What Exit?

Whenever you tell a fellow resident that you’re from New Jersey, the reaction is always “Yeah? What exit?” (pronounced: “wu-DE-zi?”... proper English, of course, would be “Which exit?”). Some residents are so proud that they even have bumper stickers of their exit sign. The out-of-staters are intrigued by this whole phenomenon!



New Jersey, often seen as the space between New York City and Philadelphia, offers two major North-South expressways: the New Jersey Turnpike (which connects NYC and Philly) and the Garden State Parkway (which gets you to the Jersey Shore and Atlantic City).



The problem I have is that people tend to get categorized by their exit. A few weeks ago, I served as a juror in the state supreme court. The plaintiff, defendant, and the jurors were all from my exit, but it was the most diverse slice of society I’ve ever seen. How could we all be grouped together into the same category? The only thing that connected us was that we were all somewhat legal residents of the “14”s (of course, the illegal residents weren’t represented because the government “doesn’t know” about them and therefore can’t summon them to jury duty).



And on the other extreme, I followed this car from the exit all the way to my building, and then it continued on. I’m not sure who this was, but it must have been someone important (not only was the license plate number 1 for the state, but it was also adorned with gold emblems... a bit of governmental bling-bling, I guess). I know the New Jersey governor lives in my town, but I don’t know if this was his car. In any case, the driver was actually dialing and talking on a not-so-hands-free cell phone, and all while making a left turn (that takes some talent!). That’s very illegal in our state, and someone whose license plate says “Assembly” should know that!



It’s very common in this area to turn your back and not notice things. Not to worry, the Italians keep everything under control. In any case, it doesn’t surprise me that Lady Liberty also turns her back to our exit.