New Jersey

I'd like to meet:

Everyone in New Jersey ...

Music:

All Music about Me " New Jersey "...

Movies:

All Movies About Me New Jersey "...

Television:

All Television Shows about Me " New Jersey "...

Books:

All Books About Me " New Jersey "...

Heroes:

New Jersey , numbering some seventy-five thousand inhabitants in 1760, was settled almost wholly by English people. We are probably up to about 9 million currently, but if you include all of the folks, huh hmm, that are here visiting permanently, the number is probably much higher.   It goes without saying that we were mixed bunch from the beginning.  A few Dutch, Swedes, and Germans were scattered here and there, but no in such numbers as to affect society. The Quakers occupied the western part, while the eastern portion was settled by emigrants from England, New England, and a few from Scotland and the southern colonies. Almost the entire population were farmers.   We have a rich tradition on our soil that was pivotal in winning our nation’s independence. I was the third state that joined the union, btw, not too shabby, that took balls, let me tell you.   Despite our long standing traditions, some misinformed people attempt to disparage me or my inhabitants as classless suburbanites without taste, refinement or culture.  Some critics wonder how NJ residents can even get out of bed in the morning living in such a dreary and artless place where days are mostly spent battling stiff identity problems and tackling our collective Oedipus complex with New York. According to their view, we, by definition, go about drifting from one place to another in between bland fast food eateries mindlessly consuming at one of our colossal shopping malls scattered on every corner. But at the end of the day we can all smirk gleefully. Despite our ridiculously high property taxes and the ongoing threat of pizzeria, Chinese food, nail salon and Laundromat business owners, we bask in the realization that most other places, although they appear fun and frilly on the surface, all end up sucking big time in the end. We laugh at the generalizations thrust upon us and we sit silently hoping that these illusions keeps all of those judgmental, pretentious, and thickheaded fools, out of our state.…There is one thing that someone who isn’t from New Jersey will never completely understand until they’ve lived here. As hard as these some might try to capture New Jersey’s raison d'être, they are remiss at finding anything substantial or about our state.   There is confusion even among our most ardent New Jersey supporters. They misleadingly believe that New Jersey is unique and special because of its temperate climate or the convenience and accessibility to everything—the mountains, proximity to big cities, shore spots, low natural disaster quotient, etc. The accessibility to all things is only a bonus and so is having a white Christmas without the brutality of the high north, but these reasons do not strike at the heart of what makes New Jersey special.   

Simply, the thing that makes New Jersey special is the people.    You simply cannot find another group of people, so seemingly diverse and without any apparent cultural tradition, produce so many brilliant, creative, and down to earth people.  Maybe we can be a bit cold or smug at times. We can dazzle folks with our fast talk, brusque mannerisms, or perhaps our aggressive driving can leave a boiling impression, but once you get to know someone who grew up in New Jersey and you develop that trust, you will have a friend for life with a minimum of BS and there are studies that show that we have less hypocrisy and ignorance per capita according to recent polls.  

  What we lose in a common identity, we gain by a long standing tradition and honorable code that unites us all.  Shortly after our first steps were taken as infants, we overheard our parents discussing the holy grail of New Jersey life. If you’ve come to New Jersey to live later in life, you quickly learned the simple guiding truth from talking with neighbors. We share a common sense of direction and place that goes to the very core of who we are. These New Jersey Parkway and turnpike signs give us more than meaning and direction in our lives. Aside from the modern helter skelter in our postmodern world, we connect. Each exit is more than a simple sign. It represents and symbolizes a common understanding—a mutual respect of a place we call or called home, and NJ residents never forget where they come from.  And that my friends, in a nutshell, is why NJ residents choose to live in one of the most environmentally jaundiced areas of the country. We can tolerate the smoke stacks, the landfills, organized crime, high property taxes, highest concentration of lawyers per sq/ft, parkway tolls that were supposed to be temporary, beaches that take Amex.    Maybe you have heard about something called the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island. Maybe you are aware that we have no exceptional sports teams of our own, yet teams find it convenient to operate here and still call it home. NJ’ites are so welcoming and friendly that we accept people from all backgrounds, races, creeds, gender preference; unless of course you’re from South Jersey , in which case, you’ll strangely find pockets of communities uniquely devoted to Nascar, pick-up trucks and Budweiser.  There are myriad activities going on in New Jersey at any given time. You are only limited by how far you stretch your imagination. The dream is alive in our lovely state despite crippling property taxes and over zealous real estate market that makes it almost impossible to maintain any standard of living.    New Jersey was the 3rd state in the USA; it became a state on December 18, 1787. And we continue to carry out the tradition of uniqueness and inventiveness. So hold on to your hats, hold your heads high ladies and gentleman, citizens of New Jersey are Simply the Best!