I've questioned your fidelity because you've been reckless with me, Mr. Rochester. You've left me jobless three times now, and brokenhearted more times than I care to recall. Thankfully, I'm resilient enough to wind up on both feet and better off each time, but I'm forced to wonder when my luck will run out. We're both aware of my intelligence and talents; and I'm certainly more Catherine Linton vs. plain Jane Eyre in the looks department.  And yet, sometimes you look right through me as if I don't exist. At 37 years old I'm without a husband, children, or a career that fulfills me.  I've given you the best damn years of my life, Rochester. Why must you continue to deny me of the very basic needs that could keep me here forever?
I implore you to give me a reason to stay, Rochester. Now please forgive me as I throw your own words back in your face while I question the fate of our future together and know that this is not about hating you or falling out of love. It's simply knowing when it's time to let go: "Since happiness is irrevocably denied me, I have a right to get pleasure out of life: and I will get it, cost what it may."
(Quote from Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë)

Monday, November 11, 2013

Love Note #5: Charlotte/Rochester/Home

Name: Bryan Horn
I Am: Teacher
Years in Rochester: 1975-1998; back 4-5 times a year, 38 years old
Current Home: Brewster, NY

Dear Rochester,

Your name represents a city divided by suburban sprawl and economic disparity, but your name is a steady and stalwart reminder of all that was and all that can be, with some "shoulda" and "coulda" sprinkled on top. Despite the numerous suburbs surrounding the Genesee Falls and the downtown city-scape, when I run into people from Fairport and Greece and Pittsford, they all say they're from Rochester and that means something. I am from Charlotte and I say Rochester but I write of Charlotte: of biker bars, expensive beach-front homes, summer crime, the smell of fish-fry fro the LDR and the home of the Lighthouse rising into the sky. Despite living 5 hours away, you're always there when I call. Thanks for being you, Rochester.

Love,
Bryan 

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Love Note #4: Your Winters Test My Fidelity, but I Still Love You

Name: Trista Wilson 
I Am: mom and teacher with a love/hate relationship with Rochester winters but figures it’s probably time to get over it and just go sledding
Years in Rochester: 20 years in total 
Current Home: Highland Park Neighborhood 

My Dearest Rochester,

I know I have not always been faithful. I left you briefly for Buffalo. But please know that she cannot ever compete with you my darling. Sure, her chicken wings were scrumptious. But she doesn’t have your garbage plate. I must also confess that I had a fleeting fling with Oswego. And although you can be cold for about 9 months of the year, she was downright frigid. Please don’t take offense. I love all of your seasons, I do. But you have to admit my dear, that on your sunny days, life is quite wonderful. I can visit Lake Ontario and enjoy a chocolate almond ice cream at Abbotts. In the fall there is hiking, apple picking and trick-or-treating. And even on your coldest days, I know I can always enjoy gingerbread creations at the George Eastman House, a movie at the Cinema, ice-skating at Manhattan Square Park, or a cross-country ski in Highland Park. So my love, I hope you will consider taking me back. I promise to be loyal, at least until mid-February, and then I may need a temporary tryst with Florida.

All my love,

Trista

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Love Note #3: Brownfields as Opportunity

Name: Laura Fox
I Am: urban planner, secret farmer, food truck enthusiast
Years in Rochester: on and off all my life, officially in Rochester as an “adult” for the past 5 months
Current Home: 14618

Dear Rochester,

You’re rusty and I love you for it. Signs of your former shine are all over town, but I’m more interested in the messes you’ve made. My daily drive to work downtown takes me on the inner loop, which tells the story of the divorce between your downtown and your neighborhoods, then past parking lots that stay empty and abandoned properties that appear to be long forgotten. On the surface you look pretty strung out, but you have a way of demanding a second glance. I’m increasingly looking around the corner and finding something worth exploring and fewer reasons to make a disparaging comment about you not being a “real city.” Better yet, your admirers are committed to righting past wrongs by cleaning up your brownfields, developing parking lots and filling in the inner loop. You aren’t imagining that you’re staging a comeback, it’s happening. 

Rochester, you’ve made me a staunch defender of cities and have made me want to make cities better. I unwittingly became an urban planner so that I could move back here to help connect the dots of all that is promising and true and lovable about you.  I see opportunity in your blighted lands and abandoned buildings and thankfully so do many of your other admirers.

Love,
Laura