I have heard that the Governor of Pennsylvania has just obtained use of a 40-foot caravan for traveling around the commonwealth. At one time, I've daydreamed about becoming governor, but I didn't dream about having a large staff or directing the construction of large public works or using my political and financial acumen to trim health care costs. I dreamed about traveling through the state, walking its streets, standing by its hills and rivers.
I remember first thinking of this while in Bedford county visiting one more small town on the way to somewhere else, standing at the corner gas station with a view that was breath taking. I remember thinking about this when I was in Renovo, up north and in the middle, and admiring its dreamy, trapped-in-amber qualities. I don't want to wax romantic. There's plenty that's shabby about Pennsylvania, particularly among its roadsides. As a matter of fact, the farther away from the road side you get the prettier it is; and the slower you go the more you see.
The limits of Pennsylvania are defined by one line of longitude, two divisions of latitude (one of them known as the Mason-Dixon line), the Delaware River, and in the northeast corner, the Erie triangle. We learned in grade school that Pennsylvania obtained the Erie triangle from New York in 1795 order to have a fresh water port. I'm not sure how inadequate we would feel as a state if we didn't have a fresh water port. I do think that the state would look really strange without that little spout at the top. So most of Pennsylvania's borders are geometric and arbritrary, but the land itself is shaped by the Alleghenies, with the rivers, roads, and township and county borders following its contours. No big mountains, no vast oceans or deserts, but many fingers of roads to reach it all.
But if he's serious about using the van, called Commonwealth One, Gov. Rendell will have focused on what I think would be the best part about the job: to visit various parts of the state, talk to people, drink coffee and soda pop in its diners, eat pretzels and drink beer in its social clubs. Just being there, or should I say, here, I believe could have a healthy effect on the Governor and the Commonwealth. As the saying goes, the gardener's shadow is the best fertilizer.
Posted by mastr at May 17, 2003 08:24 PM