Are there any Lititzonians out there?
Published by Becky S May 8th, 2005 in travels
Frankly, I am shocked that no enterprising weblogger has taken on the project of documenting the life and times of Lititz, Pennsylvania. I’d do it myself, but I’m only there a few times a year. My current Lititz goal is to track down “shoe man,” a former state trooper who sits in his front yard and reads while wearing women’s shoes. Shoe man lives near my parents, but he’s never out when I’m visiting, and even if he was, I’m not sure I’d be able to snap a stealth photo. My mom, who recently retired and is therefore on the prowl around town, sees him all the time. She reports that one day last week shoe man was sporting white strappy pumps in the morning but switched to non-strappy white pumps for the afternoon.
Lititz is full of characters. Some of these characters, like shoe man, are quirky in an amusing and harmless kind of way, and some are downright maddening in a racist and homophobic kind of way. But Lititz is where I was born and raised, so I have a great affection for the town.
Thankfully, Lititz’s online presence has improved over the last few years. I always knew Lititzpa.com as a local news aggregator (remember when a Lititz woman was outed as a *gasp* Democrat in USA Today?), but it turns out that the site also hosts Lititz-oriented online discussion forums.
And at long last, The Lititz Record Express has some online content. Hell, the letters to the editor alone are enough material to fuel a weblog. Some recent reader comments*:
- Women with drivers licenses should be more considerate to other people.
- Have you tried to blow the paper wrapper off a straw recently? Most of the time it just simply can’t be done.
As the editor, you have the right to edit what gets printed; you don’t have to print every letter written.
Best of all, there is—get this—an RSS feed for Lititz Record Express letters to the editor.
So where are the Lititz webloggers? Surely Pastor Distler from the Grace Church is not the only Lititzonian with a website? Someone has to keep the blogosphere updated on shoeman’s latest fashions and report on the nerfarious Moravians and their early morning trombone serenades. And what about the hunt for the Lititz Springs Park vandals who destroyed the famous lion’s head carving (pictured above)? I demand hard-hitting commentary and analysis!
*In fairness, this list of letters is very selective.
characters fashion lititz shoe man travels
By any chance is the shooting the wad of paper off straws the hidden subtext in your love of bendy straws? That’s quite a colorful small town. I wonder how many women would make the shoe switch in the course of a day.
I’m not entirely sure just one blogger could cover all that is Lititz. A blog team, a group, a Lititz web ring, perhaps.
I mean, a lot of shit goes down there. Every day. If it’s not a paying position, I don’t see how one person could keep up.
I did see the story about the Lion, though. Sad. Senseless Lititz mayhem.
Unlike, you know, the regular Lititz mayhem. The thoughtful kind…
I work 5 minutes from Lititz, and I’ve never once seen shoe man. I must seriously be missing out on the Lititzness.
Ami, I nominate you to fill this void by tracking down shoe man. I can’t quite figure out Ricky’s proximity to Lititz. He’s a tad liberal for that neck of the woods (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Oh, and Sassy, I don’t think that LRE letters contain a lot of subtext, though I could be wrong.
Yes, the shoe switch is perplexing. Is there a rule I didn’t know about concerning strappy shoes and the time of day it’s appropriate to wear them? Or perhaps shoe man is just showing off his collection.
Hey, thanks for mentioning us at LititPA.com and totally blowing over Lititz With a Twist!
Yes, I know the state trooper of whom you speak … even featured a knock-off character based on him in a short story that placed as a finalist in the 72nd Writer’s Digest Annual Short Story Competition the other year. That Story, HOME FREE also featured the old St. Paul’s at the heart of so much controversy (ie: save it / raze it) over the past number of years. I live four doors down from it.
HOME FREE is due out in audio at www.tellyouatale.com very soon but I think in its current incarnation you so-called “shoe-man” might have been edited out. I’ll have to double check.
Anyway, fun to find other Lititzians on the web. Adieu.
– gar
Well Becky, it looks like Lititz got its just rewards today. Tell the guys down at the local airport that the governor of Kentucky tried that capital evacuation trick already. They’ll have to get up pretty early in the morning to get ahead of Kentuckians.
Yeah, but have Kentuckians ever managed to evacuate the national capitol?
Philip, it took me a while to figure out what you’re talking about. The guy who flew into restricted territory and caused the chaos in DC yesterday is from Lititz! All the more reason for the Lititz beat to get more online coverage.
However, the story about the vandalized lion head still ranks higher in a Google news search.
http://politics.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050511/ts_afp/usattackswhouse_050511224534
What a thrill to be surfing the web and see that my name and blog was mentioned by you! I have been in Lititz only since August 1, 2005. I spent the last 9 years in northern Indiana. I am the Senior Pastor at Grace Church. Along with a blog I post every weekday through our church website (lgbc.org), you can also listen to many of my sermons. You’ll be amazed how many stories you will find in these messages regarding the “culture shock” of moving from the midwest to Lancaster County. Bottom line is that my family and I love it here in Lititz and we love Grace Church. Feel free to visit us some Sunday!
OOPS! I meant August 1, 2004 (I’ve been here for about 9 months)! Sorry for the typo! Have a great day!
While it may not cover the scintillating day-to-day drama of the local characters, Dale Groff, of Forgotten Seasons B&B, covers much of the 250+ year history of Lititz on his blog at http://forgottenseasons.blogspot.com
(Heck, his house was built in 1735!)
-Gregg