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....too many negative variables in New Jersey, though. I'm done arguing this subject matter. It's a mute point.
Good Luck to all y'all Jerseyans.
I'm happily embracing my new surroundings. (TheEmissary's post about NC was spot on!)
We went back up for Thanksgiving and have decided that it will be a very long time until we'll feel the need to visit NJ again. If any of our friends and family want to see us, they'll have to come down to NC. Two families, who are friends of ours, have already seen the light, or got fed up and decided to follow us (to different states). Some family members still think we were crazy to leave, but they're getting weary too.
Happy New Year to all.
It's amazing the more I read about you Stmaarten the more our situations seem the same. This past Labor Day weekend I went back to NJ, and while I enjoyed it from a standpoint of nostalgia, it was the first time where I went back that I felt more like a tourist than I felt it was my home. That last sentence is a sad one if you choose to look in the past and dwell. However, if you are embracing of change and looking forward, a different connotation can be found. After the trip, we decided we were not going to go back as a family again for a very long time. There seems to be a resistance from family and friends to visit us. I've begun wondering to my wife if this condition is more endemic to New Jersey residents, who I feel as a rule don't have the wanderlust that many other people from other states have. A great deal of my friends and some family members, for instance, limit their travel/vacation plans to the New Jersey shore, coastal Florida (inclusive Disney World) or perhaps the Outer Banks or Cape Cod. The urge to go west is almost non-existent. Since that's where I live, we have not been very blessed with company. So we've decided to cut off our visitation until we start getting some reciprication.
Another basis of my claim that many NJ residents don't have that sense of wanderlust or relocation exists on my classmates.com map. I'd say about 85-90% of the people who graduated with me, a year before me or after me live in either New Jersey or eastern Pennsylvania. A few more in Florida. I am one of only 2 people who graduated from my New Jersey high school (that registered with the website) that live in New Mexico. I'd say that New Jersey residents are for the most part, a provincial lot. I'd say that's partially because NJ is probably the most singularly unique state in the country. It's almost entirely suburban, and well off. People who want conveniences of retail shopping in older, quaint neigborhoods, with unique and older residential mixed-use architecture can't do any better than New Jersey. So there is an undeniable charm to the place for that reason. The problem is that style of living was accessible to the middle class 20-30 years ago. It's no longer the norm.
Just out of curiosity, with the political climate in North Carolina being what it is, how in the hell did John Edwards get elected? Such an outcome would be predicated on the black vote equalling 100% with an 80% turn out.
North Carolina is a very strange place politically. It still is a red state, but surprisingly has a Democratic majority in both its house and senate. You would think that it would continue in its trend to elect officals that are "slightly to the right of Attilla the Hun" by NJ standards, but that appears to be changing and the popularity of John Edwards - both here and also how he is perceived on a national level, is really not due to an overwhelming outpouring of black support in NC. I guess it pays to be good-looking, rich and with a somewhat populist message. Maybe you should ask your wife who'd she'd rather wake up next to - John Edwards or Jessie Helms. That could go a long way in terms of explaining his appeal!
Last edited by TheEmissary; 12-31-2007 at 01:48 PM..
Reason: sp
North Carolina is a very strange place politically. It still is a red state, but surprisingly has a Democratic majority in both its house and senate. You would think that it would continue in its trend to elect officals that are "slightly to the right of Attilla the Hun" by NJ standards, but that appears to be changing and the popularity of John Edwards - both here and also how he is perceived on a national level, is really not due to an overwhelming outpouring of black support in NC. I guess it pays to be good-looking, rich and with a somewhat populist message. Maybe you should ask your wife who'd she'd rather wake up next to - John Edwards or Jessie Helms. That could go a long way in terms of explainig his appeal!
North Carolina is a very strange place politically. It still is a red state, but surprisingly has a Democratic majority in both its house and senate. You would think that it would continue in its trend to elect officals that are "slightly to the right of Attilla the Hun" by NJ standards, but that appears to be changing and the popularity of John Edwards - both here and also how he is perceived on a national level, is really not due to an overwhelming outpouring of black support in NC. I guess it pays to be good-looking, rich and with a somewhat populist message. Maybe you should ask your wife who'd she'd rather wake up next to - John Edwards or Jessie Helms. That could go a long way in terms of explaining his appeal!
If my wife woke up next to Jesse Helms, she'd gnaw her arm off her torso so she wouldn't wake him up on the way out the door.
If my wife woke up next to Jesse Helms, she'd gnaw her arm off her torso so she wouldn't wake him up on the way out the door.
Mike - That's a gem!! The mental image of anyone having to wake up next to Jessie Helms is priceless!! As Marlon Brando once said "The Horror - the Horror!"
It's amazing the more I read about you Stmaarten the more our situations seem the same. This past Labor Day weekend I went back to NJ, and while I enjoyed it from a standpoint of nostalgia, it was the first time where I went back that I felt more like a tourist than I felt it was my home. That last sentence is a sad one if you choose to look in the past and dwell. However, if you are embracing of change and looking forward, a different connotation can be found. After the trip, we decided we were not going to go back as a family again for a very long time. There seems to be a resistance from family and friends to visit us. I've begun wondering to my wife if this condition is more endemic to New Jersey residents, who I feel as a rule don't have the wanderlust that many other people from other states have. A great deal of my friends and some family members, for instance, limit their travel/vacation plans to the New Jersey shore, coastal Florida (inclusive Disney World) or perhaps the Outer Banks or Cape Cod. The urge to go west is almost non-existent. Since that's where I live, we have not been very blessed with company. So we've decided to cut off our visitation until we start getting some reciprication.
Another basis of my claim that many NJ residents don't have that sense of wanderlust or relocation exists on my classmates.com map. I'd say about 85-90% of the people who graduated with me, a year before me or after me live in either New Jersey or eastern Pennsylvania. A few more in Florida. I am one of only 2 people who graduated from my New Jersey high school (that registered with the website) that live in New Mexico. I'd say that New Jersey residents are for the most part, a provincial lot. I'd say that's partially because NJ is probably the most singularly unique state in the country. It's almost entirely suburban, and well off. People who want conveniences of retail shopping in older, quaint neigborhoods, with unique and older residential mixed-use architecture can't do any better than New Jersey. So there is an undeniable charm to the place for that reason. The problem is that style of living was accessible to the middle class 20-30 years ago. It's no longer the norm.
nice post, mike.
Actually, I think it's a combination of us trying to adjust to our new life and our family and friends missing us. I have a good friend who calls me weekly begging me to come back. But that's just not going to happen. There will always be resistance from friends and family, as well as growing pains on the part of those who have left. You just have to give it some time.
My parents dragged me all over the world. I've lived in four different continents, so moving from NJ to NC "should" be easy. Unfortunately, there seems to be a stronger emotional "tug" coming from those that we left in New Jersey. We've cut the apron strings....just much more abruptly by leaving, I suppose. We (and they) will eventually get over it.
I've stated this before; there is a great big world out there, beyond Disney, OBX, Cape Cod and the Jersey shore.
I also have to add, that there's something very special about the people of New Jersey. Their pride, their honesty and their "no BS" attitude that you won't find in any other people from any other state.
The other day, I had a little "altercation" with someone, to which one of my friends in Charlotte said: "You're not going to go "JERSEY" on her, are you?" After she said that, a feeling of pride came over me.
I am kind of shocked to hear people say there is a lack of wanderlust in Nj. Really shocked actually. I have found the opposite to be true. People with families are more likely to relocate to Florida, the Carolinas, Virginia. All east coast places but that is for practical reasons. Maybe the people posting here are just traveling in different circles than I am but on the west coast there are tons (and I mean tons) of people who grew up in NJ. Maybe they came out in their twenties or early thirties by themselves. This is true in the northwest as well as in parts of CA.
Just about everyone I knew growing up in NJ had some form of wanderlust. I thought it was something in the water. NJ people have always retired elsewhere in droves so most everyone I knew had grandparents who lived elsewhere. Maybe your family being in one place makes a difference. Anyway, I was surprised to hear that. I think of places like NC more in that vain. Born, raised, die. All your relatives in one area for many generations type of thing. Most of the people I know there would never consider leaving the state even if they had tons of $$$$.
Just wanted to point out that most of the south was tradtionally a Democratic majority. Not anything like the Dem party we have in other parts of the U.S.- far more conservative. I thought that was well known.
I am kind of shocked to hear people say there is a lack of wanderlust in Nj. Really shocked actually. I have found the opposite to be true. People with families are more likely to relocate to Florida, the Carolinas, Virginia. All east coast places but that is for practical reasons. Maybe the people posting here are just traveling in different circles than I am but on the west coast there are tons (and I mean tons) of people who grew up in NJ. Maybe they came out in their twenties or early thirties by themselves. This is true in the northwest as well as in parts of CA.
Just about everyone I knew growing up in NJ had some form of wanderlust. I thought it was something in the water. NJ people have always retired elsewhere in droves so most everyone I knew had grandparents who lived elsewhere. Maybe your family being in one place makes a difference. Anyway, I was surprised to hear that. I think of places like NC more in that vain. Born, raised, die. All your relatives in one area for many generations type of thing. Most of the people I know there would never consider leaving the state even if they had tons of $$$$.
Just wanted to point out that most of the south was tradtionally a Democratic majority. Not anything like the Dem party we have in other parts of the U.S.- far more conservative. I thought that was well known.
I mean obviously I can only speak for myself, but my wanderlust is almost a sickness. My parents instilled it in me, we went all over when I was a child. I do choose to live here, and have been to enough places to realize I do like it here, and having family close by is a bonus.
That being said, where I grew up is notorious for the "born, raised, die" mentality (for lack of a better word). At one of my reunions, not only did everyone (save 1) live in state, I could count on one hand those who didn't move out of that city! (me being one who did) I think this is less common as you move out the immediate NYC sphere.
stmaarten - I can one up you on that count - not only can I go "JERSEY" on them, I can also go "POSTAL".
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