Dead or Alive

Dear Katie,
I just celebrated my year anniversary of living in New Jersey, and for the first time ever, I had complete strangers tell me that I came off Jersey-ish to them. This got me to thinking about all the Jersey-bashing that goes on in this world, and how I have idly sat by and listened to my home state be demeaned and marginalized for no good reason.
Ok, I know there IS a reason. I see what I board the train with at NJ Transit. But a loud voice and penchant for hairspray doesn't a bad person make. Not everybody in New Jersey wears denim on denim and saves a seat for Bon Jovi at the dinner table.
I am on a mission. A mission to bring Jersey back. A mission to shed our armpit image and change it to something more classy like a knee or a chin. This past year has been one of the worst for me in some ways, and the best in others...or another. That another has been living in the garden state. Past the industrial parks protecting us from New York, lies beaches, and parks, and malls, and town squares, and all those chains and franchises that you can't get in the big ole city. Mark my words, by the end of this next year, I will have brought all my friends across the border and to my homestead, and there is nothing they can do about it. So, pack your overnight bag, because I'm coming for you.
Love,
Brianna