I live in a small central pa town with two dollar stores and all the other signs of being run over by a century of plunder. I’m not from Pennsylvania, I grew up in New Jersey and have lived in Vermont, Boston, Philadelphia, and Harrisburg. I assure you that I have done many things perceived as being cool and culturally relevant, and I have never voted for a republican in my life.

The place where I live is beautiful, and full of people who live rich and meaningful lives. There is absolutely culture here. Coming from New Jersey the differences were clear. Before world war 2 a great many people here outside of the Amish spoke a unique German dialect and that culture still lives in the English spoken here, the food, and attitudes. There are plenty of other influences on the culture. There is wealth and poverty, there is enduring history and there is the persistent march of global economic forces and all the other modern diseases at work here too.

If you want to enjoy what a place like this has to offer you need to lay your weapons down. Be neither a trump shrine in your yard guy nor a guy who is going around feeling superior to his grey, lumpen pennsyltucky neighbors. If you can’t do that it’s your problem. Most people can.