Cows and Crew
By Chloe Campbell
There are five soil provinces in Maryland. Cecil County straddles two of them: The Piedmont and Lower Coastal Plain. It is fitting that I should live in a county that lies between two major areas, sharing them fairly equally. Since I entered high school, I have gone between two major areas, sharing them fairly equally.
I have grown up on a farm in North East, Maryland, running from cows and making forts in the hay bales. In the summer I walk back to the pond to cool off and go fishing. We go to baseball games at the local community college. When the Cecil County Fair comes around, it’s time to see who can make the best key lime pie: Ma Weaver or Aunt Ada? (This year it was Ma—she won Grand Champion). My mom and I make black raspberry preserves along with her famous homemade salsa and canned peaches in the sweltering kitchen. We display all the blue ribbons.
Then when school starts in the fall, my other life kicks in. Every day except Sunday I commute to crew practice in Wilmington, Delaware. The city is home to most of my peers in crew, so they live a much more fast-paced lifestyle. The tiny parking lot is filled with BMWs and Mercedes’, and the conversation centers around who is the most recent Ivy acceptance. They may have heard of a town like North East, but only because they passed through it to get to their boats at the North East River Marina. With my crew friends, I go to shows in the city and sleep over at their huge old houses in the wealthiest parts of north Wilmington. Instead of indulging in a pork barbeque sandwich at the fair, we go to The Melting Pot for gourmet chocolate fondue.
It took me awhile to get used to being the only rower who lives south of the Mason Dixon line. I learned to laugh at and show pride in the face of playful comments such as, “How are the cows, Chloe?” Often I am accused of having a Southern accent or “talkin’ country.” I eventually became accustomed to navigating inner-city Wilmington and locking my car doors. These two worlds made me find even more joy in my “farm-girl” lifestyle, as well as a respect and excitement for the city-paced lifestyle.
I think I have gained invaluable confidence from going between the farm and the city. I feel like I can find common ground with almost anyone. Between growing up in North East and being exposed to upper-class city life, I have also increased my tolerance for all lifestyles. I have been able to explore the diversity of the city through rowing and still fit in my narrower scope of Tome School and Cecil County. Maybe one day my crew friends will want to see the eighty-acre farm and even come to a bam party.
