But, but … it’s New Jersey

Posted by Mark Chapman on July 2nd, 2010 at 1:19 am

For­give me, oh great Gar­den State, and lovers thereof. I didn’t realize.

In my last entry in this space, I took a some­what gra­tu­itous, but not entirely inac­cu­rate, shot at New Jer­sey. Now, maybe this slipped right past all of you read­ers, as you are used to see­ing and hear­ing New Jer­sey dis­par­aged on a reg­u­lar basis.

But, as it turns out, this is Be Nice to New Jer­sey Week, and, well, I want to apologize.

Yes, there are some things about New Jer­sey that, um, don’t live up to the Gar­den State moniker. Like, for instance, the north­east quar­ter of the state. And Atlantic City and its ‘burbs. And… Oh, wait. Be NICE to New Jersey.

If you think of the Gar­den State as veg­etable gar­dens, then you begin to get New Jersey’s essence. Or, at least, South Jer­sey. South Jer­sey is heav­ily pop­u­lated by veg­eta­bles. And there are edi­ble plants, too.

(RIM SHOT — Ba-da-BING!)

Seri­ously, Jer­sey has the best straw­ber­ries and blue­ber­ries  I’ve ever eaten. And you should see those Jer­sey toma­toes — the ones in the gar­den, not the casi­nos. (ba-da-BOOM).

Accord­ing to a press release tout­ing a vaca­tion get­away and announc­ing Be Nice to New Jer­sey Week, “the great state of New Jer­sey gave us music leg­ends Frank Sina­tra, Bruce Spring­steen, Jon Bon Jovi, the excite­ment of Atlantic City, 127 miles of Jer­sey Shore beach­front, and the first base­ball game. Ever.”

It also gave us Lit­tle Nicky Scarfo and Skinny D’Amato, med­ical waste on a lot of that shore­line and the per­fect set­ting for “The Sopranos.”

Be NICE!

I spent a year and a half in New Jer­sey one night (ba-da-BING!); no, really, it was a year and a half of eco­nomic exile from Engle­wood. The spring, sum­mer and fall were gore­gous. The 24-hour din­ers were handy (I worked the late shift at the Vineland Daily Jour­nal). And … and .… well, nevermind.

The best thing about the hotel’s Be Nice to New Jer­sey Week get­away? It was avail­able only to peo­ple from New Jer­sey, so they could get away to New York City.

And what could be nicer for New Jer­sey than that?

You can comment on this story below.

If you want to link to this post from your site, use this trackback link.

2 responses to “But, but … it’s New Jersey”

1. Nancy Guenther Chapman

   7 / 2 / 2010
   1:38 am

   I think the only rea­son Mark mar­ried me was so he could spend the rest of his life mak­ing fun of New Jersey.
2. Old Fart

   7 / 3 / 2010
   1:56 am

   We might actu­ally have to “be nice” to New Jer­sey after all.
   Gov. Chris Christie might actu­ally make some­thing of the state besides the brunt of jokes by late night talk show hosts.
   I might be a lit­tle prej­u­diced though, since I was born in Brook­lyn, NY.

Leave a reply:

You must be logged in to post a comment.