The seemingly deserted city of Worcester reminds me of a scene out of a
western, where the tumbleweed comes rolling down an empty road on the wind --
except here, the tumbleweed would be snow. And instead of a flat landscape,
imagine tall cliffs rising up on each side of you. Those cliffs would also
be -- you guessed it -- snow. The innocent, pure white stuff looks pretty
when road cleaners spray it onto the sides of streets, creating those
cliffs. But when the road is the only place to walk, and you happen to be
walking as the road cleaners go by, the snow spray feels like an ice
shower.

I had such a shower Tuesday morning while walking to Worcester's emergency
management center, in an old fire house. It was surprisingly refreshing
since, as a native midwesterner, I had over-layered and was experiencing
heat waves amidst the Arctic landscape. Perhaps they don't do such
enthusiastic layering here; at the emergency center, city staff were
walking around with light jackets and no gloves.

City Manager Ed Augustus was upbeat despite his city being buried beneath
two feet of snow. Most people heeded official warnings and stayed off the
roads over the past several hours, making the city's response easier. That
was definitely different from the Midwest. People drive in absolutely
anything there, and are frankly scornful of anyone daunted by the
prospect. But that's the Midwest, where we stop and help move cars that
have gotten stuck in snowbanks by tapping their bumper with our own cars,
and then gradually accelerating to force the car free. It's a skill.

I saw no such activity on my way back from the emergency center. Instead,
by early afternoon, I saw just one snow-blower and one dedicated man with
a shovel. That man said any work he was doing was immediately being
covered up with new snow. Asked why he continued with the seemingly futile
task, he said it was better than doing nothing.

And that, I understand. Midwesterners share New Englanders' suck-it-up
attitude. ...Or perhaps that's just the natural survival response to being
buried under two feet of snow.