Severely underrated blogger and Downers Grove Reporter opinion page writer Jeff Vrabel alerted me to a potential controversy in the pierogi world.

Mrs. T's is holding a contest to choose the Capitol of the Pierogy Pocket of the United States.

I have issues with this so-called "contest," and only two of them involve grammar. (Pierogi with a "y"? And I think someone needs to read Strunk and White.)

So, "Mrs. T," if that is your real name, kindly explain why all but one of your "capitol city" choices are on the east coast? Are you aware that Chicago has more than one million citizens of Polish ancestry, making it the largest population of Poles outside of Warsaw? And if you want to include Russians in your "pierogy" pocket, which I don't, but you might as well since you've bastardized the pierogi in so many ways already, the west coast has a fair concentration of that ethnicity as well.

But never mind that right now. I must urge you to choose Whiting, Indiana as the clear winner no matter what those provincial New Yorkers might say. Consider Whiting's Pierogi Fest, home of the Nation's Largest Pierogi, the Pierogiettes, and a pierogi-themed parade. Does any other town in the United States celebrate the pierogi in so many wonderful ways?

I don't want to threaten you, but if you fail to give Whiting the recognition it most certainly is due, you might be getting a little visit from the Babushka Brigade.



Yeah. I think I may be a recruit.