Old Tremonster Talks About His New Neighborhood and Some Learned Perspective Being Away

by Josh York

Well, I suppose you’ve figured it out, I no longer live in Tremont. In fairness, I admit I haven’t actually lived in Tremont for some time. I have written many an article for the Tremonster while living in the far-off lands of Westpark and Parma Heights. How can I write about Tremont then, you ask? I felt as though I could still write poignant pieces based around the perspective of the average Tremonster for two reasons; For one, I still worked my day job in Tremont, keeping me roughly in the buzz. And for two, the Tremonster has always been a publication that is supposed to represent what any neighborhood can aspire to be, by advocating local-based thinking and inclusion, wherever your neighborhood may be and whatever form your neighborhood takes.

Which brings me to the point of the piece; The dust has settled somewhat after the pandemic shutdowns and reopenings, and I have found myself in a different industry, working in Vermilion! Which is indeed as far as it sounds. Living, working and parenting in three completely different regions can show you some pretty stark realities about what you thought you knew about human beings, and their feelings and perspectives. And that is why I thought it was appropriate to do a first piece back, about how zany my new neighborhood is, how many cool things there are to see along the central coast of Lake Erie, and how we all can find common ground with those that, at first, we may find off-putting.

Now, you may be inclined to think I am about to go into how different the neighborhoods are in Vermilion compared to Tremont or something like that, but that is not the way I am seeing things at all these days. I look at the area that I cover regularly, which spans from Vermilion to Lakewood to Parma Heights and down to Akron, as my ‘one big neighborhood’. My world is large now and I am loving it. It gives me a chance to hike, kayak and ride in new parks, and I have food and beers in countless small towns, mid-size suburbs, country areas, urban areas, and various neighborhoods. I meet people of every degree on the conservative/liberal spectrum. I have been yelled at and openly made fun of for wearing a mask upon walking into establishments. I have been yelled at and harassed by fellow customers for standing up to shift my coat under my butt on a bar stool while my mask top was just below my nose. I exist in places where the fringes of different social sets brush against each other, and in a large enough area that I can start to understand the finer nuances of what we may write off as one group or another.

Let’s be honest too, this country has been polarized by so many different ideas and events, many political in nature and many involving difficult health decisions, and it’s a shame that we are drawing these lines with one another. In doing so, we are buying into an idea that you must be 100% on the side of one topic. And that means that the other side must be 100% exactly opposite of your side. In thinking like that, we are banishing ourselves into informational deserts, with little chance to find common ground. I am mostly liberal, and definitely did not agree with the storming of the Capitol. But when I heard that the QAnon Shaman was boycotting food because he only eats organic and whatnot, it made me go, “Hunh.” I support organic eating, too. I bet you if it never came up about QAnon or the Capitol, he and I would have a decent conversation about whole foods.

I am not out to make this piece heavy in its tone, I am only wanting to throw out a few observations in my travels back and forth and to and fro. Let’s keep it light and get to it.