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Most people think all of New Jersey is a ghetto or an oil refinery, but there's parts with beautiful, open countryside.
Hunterdon County for example...
Much of NJ looks like this. The northeastern part is more congested, but still suburbs, but the image most people grasp and hold onto is the strip along the NJ Turnpike where the oil refineries and shipyards of Elizabeth, Newark, and Linden are. For some strange reason, people in other parts of the country want very badly to believe that's representative of the whole state. Maybe because that's what they see if they fly into Newark? I don't know.
There's a young woman who works at the drugstore who lives here because her husband is in the Coast Guard (I'm near the ocean, which does NOT look like the Jersey Shore TV show, another worthless stereotype). She is from Washington State, and she said she was shocked to find that NJ is so green.
She also said she'd been to South Carolina, which for some reason she thought was going to be a desert. That one I had no words for. Um, not a whole lot of desert areas on the eastern seaboard.
I'd like to correct the recent idiotic stereotype that Minnesotans are not like the characters out of a scene from the movie Fargo, when in fact they most definitely are too.
Most people think all of New Jersey is a ghetto or an oil refinery, but there's parts with beautiful, open countryside.
Hunterdon County for example...
Which looks like upstate NY areas. I went to school in Jersey. South Jersey is entirely different from North, and North is where everyone gets the rep from.
Image: Texas is a Conservative, Bible-Thumping Red State.
FACT: Yeah, we have that.... and we also have one of the first openly gay mayors in one of the top 5 largest cities in America. We also have every major city in the state (Fort Worth is questionable, but not by much) vote for Obama in the past election. We also have several calls for green/alternative energy along with being the biggest producer of wind energy in the U.S. We also have Athiests, Agnostics, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and people of several different faiths who are welcomed as much as any. We also have GLBT scenes and communities.
Which looks like upstate NY areas. I went to school in Jersey. South Jersey is entirely different from North, and North is where everyone gets the rep from.
Even so, I grew up and lived most of my life in north Jersey--Bergen County, in a small town about 30 miles northwest of New York City, ten miles south of the Rockland County, NY, border. It was a quiet town with woods and single-family homes, and so is that entire surrounding area. There were still small farms around when I was a kid, but now it's all been built up to semi-affluent suburban, but still--it's not industrial, it's very green and treed and leafy, and NOBODY has ever used the pronounciation "JOISEY" to say the name of their state.
Image: Texans all ride horses and drive gas guzzlers.
FACT: Actually, you see that more in rural areas. Horses are more just recreational/special event. The SUV's and big ass trucks are somewhat accurate, but it's not uncommon to see a Smart Car or Prius or just people on bikes around.
Image: Texas is a Conservative, Bible-Thumping Red State.
FACT: Yeah, we have that.... and we also have one of the first openly gay mayors in one of the top 5 largest cities in America. We also have every major city in the state (Fort Worth is questionable, but not by much) vote for Obama in the past election. We also have several calls for green/alternative energy along with being the biggest producer of wind energy in the U.S. We also have Athiests, Agnostics, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and people of several different faiths who are welcomed as much as any. We also have GLBT scenes and communities.
Image: Texas is nothing but country music lovin' Rednecks.
FACT: You'll find that Texas is VERY diverse in music and people when you look at this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this. But there's nothin' wrong with a little country.
Image: Texas is rural.
FACT: .... quite possibly the dumbest stereotype. I mean, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth, El Paso, Corpus Christi, Lubbock, Waco, Amarillo, Midland-Odessa, Beaumont, Laredo, Tyler, San Angelo, Arlington + the several DFW cities and towns. Hell, Texas is MUCH more urban than anything. I believe we only have less cities than California.
There's also a stereotype developing that ALL of Texas is big cities. Fact is, Texas defies stereotyping because it is so danged big. There are parts of Texas that are some of the most isolated places in the entire lower 48 (think SW Texas) and many areas of West Texas where towns are stretched many miles apart (40-50+) with nearly nothing in between.
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