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A native Peorian, Marty Wombacher moved back to his hometown in 2012 after living in New York City for nearly two decades. Since his return, he’s become one of Peoria’s most recognized faces through his popular blog, Meanwhile, Back In Peoria, which chronicles his rediscovery of the people and places in Peoria and the surrounding region. From 1990 to 1993, Marty was the editor, publisher and primary writer for People of Peoria (later, simply POP) magazine, which earned praise from the Chicago Tribune and national recognition in Advertising Age and Spin magazines. While in New York, he edited and published Fishwrap, a satirical magazine about magazines, as well as freelance writing for the New York Post, New York Daily News, Time Out New York, Gadfly magazine, Nerve magazine and numerous other publications. He has also written and published several books and created three other, now-retired blogs chronicling his life in Manhattan. Marty was kind enough to answer some questions for us, and fortunately, 10 of them were suitable for publishing in a family-friendly magazine.
- Favorite leisure activity: A solo organ recital.
- My last purchase: An eight pack of 16-ounce Budweisers. It's the king of beers!
- Words to live by: "Cheese it, it's the cops!" It's kind of an all-purpose statement that works in just about any situation that life can hand you.
- Which historical figure do you most identify with? Casper the Friendly Ghost, because I'm often white as a ghost and can be friendly sometimes too!
- What is your motto? If at first you don't succeed, then get used to eating government cheese. Loser!
- Favorite vacation spot outside of the U.S: Creve Coeur. I love to summer there!
- My life won’t be complete until I… die.
- What’s one thing you should throw away but haven’t? My dream of becoming a star accordionist on The Lawrence Welk Show.
- Which of the five senses do you treasure most? Gomer Pyle—he cracks me up!
- If you could spend one hour doing absolutely anything, what would you do? Watching back-to-back episodes of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. a&s
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