As a kid, I didn’t think the windswept, pancake-flat farm country on the southern shore of Lake Ontario where I grew up was in any way noteworthy. However, the first few times the Head Cook joined me on trips to western New York, as my family and I shared stories about the area, I began to see things in a different light. We told him that Kodak, Xerox, and Bauch & Lomb—at the time consistently Fortune 500 companies— all got their start in western New York.
George Pullman, creator of the Pullman railroad sleeping cars, spent time in my hometown and donated the funds to build the Universalist Church there in 1894. Other notables: Lou Gramm of Foreigner was cousin to a music teacher, Mr. Grammatico, in my school. To top that, jazz musician, Chuck Mangione, hailed from the area and even played a concert in my middle school auditorium.
Over the years, as various new “fun facts” continued to arise, the Head Cook began referring to my hometown as “The Black Hole of the Universe.” While technically that wasn’t exactly the right phrase—a Black Hole is a region in space from which nothing can escape—his sentiment was clear. In one way or another, it seems everything must tie back to western New York. It was his version of the six degrees of separation long before that became a popular reference…