Stephen Fry In America by Fry Stephen

Author:Fry, Stephen
Language: eng
Format: epub

Well-​known residents and natives: Herbert Hoover (31st President), Mamie Eisenhower, ‘Buffalo’ Bill Cody, Grant ‘American Gothic’ Wood, Meredith ‘Music Man’ Wilson, Bix Beiderbecke, Bill Bryson, Johnny Carson, George ‘Superman’ Reeves, Donna Reed, John Wayne, Kate Mulgrew, Tom Arnold, Michelle Monaghan, Ashton Kutcher, Brandon ‘Superman’ Routh, Elijah Wood.

Stephen Fry In America

OHIO

‘I wish I could tell you of great adventures enjoyed in Ohio. I am photographed at the state line and…well, that is it.’

Yes, Ohio’s State Beverage really is tomato juice. Not a word of a lie. I have not included the other states’ choice of beverage because all but five choose milk (mostly because they are states that have cattle in them) and the lists would become repetitive. Only Ohio goes for tomato juice. Maine has Moxie listed, a weird fizzy potion composed of gentian root and other bitter herbs. It claims to be America’s first soda pop. Alabama is the only state to elect an ardent spirit, Conecuh Ridge Whiskey. California has wine, predictably enough, while Florida and Massachusetts each opt for their native orange and cranberry juices. Indiana, pathetically, chooses water. Twenty-​three states do not have a State Beverage at all. What spoilsports. Boo to them.

In a moving ceremony on 6 October 1965 the following was enacted into the State Legislature:

5.08 Official state beverage.

Text of Statute

The canned, processed juice and pulp of the fruit of the herb Lycopersicon esculentum, commonly known as tomato juice, is hereby adopted as the official beverage of the state.

It’s up there with Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights.

Neil Young

I wish I could tell you of great adventures enjoyed in Ohio and great sights seen. I fear I have really done the state no favours at all. I can’t even claim to have driven through it. I paralleled its border when I was in Kentucky all those weeks ago and I parallel its border now on the way to Indiana. I am photographed at the state line, I record a small piece to camera about Neil Young’s song ‘Ohio’. And…well, that is it. Farewell, Buckeye State, land of contrasts. We will carry you in our hearts for ever. And sorry.

Entirely not Ohio’s fault. It was a matter of logistics. Although maybe Ohio is to blame for bordering so many states in such a contradictory fashion. That is why it calls itself ‘The Heart Of It All’, I suppose. It isn’t a state so much as a connective tissue, joining the east, north, south and Midwest. It is technically designated an East North Central state, which tells you just how confused it is. It touches Canada to the north, Kentucky to the south and Pennsylvania to the East. There are big towns, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus (so much begins with C…even its state bird and flower) and there are Akron and Dayton, all big enough to make the state the seventh most populous in the union.

Neil Young’s ‘Ohio’, incidentally, is all about the shootings by Ohio National Guardsmen, in May 1970, of thirteen unarmed student protesters on the campus at Kent State University, Ohio.

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