Ilya Shapiro has an article today at Tech Central Station in praise of my home state.
Whenever I visit my alma mater, I am reminded of how beautiful a state New Jersey is. Yes, you read that right: The land of Tony Soprano and James “I am a gay American” McGreevey, of big hair and nasal accents, is officially wonderful.
Stop your snickering. No, I haven’t been drinking from the Hudson River or partaking of Camden’s choicest refined cocaine. But the fact remains that “Joisey,” the densest state in the union — in population per square mile, not IQ (in which it does rather well given the concentration of telecom and biotech firms) — has plenty to commend it.
It can’t do cities, mind you — the benighted Trenton as capital? The afterthoughtish Newark as major city? The flagship state school in New Brunswick? — but the rest of the place is an American gem, both topographically and historically, and even culturally. If you get off the Turnpike and forget about the chemical plants you see out the window of the Metroliner you take into New York, New Jersey really is (no, really) the Garden State.
Snicker if you must, but he’s right. I grew up in the Jersey suburbs and joke about it as much as the next guy but, on the whole, New Jersey really is the a blend of everything America has to offer. Urban areas that we’re all wise to avoid, rurals farms that still provide the best blueberries in the country, and suburbs that supply New York and Philadelphia with workers on a daily basis.
Whenever someone finds out I grew up in New Jersey, the first thing they usually ask is —- what exit ? Very funny, but the Turnpike doesn’t cover the entire state. Next time you’re driving through, get off the highway and take a look.
And, since you asked, its Exit 9.
