Next week, I head out on a two-week vacation. With pit stops in two of North America’s greatest cities — New York and Toronto — I will spend most of my time in Niagara Falls, USA. That’s my hometown.

I haven’t been back in two years. And while I hear things have improved, that’s what they always say. I still expect Main Street’s whitewashed windows and vacant stores. In many ways, Springsteen’s classic “My Hometown” is about Niagara Falls:

They’re closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks/Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain’t coming back to your hometown.

My Dad is one of the lucky ones.

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