Jersey Pride

"The Jersey girl..a love of an unpretentious good time, and a certain sense of style. Jersey girls are about attitude. They're about eating pizza, drinking beer, having great hair - and enjoying it all..She's got a mouth on her. She says what she means. And she's got a nice, cheerful laugh..Bottom line, all of them are sexy as hell." -The Star Ledger (see http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jersey%20girl&defid=2644246 for full quote)

I don't even know if this quote was even published in The Star Ledger (i'm trying to find out when) but being born and raised in Jersey, I see the truth to it. Though MTV's Jersey Shore portrays it otherwise. That show's so funny, it's ridiculous, you can't help watching it. It's like watching a train wreck. It's so bad it's good.

Most viewers have to keep in mind that just because the show takes place at a shore house in Seaside during August 2009, only one of the cast members, Sammi Sweetheart, is actually from New Jersey, the other cast members are from New York and Pauly D is from Rhode Island. You gotta love their nicknames like "The Situation".

These people don't define what being from Jersey means. My definition:

It's taking pride in saying "caw-fee" and "taw-lk" with that accent you don't recognize until you're called out on it. It's loving and being proud of Bon Jovi and Springsteen, even though their prime was 20 years ago. Not everyone in Jersey sounds like Joe Pesci and Marissa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny. It's knowing you have a reputation for being an aggressive Jersey driver and being proud of it. Hell, it's even bringing that aggression with you to the mall during the holidays where the speed limit of the person driving in front of you or walking in front of you is going to slow. It's about knowing where the good diners are, some even have liquor licenses. It's about being Italian; everyone has some Italian blood in them and if you don't you know someone Italian. And you always have some kind of connection to someone; everyone in Jersey always knows somebody. And if it's not about that, it's about the attitude. And when you go to the club, you know who the guidos are by the gelled hair, the Ed Hardy/muscle tees/wife beaters, the chains, the fist pumping and the diamond stud earring. And in Jersey, you know what part of Jersey someone's from by their a) parkway exit or b) area code. If you're 973/201/551 you're North Jersey, 732 is Central (existence is questionable), 856 you're South Jersey near WaWa and Philly. But most of all, it doesn't matter what the haters and out-of-staters say, it's about ignoring the stereotypes, and showing that Jersey pride like it's your job.