#78: Feeling Strongly About New Jersey

 One of the best things about Notre Dame is the school’s unique ability to draw students from a variety of regions and states around the country.  As a well-known national university, students don’t just come from nearby Chicago (despite #47), but from places as far away as California, Texas, and Florida.  None of these home states, however, is as infamous amongst students as the Garden State of New Jersey.

As a group within the student body, those from New Jersey are proud of where they hail from and the reputation that comes with it.  They’re dedicated fans of The Boss and The Sopranos and proudly cheer for either of the two NFL teams that call their state home.  They have trouble pumping their own gasoline, but easily distinguish themselves by their exit on the New Jersey turnpike.  Students from New Jersey are proud of all these things.

To a certain extent, the pride and loyalty that New Jerseyans have for their state stems from the negative impression and reputation that is perpetuated by students from other states.  These students have their own strong opinions about the state, and convey these opinions by touting stereotypes that everybody has heard and pointing out when their friends from New Jersey meet these stereotypes from time to time (or all the time). 

Because of this process, students from New Jersey will embrace the good things about their state, and the successes that have come from their state, while those from the rest of the country will only use this to focus their jokes and criticism. 

These feelings about New Jersey were exemplified last fall when students embraced MTV’s Jersey Shore as a way to not only quench their thirst for high-quality non-scripted television, but to also bond over their strong feelings about the state and the stereotypes that are associated with it.

For those not from the New Jersey, the show helped to reinforce their perceptions of the state, and give them more fodder for jokes.  Meanwhile, those from New Jersey were actually proud of the show and hail the characters as heroes of their state (ironically despite the fact that only one member of the show’s cast is actually from the state of New Jersey).  One way or another, Notre Dame Students liked the show because of their strong feelings about the state; and while Notre Dame Students come from a lot of places, New Jersey is the only one that creates feelings this strong and divisive.