In response to survey feedback

A kind person who took my survey asked me to provide a map of where I live. Well, I’ll do that and then some. I live in Western Massachusetts, affectionately known as Western Mass, sometimes known as the Pioneer Valley, although Western Mass encompasses, geographically, way more than the Pioneer Valley. The Pioneer Valley is roughly an hour and a half west of Boston on a good travel day. If you click on the map, I live in the area near the towns Chicopee, Springfield, Holyoke, Westfield, Amherst, Deerfield and Greenfield, relatively speaking.

You can also call our region the Connecticut River Valley, although that’s misleading, because the Connecticut River extends from the NH/VT border all the way down to the Long Island Sound. We are also sometimes known as the New England Knowledge Corridor, which makes no sense because the New England knowledge corridor, if there is any, should be east of us. That’s where Harvard, MIT, etc., are. Not here. There. If anything, the entire northeast is a knowledge corridor.

Western Mass has the things that Anytown USA has, such as shopping malls, strip malls, drugs, McDonald’s, Republicans, Democrats, teenagers. We also have a concentration of things that Anytown USA doesn’t, such as sushi, colleges, lesbians, bike trails, liberal parents, independent movie theatres, local music.

There are things that suck about Western Mass, such as its provincial nature. Often towns are so embroiled in their own fiscal/social problems that they fail to take a look at how we fare as a region. This isn’t entirely our fault; I mean, we are Cinderella and Boston/Eastern Mass is the wicked stepmother. Worcester is an evil stepsister. You’d think with a common enemy that we Western Mass folks would see beyond our own individual town crises when it comes to solving problems. Wait, that was my old job talking.

And what about you? Where are you from? Or, if you think I’ve misrepresented Western Mass (or at least the Pioneer Valley), please do tell.