Name: Ana Liss
I am: part of the economic development team in the NYS Executive Chamber; Rochester lover; southpaw 
Years in Rochester: 21 if you count birth through high school graduation and 2.5 years working there as an adult
Current Home: Albany, NY


Dear Rochester,

I live about 202 miles away from you now, well outside range of your satellite signals. But I can’t bring myself to change the presets on my car radio. The order on the FM dial is 88.5/90.5/91.5/93.3/94.1/95.1/96.5/97.9/98.9/100.5/101.3/102.3/103.9/106.7/107.3; and my AM presets are simply 1180 and 1370. I miss Beth Adams’ voice anchoring my morning commute, and the Saturday funk parties on WDKX. But maintaining the stations right where they are on the dash of my Honda is somehow reassuring in an uncertain, callous world. 

The act of changing them just seems so permanent and wrong. Like, if I did, it would be akin to switching football teams…giving up carbs…or becoming a citizen of a different country.
Sometimes, when I come home to visit family, I’ll park my car along Buckingham Street, where I used to live. I walk around like it’s still my neighborhood, and I shop at East Ave. Wegmans as though it’s still my grocery store. I’ll even buy milk, despite the 3.5-hour drive back to Albany. 

I think I fell in love with you sometime when it was dark, in the dead of winter, when snowflakes were quietly falling on the ice below the Broad Street Aqueduct. I may have been snug in a booth at Dinosaur BBQ, looking out the window. 

You’re just wonderful. You make me feel warm when it’s freezing. You give me comfort when life is harsh.
I love you just the way you are. The same goes for my car radio presets. 

Love,
Ana