Clio, Michigan, USA, Earth

A Great Place To Live, But I Wouldn't Want To Visit There

by Jonathan David Harmon (jharmon@mtu.edu)
written 01 Nov 1994

This article is classified "Real"


Clio (pronounced "kl-eye-oh", despite what anyone not from Clio might tell
you) is a small town nestled between the slightly large cities of Flint and
Saginaw, Michigan.  Despite its image of being primarily a farm town, it is
a normal stop-off point for travelers on one of Michigan's main expressways,
I-75, and even a bit of a cultural center.

The former is mostly because of it's location.  Being located just off of
I-75, almost exactly half way between Flint and Saginaw, it gets both the
Flint traffic going north, and the Saginaw traffic going south.  This has
caused a multitude of fast food restaurants to spring to life over the last
few years, giving Clionians (as the denizens of Clio sometimes call
themselves) a great deal of choice when the urge to harden their arteries
becomes overbearing.  This has also caused the roads to be improved in the
area, to support the influx of hungry travellers.  This has also caused the
cultural sector to realize that this crowd could be taken advantage of.

This latter bit of Clio is what makes it truly special.  The Clio Cast and
Crew, the local theater group, has led the town in the building of an Art
Center and Amphitheater.  These attractions bring in many performers every
summer.  Unfortunately, the Powers That Be still choose to cater to the
farmer image of Clio, and most of these concerts are country stars.  The
two weekend run of the Clio Cast and Crew's summer play is the only solace
for the enlightened in this swamp of bad music.  The Cast and Crew also
puts on fall and spring plays, and they also recently added a winter and
spring youth production by the Clio Electric Youth Theater, a tiny little
division of the Clio Cast and Crew.

Clio High School has also been called outstanding, but this has mostly been
by the author of this article when realizing when he got to college how
amazingly more prepared in calculus and chemistry he was than his fellow
students.  The Clio High English department is also great, but this author
attends a tech school, so that aspect isn't used by him very often (except
in writing articles such as this, and attempting to continue "Skipping Along
The Trail To Acheron" (cf)).  Unfortunately, both of these examples could
be used as evidence either for or against the Clio High English department.

The meaning of the name "Clio" is lost in history.  This is rather ironic,
as Clio, pronounced "kl-ee-oh", was the Muse of History.

Since the residents of Clio pronounce it "kl-eye-oh", however, this basis
for the origin of the name is unlikely.  This leaves room for "humouros"
stories of the origin.  One such story is based on the fact that Clio rests
very near County Line 10 of Michigan on maps.  This line is abbreviated
CL10.  Let me just point out that I sincerely HOPE that this is not where
the name came from.

See also:
  • Earth
  • Skipping Along The Trail To Acheron
  • Harmon, Jonathan David
  • Michigan, USA, Earth

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