{"id":27,"date":"2022-11-03T20:18:04","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T20:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/?p=27"},"modified":"2024-08-06T16:05:29","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T16:05:29","slug":"what-does-it-mean-to-be-from-scranton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/what-does-it-mean-to-be-from-scranton\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does It Mean to Be From Scranton?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Ana
Ana De Los Santos (Photo by Yun Park)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s a beautiful city with great people. I am a city girl who is used to the noise of the city, transportation, and everything. You can find them all around here, from mountains, malls, and great restaurants including Brazilian, Hispanic, Chineses, Japanese, Greek, Italian, and you name it. It’s a well-diverse city, but a lot of people don\u2019t know about it.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ana De Los Santos, a recent\u00a0homebuyer in Scranton<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\"Tamara
Tamara Pilger (Photo by Will Bennett)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

I opened my bakery because everyone was miserable after Covid, I wanted to bring some joy to people\u2019s lives. In a word, its about fostering a community.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Tamara Pilger, owner of Pilger\u2019s Pastries<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\"\"
Joe McGurl and Erich Hunisch (Photo by Sydney Sladovnik)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There’s a lot of great art and just interacting and involving yourself in that kind of community down here. And since Scranton is not like a large metropolitan area, it’s more, like, tight knit.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Joe McGurl, left<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What I noticed when I came back home (to Scranton) was just like there really was something like there\u2019s a magic I feel in Scranton and when I came back I really missed it.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Erich Hunisch, right
\nBoth are baristas at Adezzo Coffee Shop in Scranton.\u00a0<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\"Photo
Photo by Yuheng Zhan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’m not a Democrat. I’m not a Republican. But if they give me a choice to select one, I’m going to select Democrats. I’ve been living in Scranton for 32 years, and I think Democrats always do something good for the middle class, and Republicans only help millionaires and billionaires, but they don’t need help.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Swami Econolodge, an engineer and an Indian immigrant<\/cite><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Amber Viola (Photo by Kailyn Rhone)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s home, you know, it\u2019s where my family and friends are. People may not all stay here but a lot of people come back\u2026 because it just such a homely place. That\u2019s why I think they used Scranton as like a poster child for America because it\u2019s like the \u2018all American\u2019 city.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Amber Viola, graduate student at Marywood University and a mother<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\"Mary
Mary Ann Moran-Savakinus (Photo by Hyunsoo Rim)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I hope people who live in Scranton have a sense of the heritage of Scranton because to me, that’s the most important thing. I’m biased because I’m from the (Lackawanna) Historical Society, but I feel that when you look at our past, you get a very strong connection to the people who created the city that we have today.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mary Ann Moran-Savakinus, Executive Director of the Lackawanna Historical Society<\/cite><\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\"Christine
Christine Romanovitch (Photo by Rachel Nostrant)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s weird. It’s like going back in time.
\n\u2014 Christine Romanovitch, on coming back to Scranton for her high school’s ’80s classes reunion after moving to Seattle, Washington.<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Danielle Chesek (Photo by Douglas Gorman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There’s something about Scranton that I’m drawn to. It’s just, it’s me and I’m very much a part of my community. My husband, he has eight siblings. They all went through the Scranton school district and my parents have been living here their entire lives as well. So for me it’s a sense of community and, like I said, it’s home. I want to see this city flourish.
\n\u2014 Danielle Chesek, a Scranton School Board Director<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\"Bryan
Bryan Williams (Photo by Segun Olakoyenikan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scranton to me is a unique and wonderful place, combining so much history, so many wonderful people, and so much potential for success.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gerald Hetman, Community Development Specialist at NeighborWorks Northeastern Pennsylvania<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\"Jenny
Jenny Gonzales (Photo by Anna Russi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For me, now it means home and opportunities. This is where the majority of my family is, because this has been a place that has given my family opportunities that other places have not.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jenny Gonzales, immigration advocate at Community Justice Project\u00a0<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n

What I noticed growing up is that a lot of people end up moving back here and growing their families here. It’s a good place for that. I feel like families here, the generations they do go away, but they come back.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Mary Rosencrance<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\"Maureen
Maureen McGuigan (Photo by Diana Bravo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s big enough to be interesting, but it’s small enough to feel like a community. And I think \u00a0we call ourselves the electric city, but it’s also eclectic.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Maureen McGuigan, Lackawanna\u00a0County Director of Arts and Culture<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents of the Pennsylvania city reflect on their home. Continue reading What Does It Mean to Be From Scranton?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-featured","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Scranton-collage-small.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":405,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions\/405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/48hoursinelectriccity\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}