I was born in a village just outside of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Without a doubt, Fond du Lac is not just around the corner from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. For instance, I doubt there are many natives of Johnstown, or of Pennsylvania in general, who have attended an annual, bratwurst festival as I did every year when I was child.

Growing up in the small town of Delmont, PA, I always felt like our community there straddled an interesting line geographically: travel west and you quickly encounter the suburbs of Pittsburgh and eventually the city itself, but travel east and you are just as quickly surrounded by rural open country and mountains.