The following is re-posted by Bernice Radle from her blog...
My friend Derek King is a newpat to Buffalo and we threw him into the Buffalo ring - hard. Well, we are happy to report that he is surviving and LOVING Buffalo. I am sure New Hampshire misses him... but we are very happy to have him on Team Buffalove.
I asked him to tell me what he thought about Buffalo and of course, he only had good things to say. Here are Derek's initial sentiments:
The first thing that stood out about Buffalo was that the people here are so welcoming. It's not Midwestern "Nice" and it's not any sort of fake generosity either; it's a genuine, this is who I am, and if you aren't a jerk, you'll fit in nicely. Walk into a bar here in Buffalo, and you can strike up a conversation with anyone who's there. It's incredible how much this place reminds me of being home. People here don't have a lot of pretension and are willing to give you a chance to be yourself, even if it's a little weird.
There's so much beauty in this city. The trees along Bidwell and Chapin, [and the ones] that fill the Fruit Belt. Evenings down at Gallagher Pier, the sunset taking the edge off what is otherwise a towering behemoth of a grain elevator. Buildings that tell a lot about the past, and how great this city was, and how great it still can be. NH has a lot of natural beauty; rolling hills, tree covered mountains, brooks, streams, and lakes all within a stones throw. I essentially grew up in a Robert Frost poem. Here, there's a different kind of beauty; it's living and changing, and it's timeless in so many ways that are similar to sleepy, small town Barnstead, but in such different ways. In the same way that there's a vibrancy in NH (most of the state is essentially a forest, with all the wildlife that comes with it), there's vibrancy here; people sitting on porches, kids playing in the street, and vibrant neighborhoods. Elmwood's shops and bars, while pretty awesome in their own right, don't hold a candle to the local corner stores on Grant and in the West Side, and I'd take a beer at Casey's or Swannie's any day than at Blue Monk, [the former being] a little more my speed.
The thing that is most impressive, though, are the passionate people I've met since I've been here. I loved growing up in New Hampshire, and Barnstead was a great place to have a childhood, but there is a prevailing sentiment that life there will never change, and that if things were to change, it would be for the worse. Coming here has been eye-opening; I didn't realize people could care about a place so much. Not only was it invigorating, getting involved with BYP, and now with the West Side EDF, but it got me to think back to New Hampshire. Before, when I thought about going back, it was always in the context of "when I'm older, to give my (future, completely hypothetical) children the same experience as me." Now, it's that thought, but also, "What could I do to make New Hampshire better?"
That's been the most amazing thing about Buffalo; it's been a long time since I've felt this good about being in a place. Buffalonians have a pretty intense chip on their shoulder, and for good reason; I've read enough about the last hundred years here to understand the distrust of good news, of this collective holding of the breathe as projects like Canalside, Larkin Square, and now Webster Block are unveiled, waiting to see when the other shoe will drop.
For me, as someone who doesn't have that weight on my shoulders, this place is refreshing and exhilarating. Every day has something new to experience. You just have to open up the Artvoice and put your finger down on a page, and before you know it you're in some sort of back-room jazz show.
There is a quote that sums up how I feel about this place, and it's only been a few months since I've been here, so maybe check back in after winter, but I feel like it'll stay pretty strong. It's in the description for the sculpture outside of the Albright-Knox (which totally perplexes me, but most art does to be honest... I mean, why the one row boat?!... hell, why any of the boats?!):
"Built to live anywhere; at home here."
Sounds about right to me.
*Photo: Derek's 1st BYP Happy Hour.
Welcome home! As a one time newpat myself I understand your observations completely. My wife (Newlywed at the time) moved to buffalo just one month before the october storm. We didn't know anyone in the city. The only person we had known, the one who convinced us to move here, had moved to portland OR weeks before we would arrive. The city smashed us and we moved away that next May, wounded and determined to brush Buffalo from our history and not think twice about it. As we left we talked about the things we were happy to be rid of but it didn't take long for the conversation to make a full turn to what we were missing. The bidwell, Delaware park, the lake, The art galleries, the sense of history and place, the comradery of the city about our life together. It took about 2 weeks before we knew that we had to get back there and only 9 months until we did. This city is just different somehow. If you have been here your life or a whole day it feels like home.