I live in the region of Pennsylvania called the Poconos, it is a mountainous wilderness dotted with old time resorts and newer waterparks. The subregion where I live in Hawley, PA is called the Lake Region, because of the large Lake Wallenpaupack, which is a man-made lake with a hydroelectric dam on one end near Hawley, PA. It is a beautiful region with some very decidedly conservative family values and politics. Having worked on both the Barack Obama campaign as a Democratic Poll Watcher for Greentown and the Nick Troiano campaign as a Precinct Captain for the Borough of Hawley, I have a good lay of the landscape when it come to voter registration and political engagement. Here people still by and large engage in the concept of religion and politics being outside of what is considered polite conversation. Engaging voters in registration efforts at the Wayne County Fair, was not an easy task and very few people where interested during the Trump and Clinton square-off. Also it should be noted while the local Walmart does not carry Confederate Flags, the Wayne County Fair is littered with the traitorous symbolism. This is the Union, but some have a "lost cause" complex.
There is a great amount of racism during Black Lives Matters discussions and protests with young adults and trucks being driven at protesters only to get a light slap on the wrist for such intimidation of peaceful protesters.
Also there are a few graffiti incidents of swatiskas on playgrounds and a general antipathy to New York Jewish community at times. This is really a dreadful aspect of an earlier time in the Poconos when discrimination on that basis was actually advertised by some resorts. To read an account of that time the book entitled, "Better in the Poconos" is an accurate read.
I love the new diversity that is part of the current Poconos, we have people from all over visiting and that is a good thing. Moreover cuisine is opening up beyond Italian-American and German cuisine. We have some decent Chinese take-outs, and sit down restaurants. Some Mexican cuisine and in Monroe County we are blessed with Thai, Jamaican, Indian and Japanese restaurants. There is even the French Manor for high-end French dining.
Diners are a plenty as well, and some of them of the finest quality. Sandwich shops and cafes and the like are plentiful too. The coffee house has come to the Lake Region with Coccon Coffee House in Hawley at the Hawley Silk Mill and Black and Brass Coffee in Honesdale, PA with two locations, Main Street, and by the Waterfalls on Willow Ave.
A coffee house is a progressive environment and with the arts, and open mics at some of these locations, you can really count on civic engagement with people on the issues of the day.
Fracking is a big issue here with environmentalists and armchair economists squaring off on either side of the issue. So is the Coal industry something some people look at with a conservative's nostalgia. There are wind turbines up in Waymart, PA and the electrodam in Hawley, PA and the Delaware River Conservancy all bring a modern environmentalism to the region. The Lackawac Sanctuary preserves a glacial lake, not man-made close to Lake Wallenpaupack where you can observe natural plants indigenous to this region.
For the spiritual the Greentown Labyrinth is a good walk, when reservations are made in advance. The Columcille Megalith Park in Bangor, PA is a lovely take-in next to the progressively Christian, Kirkridge Retreat Center. For Yoga and other Meditative arts, the Himalayan Institute located at a former Catholic Seminary campus in Honesdale, PA brings a wellness and mindfulness approach to spirituality. There are other religious groups with retreats and centers in the area, be sure to research your particular denomination's resources in the area.
In Newfoundland, PA there is the decidedly conservative and radical gun issue advocacy Sanctuary Church by Rev. Sean Moon, of the former Unification Church family. This group holds gun rights rallies and Trump political dinners.
This will be a hard won area in the next electoral challenge. God Bless the Poconos! God Bless America!
