People often ask us where we are from.
Naturally, we respond that we are from the United States. But in many
English speaking countries, the citizens are already well aware of
that. The moment we open our mouths, it is obvious. (It's not
actually the opening of mouths, but the utterance of words that clues
them in. I don't think they can tell from our dental work.)
So in those places, they say something
like, "Yes, I knew that. Which state?" Well, that's a bit
of a quandary. We tend to answer something like "Most recently
Pennsylvania." You see, Lancaster, Pennsylvania is where we last
had a "permanent home" as opposed to a "permanent
address." But we sold that it-would-appear-less-than-permanent
home. Now we have an address, namely that of my parents, but that
isn't exactly where we are from.
Remember on tests when you had to read
a paragraph and then answer questions? Sometimes they would say give
the BEST answer, meaning none of the answers were quite dead on, but
you had to deal with nuance. So while I might make the argument that
I am a citizen of the world, I suppose the BEST answer to "Where
are you from?" is Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
In Lancaster, you find public works
named for people who lived in Lancaster and did great things or in
some other way achieved acclaim. There are, in fact, a street, a
park, and a middle school named for James Buchanan. He lived in
Lancaster and earned his fame by becoming the worst U.S. President in
history. (In today's rather partisan society, I'm sure I could find
plenty of Americans who would argue that Buchanan has been surpassed
in his ranking by either Barack Obama or Donald Trump, depending on
which side of the aisle those American find themselves.) Still,
Buchanan was President, and he therefore gets things named for him.
Lancaster isn't unique in this regard.
I'm sure most cities name their roads, parks, and buildings for the
famous who once had humbler beginnings in that city. So it shouldn't
surprise anyone that I find the same thing here in Derby, England.
What is interesting is that said famous
person need not have ever existed. He, or in this case she, can be
fictional.
Yes, here in Derby there is a street
called Lara Croft Way. I didn't take a picture of the street itself,
because it wouldn't look particularly distinct from any other street
you can imagine. Now Lara Croft, of course, is the main character in
the Tomb Raider video games. And later she became a character in a
movie. And now she is immortalized in the name of a road in Derby.
But she is from here. I supposed one
can't say she was born here, not in the traditional sense. But she
was "born" here in the more virtual sense. Lara Croft was
developed by a gaming company, Core Design, based in Derby.
When a new ring road around the city
center was being built, the citizens of Derby were asked to vote on
potential names for it. And the winner was Lara Croft Way.
I love that the city has a street named
for its most famous video game character. But that's not the only
great name in Derby. Check out this one, located right next to the
Derby Cathedral.
It's sort of like a cheat sheet about
what you are supposed to say after you enter the Cathedral.
There are many other great names too.
There is Queensway and there is Kingsway. (They meet, though sadly
there is no Princesway or Princessesway that issues from their
junction. I guess they didn't have heirs.) There is a shopping street
called The Strand, because can you really be a great English city
without a "The Strand?" I suspect not.
And perhaps my favorite of all is the
street with a name so matter-of-fact, it's almost poetic.
I guess that's my cue to exit this
post. But you can probably guess where I'm heading. No, it's not Lancaster, Pennsylvania. That's where I was.
No comments:
Post a Comment