"Jersey is famous for far more than landfills, the Sopranos, overcrowding, and medical waste washing up on our shore." It's also famous for Taylor's Pork Roll! I was reading this post from Ralph about his growing-up days and found that I wasn't hallucinating after all about eating this stuff as a kid in New York. I do remember trying to eat it raw when I was little and my Nana telling me that I could get hookworms from it. I think that's when I began looking more closely at what I was eating and how it was prepared... Or did Nana want all the Taylor's Pork Roll for herself? :]
I don't think I've ever been to New Jersey (though my parents apparently are assuring me I've been to all sorts of exotic places I have forgotten about... maybe New Jersey is one of them). I do know that we had a travelling evangelist come by from there. Right in the middle of her sermon, Emperor made sure to shout that she sounds like she's from New Joisey or sometin'. Shh... that's because she *is,* ok?
Come to think of it, have you noticed that it seems illeducated people in the movies seem to have this accent? Well, at least in our Christian radio dramas, all the nice Christian people have a proper twang to them and talk a little slower... but the bad guyz, they talk like they are from the East Coast. I remember how surprised Emperor was that someone worships God AND comes from New Jersey. Now that I'm thinking about it, I could name several very wonderful Christian broadcasts, and the bad guy usually has an East Coast accent...!
But this woman was incredible. Elf and Emperor had had horrible nightmares for several weeks. Awful, awful things. This evangelist had NO clue about it as I had not discussed this with anyone at church. And I'm thinking even if I had, we're the last people the pastor would "prep" the evangelist about. But the boys decided *on their own* to go up for prayer, one of those general "if you have something you need God's help with" sort of things. I think they were the only kids there. She prayed for them first and was very specific about God removing their nightmares and giving them a vision for what He would have them to do. The first part... the nightmares being gone, happened that very night. I think the boys have only had one or two truly bad dreams since that night about a year ago. The second part... the vision for what God wants them to do, either hasn't happened or is a work in progress.
God lives in New Jersey, too. :]
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Look Out, Dad!!
My father is the purple dot above the blue weather station. He's juuust outside Milton's evacuation zone. Well! My brother and I jus...
I'm in Philly and in NJ almost every single day. (Camden, NJ is a 10-minute drive from Philly.) Though I've only seen a very small part of NJ, I've decided it is basically one big strip mall. Not the prettiest place overall. There *are* some lovely parks, gas and wine are way cheaper, but I think that's it :) The taxes are insane and the driving is odd - you're not allowed to make left-hand turns. Oh, and the food is terrible - everything is either (1) that mid-level chain quality and/or (2) Italian.
ReplyDeleteI think we East Coasters get the "bad guyz" rap because we talk so fast and don't slow down for pleasantries. I didn't realize that until I spent some time in the South and California. We rush. We're always in a hurry to get somewhere or do something. Maybe to worship God...there doesn't seem to be a shortage of places to worship here.
Pork roll and scrapple is always on the diner menus here.
Allison
I just have to say I think you all sound odd. ;) Out here the bad guys speak with an American twang. ROFL at own humour! O.K. I'll play nice now.
ReplyDeleteAllison, having lived in an East Coast state, I will say the atmosphere is really different. Here, I've talked about Jesus Christ as the eternal sacrifice for sins in my local grocery store... but it seems more impolite/ pushy to do that culturally over there. Even though some of the East Coast "ways" are more pushy than they are here. Hard to explain. :]
ReplyDeleteGaneida, I know what you mean, I really do. Once when I was in 7th grade, the school was doing some sort of musical about Southern Americans (Oklahoma, maybe?) and everybody kept coming up to me before auditions and saying, "Tell me something" so they could listen to my accent.
No matter what I said about the FACT that I had a Northern accent and sound nothing whatsoever like a Southerner, no one was buying it.
"Here, I've talked about Jesus Christ as the eternal sacrifice for sins in my local grocery store... but it seems more impolite/ pushy to do that culturally over there."
ReplyDeleteYes, that would be considered rude here to most. I think it's because we tend to have a "mind your own business" attitude. Or hyper-PC heathens. Or both.
Allison
Yeah, I'm thinking that the Mormons don't make many door-to-door converts out that way. :]
ReplyDeleteI was born in New Jersey.
ReplyDelete...that is all.
Interesting observation about the bad guys in Christian radio dramas... I'll have to think about that some more.
~Luke
Luke I was born in Cleveland.
ReplyDelete... that is all.
LOL