Representing the Garden State

I am from New Jersey and I am proud of it. While I can enjoy a good Jersey joke as much as the next person, sometimes I feel like enough is enough. Now even my professors at Conn are using New Jersey as a punch line.

I have lived in New Jersey all my life and when I came to Connecticut College I was surprised to find out how much the rest of the country stigmatizes my home state. I first experienced this “hating” on New Jersey during my freshman year, well before shows like Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives of New Jersey even existed. While most of the college seemed to be from New England (with a number of New Yorkers and splashes of students representing nearly everywhere else), I noticed a lack of students from New Jersey. Was this because once people left New Jersey they were embarrassed to admit where they were from? In the beginning, when asked that question, I too said “just outside of New York City,” to avoid the accusations.

“Dirty Jersey! Noo Joisey! Jersey smells terrible! It’s all guidos! You’re all in the mafia!” These were stereotypes I had heard, but hadn’t actually experienced before college because they just aren’t true. Like any stereotype, you cannot generalize an entire group, population or in this case state. Now with the rise of reality television, the entire country has taken Jersey ridicule and kicked it up a notch.

Here I present a defense of New Jersey:

1) We’re not all guidos. I really enjoy the show Jersey Shore, and I think most people understand that the ridiculous characters on the show aren’t an actual representation of the shore or the entire state (especially since only one cast member is actually from New Jersey—six are from New York). But in case you don’t get that, we’re not all guidos. New Jersey is actually one of the most ethnically diverse states in the country.

2) The entire state does not smell. This myth comes from the New Jersey Turnpike, one of the central highways in the state, which does in fact stink in some locations. This may be due to the fact that many students’ only experience with the state has come while passing through on the turnpike. New Jersey is a leading industrial state, and sometimes factories in the proximity of the highway give off a foul odor, just like in any other state.

3) The entire state is not dirty. (This includes both actual cleanliness and sexual promiscuity—not all Jersey girls are trashy). Again, like any state with a large urban base, yes, there is garbage. But my backyard is not dirty, and my hometown does not smell. I used to go running at Garret Mountain, a nature preserve in the midst of the major North Jersey cities, and it is beautiful, clean and smells the way a mountain should. New Jersey is called the Garden State for a reason. Along with the large urban community, a good portion of Jersey is still farmland. Beauty in Jersey is as abundant as it is anywhere else.

4) No, we are not all in the mob. The television drama The Sopranos helped propagate this idea, and while it was exciting when they filmed scenes at my high school or when the final scene of the show took place at Holsten’s, an ice cream place in my neighboring town, it doesn’t make it true. Sure, there are probably members of the mafia living in Jersey (Real Housewife Teresa Giudice’s husband, I’m looking at you), but again, no, we are not all in the mob. And for that matter, no we are not all Italian.

5) Jersey girls don’t pump gas. This one is true. Before coming to college, I never pumped my own gas. New Jersey is one of the two states in the country where there are no self-service gas pumps (Oregon is the other state). Along with this convenience, New Jersey also boasts the cheapest gas prices in the country.

6) New Jersey is known for many things besides the negative stereotypes. Like our bagels in North Jersey and our tomatoes in South Jersey. Go try them. Our pizza is just as good as New York’s. Then there are New Jersey diners. It’s been called the diner capital of the world, and that’s because you can’t go far without finding one. It’s a stereotype we’re proud of.

7) Many famous people come from New Jersey, and I don’t just mean Real Housewife Danielle Staub. Just to name a few: Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Grover Cleveland, Zach Braff, Kristen Dunst, Meryl Streep, Tara Reid, The Jonas Brothers, Lea Michelle, Judy Blume, Buzz Aldrin, John Travolta, Anne Hathaway, Jon Stewart, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein were all either born or lived in New Jersey for a significant portion of their lives.

8) Interesting fact: In the United States version of the board game Monopoly the properties are named after streets in Atlantic City, New Jersey (dating back to original version the Parker Brothers bought the rights to in 1935).

9) New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the country. So it seems people keep on coming. Stigmas be damned. And why shouldn’t they? With the perks of being close to New York City, the abundance of beaches (yes, I do go down the shore, a common vacation hot spot for families long before the television show), and the rich culture and history, New Jersey is a wonderful place to visit and live.

I now know that there are plenty of people at Conn from New Jersey (although it’s always exciting to find one), but just because there are more of us doesn’t stop the criticism. Yes, the South Park episode where the state of New Jersey tries to take over the whole country was funny. But New Jersey isn’t just a punch line. It’s my home and I love it. So here’s to New Jersey, a small state that makes a big impression! •

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