Atlantis vs. Atlantic City

I came to Greece from New Jersey fully resigned to my lame end of the cultural see-saw. They have the Acropolis, I have the Short Hills Mall. Sophocles vs. The Sopranos: no contest. That’s why they get tourists and we don’t, which is why I’m here writing for Let’s Go… etc etc.

So I thought.

But when Greek people find out I’m from New Jersey, they treat me like The Boss himself. This is a conversation I’ve had more than a few times in the 5 days I’ve been here:

Friendly Greek: “Ah! Americana! Where are you from in America?”

Me: “Um, New Jersey.”

Friendly Greek: “Where?”

Me: “New Jersey. It’s close to New York, near Pennyslvania, above Delaware...”

Friendly Greek: “No-- Where in Jersey? East Hanover? Elizabeth? Which exit off the Turnpike? I have a cousin in Verona, he has a diner there. You know it-- off Bloomfield Ave, near the dance studio?

Me: “Oh, that one? Of course!” (no clue)

Friendly Greek: “Ay! Free baklava for the Jersey girl! Do you know that store in the Livingston Mall, next to Payless? My brother owns it. Also there is a diner in Passaic, next to the dry cleaner, do you know it? And that store in Clifton, it’s painted blue?”

Forget Manhattan: to oldest civilization in the world, New Jersey is where it’s at. 

In America, being from New Jersey is an unremarkable, even regrettable fact. Classmates from New York or California see the Garden State as a philistine wasteland populated by big-haired shopaholics or mobsters wearing lots of rings. And they’re not entirely wrong. I often find myself wishing I were from somewhere more dignified or sophisticated, somewhere with more jazz and less “Jazzy Nailz.”

But Jersey-haters take notice: the original connossieurs of culture find a special charm in our strip malls and nail salons. Aside from the sympathy I elicit as a female traveling alone, my New Jersey heritage has won me the most points among the locals I’ve met here. This is mostly because New Jersey has a huge Greek-American population, so almost everyone has a cousin or a sibling or a friend who lives there.

But family bias aside, I think the Greek appreciation of my highway-studded homeland reveals something significant about their national character. Unlike other nations with rich cultural histories, the Greeks don’t seem to use their achievements to diminish the claims of other places. Their enthusiasm for the Garden State Parkway matches their interest in the Empire State Building or the Big Ben. That’s a nice quality, I think.

Call UNESCO, anyone?