(no subject)

[randomness]

I'm beginning to think that escaping from Long Island is one of those things my friends who live there have to do to keep their sanity. It's consistent enough that even I can sense a trend.

Comments

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

Yup.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Speaking of which, can I point some of those friends at your recent essay?
The combination of that essay and a friend's recent announcement that she was fleeing Long Island inspired this post.

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

Of course!

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Excellent. Thanks!

[ladybird97.livejournal.com]

Believe me, I'm doing my best! :)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

See, I'm so out of date I didn't even know you were living there!

[ladybird97.livejournal.com]

Eek! I'm sorry! Yes, I'm on Long Island - I've been there since last August. It's not a horrible place to be, but I'm increasingly grateful that my job is temporary, so I'll have the chance to go somewhere else next year!

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Good luck, then!

Re: A pre-caffeinated response from one of the lucky ones

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

It's a trap!

I love it. :)

[mangosteen]

Long Island is the stasis that balances out NYC.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Which bits? I really can't find much nice to say about Nassau County, but the bits at either end (that are either in the city or eastern Suffolk) have, I think, a lot of value.

I used to really like the Peconic County idea, but I wonder if it's just going to get eaten up by strip mall suburbia too.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

All the friends I'm thinking of--and a lot of them have commented here--fled the bits which are Nassau or western Suffolk Counties, i.e., not at either end. That's what I'm referring to.

Can you blame them for leaving?

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Nope, not at all. If everything between the Lemon Ice King of Corona and Brookhaven Airport could get cut out and dropped somewhere else, I'd be cheering.

[jimmystagger.livejournal.com]

Peconic County is a bad idea. They pass it off as an idea to preserve the East End's rural character but really they don't want the "undesirables" from the city, Nassau, and western Suffolk moving in. I worked for a year for a non-profit organization trying to get pools and other public spaces opened in the Moriches and the Hamptons and the primary reason we were given for the constant resistance we hit was "well, it'll bring out...those people."

[jimmystagger.livejournal.com]

Fuck Long Island.

I spent 18 years of my life in the middle of Suffolk County and if it weren't for frequent trips back to my family's roots in Boston I might have snapped. The endless parking lots, the utter lack of anything to do if you're under 21, the attitude, the 250 million pizza joints (seriously- I grew up in the Sound Beach/Rocky Point area and there's like 1 pizza joint per 5 people), the lack of anything resembling culture, the Suffolk County Police and their gung-ho bullshit, the Long Island Expressway death trap, the huge taxes on everything....man I could go on for days. Did I mention the attitude? Long Island is the not the center of the Earth! News flash.

Oh and for the record, I'm sorry, Nassau County is not really Long Island. Geographically yes but so is Queens. If you can get to New York City in under 15-20 minutes that's not really Long Island. Nassau is the 6th borough (just like the Harrison/West New York, NJ area is is the 7th).

My favorite thing about my area is how people in my area spared no opportunity to remind you they were Italian despite being 99th generation and their entire idea of "Italy" coming from the Godfather trilogy. When their grandmothers talked about the "old country" they meant Brooklyn. Jesus. Rocky Point has one of the biggest St. Patrick's Day parades in New York State (for reasons unknown) and flies an Italian flag next to the Irish tricolor at the parade's front. It also terminates at St. Anthony of Padua's Church. My LI friends who have come to the Boston St. Pat's parade have questioned the lack of the Italian flag in Boston's parade and WERE SERIOUS.
I have nothing against Italians (almost every girl I dated was descended from Italy) and I realize Boston Irish can be just as stupid but Long Island Italians are a class unto themselves.

Oh and one more thing- Billy Joel sucks. Billy Joel utterly, utterly sucks.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

My LI friends who have come to the Boston St. Pat's parade have questioned the lack of the Italian flag in Boston's parade and WERE SERIOUS.

Whoa.

[jimmystagger.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Seriously. Long Island Italian culture is crazy. They overhauled the deli in my town from just the plain ol' "Sound Beach Deli" to the "Sound Beach Italian Deli" replete with giant paintings of Tony Soprano and "The Godfather" cast...oh, and in the backroom John Paul II. The owner told me he was losing business because in the next town there was a deli with "Italian" in the name.

Now it's a pizza place. Natch.