cause nothin' matters in this whole wide world when you're in love with a jersey girl
Even tho this is old (it talks came out when the movie Jersey Girl was about to be released) I thought it was cute.
Big hair, big heart. She's a Jersey Girl
Thursday, March 25, 2004
BY JENIFER D. BRAUN
Star-Ledger Staff
She's humble, but ambitious. She's independent, but family-oriented. She likes pizza, beer and lots of mascara, but don't think for a moment she's not sophisticated.
She's the Jersey Girl, and she's one of the Garden State's most enduring icons -- a readily identifiable personality, as much a part of America's cultural landscape as that other great Jerseyan, Frank Sinatra.
[edit: i cut out the part describing the movie]
So who is a Jersey Girl?
Well, if you're reading this paper, there's a chance you're one -- but residency isn't all it takes. The Girl has a specific character, both in pop culture and in the hearts and minds of Jerseyans.
First there are the surface qualities: A love of an unpretentious good time, and a certain sense of style.
"Jersey girls are about attitude," says author and South River native Janet Evanovich, creator of Jersey girl bounty hunter/detective Stephanie Plum. (Her latest book, "Ten Big Ones," will be released in June.)
"They're about eating pizza, drinking beer, having great hair -- and enjoying it all," she says.
"I hate speaking in terms of cliché, but I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a look about Jersey women," says fashion designer Marc Ecko, designer of the Ecko Unlimited collection and a Lakewood native.
"If you really represent Jersey, like I do, then you understand that the look is like a dialect, and it changes from different parts of the state. Jersey City girls -- who I'm crazy about, I married one -- have a sexy toughness. Marlboro girls are not afraid to be flashy. Ocean County girls have a sweet veneer, with a little bohemian vibe twisted in -- all that salt water in the air. Princeton and New Brunswick girls are athletic and intellectual. Bottom line, all of them are sexy as hell," he says.
But the look and the party attitude are only part of the Jersey Girl package.
"When I was growing up in New Jersey, they were just, you know, girls to me," says author Tom Perotta, who grew up in Garwood and whose novels -- "Joe College," "Election" and "The Wishbones" -- have been set in New Jersey. (Although his latest, the just-released "Little Children," is set in a Boston suburb.)
"But then that song ("Jersey Girl") came out, and slowly it's become a kind of category. I think it has, in a certain very positive way, a real working-class connotation," Perotta says.
"I think she's a girl who enjoys the mall, might wear more makeup than the Ivy League would approve of, and gives some thought to her hair. She's got a mouth on her. She says what she means. And she's got a nice, cheerful laugh. You wouldn't find Jersey girls in Princeton, you'd find them in Menlo Park."
Or down the Shore.
"She's part of the Shore scene," says Montclair Mayor Bob Russo.
"I don't think there's one typical Jersey girl, but everybody from northern New Jersey who goes down the Shore and is part of that scene that Springsteen sings about," he says.
Aside from location and looks, a Jersey girl can also be identified by more intangible qualities, like warmth and a certain toughness.
A Jersey girl is "crunchy on the outside, and soft in the center. A Jersey girl has the tenacity and drive of a New Yorker, but with the beauty of warmth and humility that being from Jersey is all about," says Ecko, who cites his sister and business partner Marci as an example of a Jersey girl.
"Don't mistake her toughness as a lack of refinement. Don't misjudge her sometimes 'brash' manners as a lack of 'classiness.' At the center of the crunchy sweet exterior, she is tuned in and knows how and what she's workin'," says Ecko.
Jersey girls may start out "somewhere between blue-collar and middle class, but they've always got that hope that they're gonna do better in life," says Ralph Caputo of Belleville, who is both an Essex County freeholder and an actor.
Caputo appeared in last year's film "Jersey Guy," about a man who must choose between his longtime Jersey girl love and a swanky New York chick. The film is being shown this weekend at the Jersey Film Festival in Asbury Park.
"She's spunky and witty, and she handles competition very well. She's got that confidence -- everyone from New Jersey has that confidence, ever since Frank Sinatra," says Caputo, who cites Kelly Ripa as a good example of Jersey girl attitude.
A Jersey girl doesn't have to have a high-powered career, but whatever work she does, she gives it her all -- and she takes care of her family at the same time.
"She might take your toll on the Turnpike, she might be a cop, she might be Ivy League educated or maybe even be your kid's doctor," says actor-comedian, and Passaic native, Joe Piscopo.
"No matter what the origin of her heritage is, Bruce Springsteen's 'Jersey Girl' pretty much still fits the overall makeup, if you will, of a true Jersey girl: hard-working, family- oriented, spirited, one of a kind," he says.
"And if you're lucky, she's your wife."
hehehe :o).
Big hair, big heart. She's a Jersey Girl
Thursday, March 25, 2004
BY JENIFER D. BRAUN
Star-Ledger Staff
She's humble, but ambitious. She's independent, but family-oriented. She likes pizza, beer and lots of mascara, but don't think for a moment she's not sophisticated.
She's the Jersey Girl, and she's one of the Garden State's most enduring icons -- a readily identifiable personality, as much a part of America's cultural landscape as that other great Jerseyan, Frank Sinatra.
[edit: i cut out the part describing the movie]
So who is a Jersey Girl?
Well, if you're reading this paper, there's a chance you're one -- but residency isn't all it takes. The Girl has a specific character, both in pop culture and in the hearts and minds of Jerseyans.
First there are the surface qualities: A love of an unpretentious good time, and a certain sense of style.
"Jersey girls are about attitude," says author and South River native Janet Evanovich, creator of Jersey girl bounty hunter/detective Stephanie Plum. (Her latest book, "Ten Big Ones," will be released in June.)
"They're about eating pizza, drinking beer, having great hair -- and enjoying it all," she says.
"I hate speaking in terms of cliché, but I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a look about Jersey women," says fashion designer Marc Ecko, designer of the Ecko Unlimited collection and a Lakewood native.
"If you really represent Jersey, like I do, then you understand that the look is like a dialect, and it changes from different parts of the state. Jersey City girls -- who I'm crazy about, I married one -- have a sexy toughness. Marlboro girls are not afraid to be flashy. Ocean County girls have a sweet veneer, with a little bohemian vibe twisted in -- all that salt water in the air. Princeton and New Brunswick girls are athletic and intellectual. Bottom line, all of them are sexy as hell," he says.
But the look and the party attitude are only part of the Jersey Girl package.
"When I was growing up in New Jersey, they were just, you know, girls to me," says author Tom Perotta, who grew up in Garwood and whose novels -- "Joe College," "Election" and "The Wishbones" -- have been set in New Jersey. (Although his latest, the just-released "Little Children," is set in a Boston suburb.)
"But then that song ("Jersey Girl") came out, and slowly it's become a kind of category. I think it has, in a certain very positive way, a real working-class connotation," Perotta says.
"I think she's a girl who enjoys the mall, might wear more makeup than the Ivy League would approve of, and gives some thought to her hair. She's got a mouth on her. She says what she means. And she's got a nice, cheerful laugh. You wouldn't find Jersey girls in Princeton, you'd find them in Menlo Park."
Or down the Shore.
"She's part of the Shore scene," says Montclair Mayor Bob Russo.
"I don't think there's one typical Jersey girl, but everybody from northern New Jersey who goes down the Shore and is part of that scene that Springsteen sings about," he says.
Aside from location and looks, a Jersey girl can also be identified by more intangible qualities, like warmth and a certain toughness.
A Jersey girl is "crunchy on the outside, and soft in the center. A Jersey girl has the tenacity and drive of a New Yorker, but with the beauty of warmth and humility that being from Jersey is all about," says Ecko, who cites his sister and business partner Marci as an example of a Jersey girl.
"Don't mistake her toughness as a lack of refinement. Don't misjudge her sometimes 'brash' manners as a lack of 'classiness.' At the center of the crunchy sweet exterior, she is tuned in and knows how and what she's workin'," says Ecko.
Jersey girls may start out "somewhere between blue-collar and middle class, but they've always got that hope that they're gonna do better in life," says Ralph Caputo of Belleville, who is both an Essex County freeholder and an actor.
Caputo appeared in last year's film "Jersey Guy," about a man who must choose between his longtime Jersey girl love and a swanky New York chick. The film is being shown this weekend at the Jersey Film Festival in Asbury Park.
"She's spunky and witty, and she handles competition very well. She's got that confidence -- everyone from New Jersey has that confidence, ever since Frank Sinatra," says Caputo, who cites Kelly Ripa as a good example of Jersey girl attitude.
A Jersey girl doesn't have to have a high-powered career, but whatever work she does, she gives it her all -- and she takes care of her family at the same time.
"She might take your toll on the Turnpike, she might be a cop, she might be Ivy League educated or maybe even be your kid's doctor," says actor-comedian, and Passaic native, Joe Piscopo.
"No matter what the origin of her heritage is, Bruce Springsteen's 'Jersey Girl' pretty much still fits the overall makeup, if you will, of a true Jersey girl: hard-working, family- oriented, spirited, one of a kind," he says.
"And if you're lucky, she's your wife."
hehehe :o).