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.
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.
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.
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Date: 2008-06-10 05:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-06-10 12:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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From:Re: A pre-caffeinated response from one of the lucky ones
From:(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-10 02:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-10 02:24 pm (UTC)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.
(no subject)
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Date: 2008-06-10 05:31 pm (UTC)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.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
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