Proud to Be a Buckeye

I feel fortunate that my work sometimes takes me to far away places with strange sounding names. I've labored in the lights of Hollywood, toiled in the streets of Deadwood, South Dakota, and even practiced my vocation in a place called Pine Bend, Minnesota, a little town that is little more than a bump in the road just outside the Twin Cities.

But no matter where I travel I am amazed at the response I get when people learn that I am from Ohio. "You're from where?" they will muse with a smirk. "Jamestown, Ohio," I reply, puzzled at their lack of knowledge regarding our little town. After all, doesn't everyone know where Kelly's Café and Costume King are located?

I'm being facetious of course, but people I meet actually seem surprised that I choose to remain in my hometown. Believe me, there are times when I am shocked about that too, but that's for another story. For some reason, many outsiders see us Buckeyes as uneducated, gun-totin', pickup-drivin, beer-swillin' - well, you get the idea. The way Hollywood portrays us certainly doesn't help to improve that image.

Admitting to an intentional level of current pop culture ignorance I just found out that the hit television show "Glee" is set in Lima. Well, we've had a backwards crew of disc jockeys burning up the airways on WKRP in Cincinnati, so why not a troupe of angst-ridden high school kids performing musical theater in Lima.

I have also noticed that whenever some TV show needs a childhood home for the murderous character in some police drama he's always from Ohio. What's up with that? Are we hemorrhaging psychopaths who leave here to create havoc elsewhere? I doubt that is true. In fact, Ohio in general and the Dayton area in particular have played a major role in American industry and history.

Even though people poke fun at us, Ohio has offered far more than punch lines in the last century, such as the first electric traffic light which was installed in Cleveland in 1914. If you've ever driven downtown you'd know why they chose Cleveland first. Oldtown, a tiny burg just north of Xenia, was once the capitol of the Shawnee and Delaware Native American Nations.

In 1852, Ohio was the first state to enact a law protecting working women. Oberlin College in Ohio was the first to adopt a non-discrimination policy for women and African Americans.

If it's the industrial age you're interested in, here are just a few things that were invented right here in the Dayton area: the bicycle parking rack, radar detectors, safety glass, room air conditioners, the cash register, the motorized wheelchair, backpack parachutes, the stepladder and the mood ring.

Naturally, I have to mention that controlled, powered flight was developed here - at Huffman Prarie - not in North Carolina. Sorry Tar Heels, we're claiming this one. They might have flown it there, but they built it here.

If I mention where I am from to anyone over 40, they always ask about the 1974 Xenia tornado. The huge spinning vortex ripped a scar across the small city with a power that some witnesses called, "the finger of God." In less than 20 minutes, the tornado left behind a town that was virtually unrecognizable and a mark on history just as distinctive.

Actually, the events that followed the tornado are some of the reasons I stay here. Within hours of the event, people came from all over the state to help Xenia rebuild. Ohio has faced both natural and man-made disasters before and there is no question there will be more to come. But I don't worry much about it because the resolute nature of the people here at home is unmatched anywhere I travel.

So there you have them - many more reasons to be proud of Ohio than to laugh at it. Now, I'm going to print my story out on my ink jet printer then go get a can of Coke, pop the top open and pour it over ice from the refrigerator.

I should point out that everything I mentioned in that last sentence, except for the Coke, was invented in Dayton - including the pull tab on the soda can. Think about that the next time someone makes fun of you for living in Ohio.

Gery L. Deer is an independent columnist based in Jamestown, Ohio - Population 1,917.