The people of the Rochester area are some of the nicest folks you could ever meet. In the town of Sweden I found kids and adults of all races playing and working together in harmony, black-and-white cookie style. Local historians are active community leaders who write poems about things like dogs and hamburger stands. The centerpiece of the town is a homemade September 11th statue. People ask you if you need directions and want to know how you're doing if you don't look familiar. At the local college, a student who couldn't get my library card to work went out of her way to find loopholes in the system, and then finally checked my books out under her own name so I could take them home. That's classy!