Ode to New York State

When I joined Twittermoms, the first mom I met was the Post-Standard's Gina Chen from Syracuse, New York, and imagine my excitement when she wanted to feature me on her Family Life blog. I was immediately flooded with childhood memories. I had grown up in Kingston, Ontario, which is right on the Canada-US border. As a child, growing up in the land of one television network, which had a test pattern until 9 am, I used to stare across Lake Ontario to the shores of New York State, the land of decent cartoons, the Frito bandito and Hershey bars--that Mecca of fun.

Not only was northern New York State home to CBS, NBC and ABC, the three TV networks of the day, it was also the site of the first McDonalds restaurant. More proof of its superiority in terms of fun, Harriet the Spy and a Tree Grows in Brooklyn, my favorite childhood books, were both set in New York.

What is more, one of my finest childhood memories involving New York State was a cross-border shopping expedition to Watertown. The highlight was watching my mother lie to the Canadian customs officer on our return back over the border. "No sir. Uh...we didn't buy anything...I just took the kids down to McDonalds in Watertown," she stammered, as my brother and I wiped perspiration from our brow from wearing three layers of new clothes.

Not only would this experience provide me with funky new clothes that no one else had, it was also fodder for some very tall tales for my friends. After all, how many kids got to go to McDonalds, get three new sets of clothes and then watch their mother, not embellish, exaggerate or stretch the truth, but actually lie to a government official. Man, I bet she regrets that half-truth...I mean, lie, right now as she reads this.

Anyhoo, it was with great pleasure that I was able to connect with Gina Chen and reconnect with my childhood memories from the North Country. (BTW, whatever happened to Glen Gough and his show, the North Country?) As I have said in previous posts, blogging has given me the exciting possibility of meeting people throughout the English-speaking world. In fact, my first follower was Ida from down under in Australia. Blogging is also a fabulous medium for sharing your views with like-minded people.

I have been following Gina's exciting Save the Media blog to keep abreast of the latest changes in the news media landscape and to contemplate possible opportunities that these changes will inevitably provide. In addition, she posts some great blogging and linking tips. My favorite post from her Family Life Blog was the 25 things that make me feel like a bad mom. Let's just say that I could relate to more than a few.

I am very pleased to welcome readers from New York State and let them know that they have a special place in my heart for saving me from television boredom and feeding my inner pop culture vulture. I would also like to thank Gina and the Post-Standard for having me as their featured blogger.

If you would like to return to the Post-Standard click here.

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