[UA] Unknown New Jersey

[Mike Lake]

James Knevitt wrote:
> So, my new UA thing is going to be set in New Jersey. Do we have any
> NJers on the list? I'm basically digging around for information on the
> "real" NJ, not the cut-and-dried touristy version.
>
> Can anyone offer a 'native' perspective on the Garden State? anything
> particularly lowlifeish and UAble?
>
Why yes, I live in New Jersey, though I hasten to add I'm not /from/ New 
Jersey.

Since someone's already mentioned /Weird NJ/, I'm almost out of ideas 
already, but let me add that the individual towns around here rarely 
match what you see on TV.  Even when they bother to do their homework 
(most don't), and actually film Newark/Montclair/Belleville/whatever 
when the story is set in Newark/Montclair/Belleville/whatever, the ups 
and downs of urban blight and renewal operate on a short life-cycle 
around here.  The area generally has become visibly nicer since I moved 
in about ten years ago, but you can still find some pockets of ugly 
suburban blight in Newark and the Oranges.

My wife grew up in Nutley, which she tells me is thick with organized 
criminals, but largely free of petty crime.  The mafia doesn't like 
crime in its own neighborhood, thank you very much.  What little crime 
it does get is really over-the-top stuff wherein a household breaks down 
in a spectacular fashion.

You could get some mileage out of celebrities born in NJ.  Martha 
Stewart comes to mind, as does Sinatra for his steady efforts not to be 
associated with the place.

If you want any government tie-ins, be sure to look up and use 
"pay-to-play" practices as an example of dirty government.

Two or three years ago, a study placed NJ drivers as the most aggressive 
in the nation.  The UA web page has an item or two on highway deaths 
being a kind of blood sacrifice to the highway god; that would be 
appropriate for NJ, especially as the state seems to be built around the 
Garden State Parkway, and not vice versa.  ("You're from New Jersey?  
What exit?")  Our governor, Jon Corzine, was recently hospitalized after 
a road accident when he neglected to buckle up in his official car.

His predecessor, James McGreevy, was more of a spectacle, 
self-destructing politically in a scandal involving finding a state job 
for a boyfriend or three.  (McGreevy was closeted before the story 
broke.)  This was convenient for him, as an investigation into big-time 
corruption, instead of just abused perks, was closing in at the time.  
The scandal allowed McGreevy to resign while claiming that he was being 
persecuted for his homosexuality, which he wasn't.  You can find a fair 
amount of screwed up behavior by Googling him.

That's all I've got.  Good luck!