Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Youngstown Observations

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Youngstown is having its Italian Festival this weekend. Though I was tired from work this week, I decided to go with my parents like we have been doing the last few years. It happened to be packed this year with tons of Italians from around the Youngstown area. As I usually do every year, I gorged myself on cavatelli, smelts, and cannoli and listened to Italian music and watched all of the hot Italian girls walking around. Of course, on that subject, there was a line from the Godfather that put it best about Italian girls: “In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns”. The same holds true for this area, and when it comes to a lot of the girls around here, you need to be careful who you hook up with. The last thing I need right now is a mini-Jersey Housewife to put up with, and we have plenty of those types around here.

It is quite a contrast being back here from Columbus. After spending a year in Buckeye Land and seeing how other people live, I can honestly say I have realized a lot about what I hate about the Youngstown area and a lot that I love about it. The things that I used to think were mildly bad seem to be magnified a whole lot more, and the same can be said for the good things that I just thought were okay. Might as well start with the bad.

Youngstown is an interesting place to say the least, and it took a year away from home to realize how flawed it can be relative to other cities. It is very ethnic, very clicky, and very in your face. If you an outsider looking in from a place like Columbus or Cincinnati, then I can see how this region can be a big turn off if you are not used to this environment. I can compare this to the culture shock I had when I moved to Columbus, because the people are not nearly as tough and very white bread. VERY white bread. This politics in this town is noticeably different from politics in most places, and though it may not be as dirty as it was, it still gives off that kind of vibe. The job market is worth shit here unless you are in business for yourself. And overall, you need to be a hardass, because people are pretty intense around here. Also, the nightspots by and large are strictly from hunger compared to the bigger cities.

For all the bad, there is a lot of good. Small business flourishes around here, and with it great ingenuity. We have a couple major employers of people, but most of this city is small business reliant. Youngstown was named one of the top ten places to start a business. How it can be we made this list and also made the list for one of the most economically depressed regions in the entire U.S. I do not know (as well as one of the most dangerous places to live), but by and large people work for themselves here. And overall, people can be successful here.

Of course we have Youngstown State, an improving business district downtown, decent hospitals, and a massive metro-park. Convocation Center is doing halfway decent, and usually it is not hard to find some kind of entertainment on the weekend. Also near Pittsburgh. Downside is we are near Cleveland too. Sorry Browns fans.

It is also a city environment without all the traffic. I will not miss driving on I-71 because it was a big pain in the ass. People are all over creation and after awhile driving in that mass traffic can turn you into an angry drive, or like me, an angrier driver. When I think about my driving, I think about Groundhog’s Day with Bill Murray when he was telling the groundhog “Don’t drive angry, don’t drive angry!” That was an awesome movie by the way.

We have more Italian festivals in the Youngstown-Warren area than most places in the United States, and in that regard NYC and New Jersey have nothing on us. The entire summer is filled with them, and I doubt anywhere else in the United States can claim that kind of fame. Also, I picked up a “Welcome Home Jimbo” t-shirt at the festival last night, and I doubt you can find any place else in the U.S. that would glorify a convict by slapping his face on a t-shirt.

The food is outstanding here, and I missed it GREATLY when I was in Columbus. I never had such a hard time finding a decent plate of spaghetti or a real pizza. There were no hot peppers in Columbus the way you find them here. If I wanted good Italian food, I made it myself. Since I was pressed for time, I couldn’t make my own sauce, but I imported sauce for a quick fix. When you live to eat like me, the food issue is very important.

So overall, Youngstown is a mixed bag. It has a special place in my heart. While I have no intention of staying here forever (I really want to go to Pittsburgh to live to be completely honest), it is a decent place to live in the meantime.

The Mang

Conservative Capo of Youngstown