Author: Liz Barresi
“It’s like you’re not even in Buffalo…” rarely does an article or personal account go by without such a glowingly offensive (and downright nonsensical) description of our fair city. Yes, Buffalo is developing. With a flourish of new businesses and the revitalization of old treasures, Buffalo is blossoming into a more dynamic version of what its always been.
I’m sure that Buffalonians have no intention of degrading our bourgeoning city when they compare it to others; some comparisons are even appropriate: Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee…a number of Rust Belt towns bear similar stories. There’s one city, however, that beyond Vaux, Olmsted and Moses, need not enter the same breath as Buffalo.
“It feels like you’re in New York City!” The Buffalo-New York City comparison is a particular strain of the “like you’re not in Buffalo” talk that oozes of ignorance. Seemingly, all it takes is a little exposed brick and artisanal cheese to transform a Buffalonian into a hick cowboy from an old Pace salsa commercial; ranting about “New York City” with enough cartoon fervor to perpetuate Buffalo’s boorish downstate reputation forever.
My grandfather was employed by Bethlehem Steel and built a home for his family in the south towns. Growing up, I was actively engaged in the collective negative self-talk of a declining city: the snow, the waterfront eyesores, the Super Bowl losses…As a kid, I learned to not tell other vacationing children that I was from “New York,” because as far as they were concerned, I wasn’t. So like many in the Buffalo area, I grew up with dreams of “the big city.”
Fred Ebb put it best: “I want to be a part of it: New York, New York.” The lyric is brilliant because that’s all that most people want when they move to the big city: to be a part of it. Realistically, it’s also all that most people can do. There’s a reason why the lyric isn’t “I want to make an impact: New York, New York.” When you walk the streets of New York, you are a part of one of modern civilization’s greatest collective achievements. You don’t have to do anything. You somehow achieve automatic credibility.
When I returned to Buffalo from the big apple (where I had simultaneously consumed and starved for 10 years, ) I was eager to make an impact. Buffalo: a city with a history of labor! Where a girl can’t just gaze into the window at Tiffany’s with a donut and feel like she’s on to something. I was happy to be back in a city where (to quote the Crowley-Webb mural downtown) “hard work works hard.” In all of my excitement, however, I quickly became bogged down by that old Buffalo language. It’s evolved from my youth. No longer do we attack, we simply misrepresent. We respond to our city’s progress by projecting “big city” dreams on something much more real.
I know that our citizens are savvy enough to understand that the cultural fabric of Buffalo is complex and specific, with every line and angle bearing the impact of hundreds of years of environmental, economic and social movement. From the wind off of the lake to the grain elevators to the tenacious sports fans it’s all connected in a way that makes every new business from Main Street to Grant Street so incredibly and undeniably “Buffalo.” It is with this I ask you, Buffaloves, to cut the small town language and watch your mouth when you’re talkin’ proud!