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Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,777 posts, read 15,786,780 times
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Thanks for asking this question, SteelCityRising! As a native Pennsylvanian, it is interesting to hear outsiders' perspectives of my home state. As a native, I did not answer the poll, since I don't qualify, but I did want to add that I do generally get a positive response from people when they ask me where I'm originally from. Saying "Pennsylvania" tends to get a more positive response than saying "Philadelphia" since there are some Philly (or big northern city) haters out there.
On a related note, as someone who has spent (and still spends) a week every summer at the Jersey Shore, I defend New Jersey to almost everyone who puts it down, which are quite a bit of people here in the South. New Jersey has always felt like a sister state to me, and I think we Mid-Atlantic states need to look out for each other. :-)
Haven't been a resident of Pennsylvania since 1989, but it will always be home.
I have some roots in Pennsylvania, so I have an overall favorable opinion of the state. My Dad was born in a little coal town called Shamokin and later graduated from Bucknell. My Grandmother taught music at Bucknell and also played piano for the Philadelphia philharmonic orchestra. In her later years she was a dormitory house mother at a nursing school in Philly. I've only been there once, but it seemed nice and a lot like Ohio where I was raised.
I know, I really don't get where people are getting this idea that it's remote. You might not be able to take a day trip to NYC or Baltimore but of the people I know in the Bos-Wash corridor, they basically never go to a different city for just a day because most people don't have time (especially if you have a family) and also don't want to deal with the hassle of getting to other cities in the megalopolis for only a day. Try living in Denver or Winnipeg if you want large cities that are truly remote.
I did it quite often when I was younger. From NEPA, we went to NY and Philly. When I visited my friend near Harrisburg, Baltimore and DC.
Please don't remind me as in the 4 plus years I'm in my locale in SW NJ I've never been tailgated so much as well as their "wishy-washy" accident causing driving maneuvers.
I'm getting to can't standing Philly as well.
To me eastern PA =
The rest of the state = no opinion.
At least you said no opinion for the rest of the state, and don't dislike the place based on Philidelphians with poor driving skills. Have you ever been to New Hope? It's a very nice small town. Longwood Gardens and the Brandywine Valley? It's lovely.
No, it's hard to articulate why I generally don't like PA. It's hard for me to say. Philly fans turn me off (as a Mets and Giants fan)...
snip, snip, snip
You're dragging sports into this? At the very least, the Eagles beat the Jets the other night. Not holding my breath for the rest of the season. At least PA has a couple of NFL teams.
Location: Watching half my country turn into Gilead
3,530 posts, read 4,175,298 times
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Anybody else notice that two very important American buildings, the White House and Penn Station in NYC, are associated with the state? I don't think any other state has quite the significance, at least when it comes to namesake streets and structures.
Anybody else notice that two very important American buildings, the White House and Penn Station in NYC, are associated with the state? I don't think any other state has quite the significance, at least when it comes to namesake streets and structures.
I want to thank everyone for a very enjoyable thread thus far!
I wasn't looking for this to be a "let's boost PA's image" thread. It just seemed to me as a native Pennsylvanian that as a state that is one of the nation's most-populated and sits at the crossroads of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest we fly very far under the radar nationally. Considering how many people selected the ambivalent poll option my hypothesis was correct.
PA has Gettysburg, Valley Forge, Hershey, Amish Country, Penn State, Philadelphia (Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, "Rocky", cheesesteaks), Pittsburgh, Presque Isle, and a lot of other well-known sites that are quite underappreciated, in my humble opinion.
I'd also like to thank the New Jerseyite who was brave enough to candidly say she didn't like our state. I'd like to see more negative comments as well to help balance things a bit. Instead of attacking her let's do our best to acknowledge the faults she correctly pointed out.
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