By JJ Devaney
Published in the Sligo Weekender on February 28, 2012
I’ve been writing this
column about my experiences in America for some months now with one glaring
omission. I haven’t written about New Jersey, the place that has been my home
for the best part of the last four years.
Lately I’ve been giving New
Jersey a lot of thought. Quite apart from the fact I miss the ‘Garden State’
immensely I’ve also been listening to Bruce Springsteen.
Bruce is without doubt New
Jersey’s favourite son and to me he represents all that’s good about New
Jersey. Often when Americans talk about New Jersey the conversation is far from
complimentary.
Firstly because of its
geographical location (wedged underneath NY and Connecticut and hanging out
over the Delaware estuary) New Jersey has been given the moniker ‘the Armpit of
America’.
It doesn’t get much worse
than being compared to an armpit. Secondly industrial North Jersey is a
sprawling mass of factories, refineries, breweries and power plants. If you
want an idea of its ugliness take a quick look at the opening credits of HBO’sThe
Sopranos as mob boss Tony Soprano
drives down the NJ Turnpike accompanied by flashes of its uncomplimentary
industry.
Finally the abominable
MTV’s Jersey Shore. The less said
about that the better. Suffice to say our erstwhile Governor Chris Christie
refused MTV a tax rebate due to the producers based on shooting in NJ because
he felt it painted such an uncomplimentary view of Jersey.
None of
the above is the Real New
Jersey. It’s not the Jersey I know and love. Granted I was a bit taken aback
when I first landed at Newark airport in the aforementioned North Jersey. (It
has since taken on a postmodern grandeur for me but at first sight I wasn’t
overly enthused).
But New
Jersey is a State of treasures rarely alluded to by the media. The jewel in its
crown is it long Atlantic coastline of beautiful beaches and idyllic little
towns.
I was
lucky enough to live in two of those towns: Belmar and Point Pleasant. Almost
every exit on from Springsteen’s home town of Long Branch along the Garden State
Parkway is dotted with these beach towns.
When the
summer comes an east coast migration occurs every weekend as the main
thoroughfare of NJ, the Parkway, is jammed with New Yorkers and North Jerseyans
as they look to escape the rat race for a couple of days.
To the west are the verdant and green hills of the
Delaware valley. That famous and historic river demarcates the state line
between NJ and PA (Pennsylvania).
Further North are the mountains and lakes that seems
to pill over from the Poconos mountains of PA and NY State. In the Fall the colour change of leaves
in New Jersey rivals that of Massachusetts and Connecticut.
The New Jersey sky has always been a fascination of
mine. Sunrise or sun-set the colours that streak across the sky have an unreal
beauty. It’s a cliché to say they look like someone painted them but I never
fail to ask that question.
And then there is the people and their often shiny sun
kissed faces. They can be loud and they are in your face just as much as New
Yorkers but they are warm and kind and generous and they love to party. They
even built their own version of Las Vegas in Atlantic City.
I’ve spent some
fantastic times in Jersey. I’ve lived my own Springsteen soundtrack and I can
even say that I’ve penned my own version of ‘’Jersey Girl’’ many times and with
many different muses.
Now I am aware
that many of Bruce Springsteen’s songs are thematically about escape from New
Jersey; running from many of the paces I’ve just mentioned. But these themes are
about the universal struggle of the ordinary man.
Bruce may
appear to have some underlying issues with good old ‘’Jerz’’ but in his songs
he always returns there. And in my own heart I’ve never left there.
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