Today, I’m thankful for the place I was born – the great Garden State of New Jersey.
“Oh, come take my hand, cause I’m riding out tonight to case the promised land.”
Let’s follow Bruce Springsteen’s advice: Please take my hand as I aim to extol a place that rarely, if ever, gets the admiration, appreciation, and acknowledgement it rightfully deserves. Instead of being lauded as our nation’s center of innovation, creativity, and scientific discovery, the place where I was born is routinely chastised as irrelevant, overly urbanized, and even unsightly. Well, the disrespect ends today.
I’m proud to acknowledge that I was born in Jersey City and lived my first ten years entirely on the Palisades – first in the town of Fort Lee and then in Cliffside Park. In fact, the thin, 10-mile long stretch along the New Jersey Palisades between the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee and the Holland Tunnel in Jersey City is famous for many historical events: the infamous duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton; the ‘water landing’ of a US Airways Airbus 320 by Captain Sully; the artificial closing of lanes in Fort Lee by a bombastic governor; and the birth of baseball.
In fact, most folks know Hoboken as the birthplace of Frank Sinatra or a convenient place to catch a water ferry over to midtown Manhattan. However, the greatest thing that this little town on the Palisades of New Jersey has given the world has been America’s favorite pastime. Back in 1846, the first competitive baseball game was played at Elysian Fields between the New York Nine and the Knickerbockers. Unfortunately, it was neither a competitive nor an entertaining game (the final score was 23 to 1). But, besides baseball, New Jersey is famous for many firsts in sports. On the athletic front, the first college football game was played in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1869. When that game was over, the Rutgers Queensmen had defeated the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) Tigers in a hard-fought battle, winning 6 to 4. The first professional basketball game was also played inNew Jersey in 1896. The Trenton, New Jersey, team defeated theBrooklyn Club, 16 to 1. All odd scores, for sure.
But, what’s not odd about New Jersey, is its’ role in transforming this nation. Let’s count the ways.
For one thing, many of our ancestors entered this country through Ellis Island, that small island off the coast of New Jersey. Not too long ago, the first glimpse immigrants would get of New Jersey was of the lovely Statue of Liberty, which has resided on the Jersey side in the Hudson harbor since 1875.
Secondly, from a cultural standpoint, the Garden State deserves a top billing. New Jersey is the home of some of the greatest musicians of all time. I’ve already alluded to Frank Sinatra, but were you aware that the nation’s third state to ratify the Constitution is also the birthplace of William “Count” Basie, Paul Simon, Frankie Vallie, Clint Black, and Dionne Warwick? What kind of person would I be if I did not call out some of my favorite New Jersey musical legends, such as Les Paul, Bon Jovi, and, the Boss (Bruce Springsteen)? When it comes to artists, we can thank New Jersey for everything from the Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, to the Beat Generation’s Allen Ginsburg, and even to The Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Without the Garden State, there would be no Abbott and Costello, no Jason Alexander playing George Costanza, no Christopher Reeve playing Superman, and no Tom Cruise in Top Gun.
Thirdly, the conveniences that New Jerseyans have imparted to us are countless. Several of our common, everyday amenities have come from this great state, including air conditioning, the transistor, and liquid crystal display (LCD); by the way, we couldn’t power our high-definition televisions without the latter two items. We can partake of M&M’S, ice cream cones (thanks again to Italo Marchiony!), condensed soup, and saltwater taffy – all because of this great state. Heck, it even introduced us to the quintessential roadside diner, where you can get anything on the menu from pasta to souvlaki. New Jersey boasts the most diners in the world, about 525 in total, and most of them are open 24 hours a day. When was the last time anyone left a good New Jersey diner unsatisfied with his meal or complaining that the portion was too small? It just doesn’t happen.
Finally, take a moment to consider what New Jerseyans have invented throughout history. Besides electricity, many other greatest inventions were created in the Garden State. Perhaps the reason why New Jerseyans are so resilient is that everything that protects us, whether its Band-Aids or Teflon or even Bubble Wrap, had its bold beginning here. Even those annoying anti-theft tags they put on clothing merchandise in retail shops originated in New Jersey. Thanks to its ingenious native Les Paul, we now can rock to the solid-body electric guitar that bears his name (Gibson Les Paul) or blissfully enjoy music recorded on a multi-track platform. For all these reasons, you should not be surprised to learn that New Jersey is the only state in the country with its own Inventors Hall of Fame.
I made it through an entire blog heralding New Jersey without even mentioning the greatest inventor of all time – Thomas Edison. I guess I’ll have to come back to him another time (like in two day, so you won’t need to wait long). So, on this day (Dec 18) that New Jersey officially became the third state of the United States, let’s not deny reality: the world would not be where it is today without all that New Jersey has provided it. Just like it’s native son Jack Nicholson once said, sometimes the world simply “can’t handle the truth” that New Jerseyans have changed the world.
I figured it’s about time that ‘yous guys’ should handle the truth.
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