State by State
September 22, 2008
What a novel way to sell books! Just back from a thirty-eight minute movie about STATE BY STATE by Portland Indie Powell's Books, I pluck my volume from my stacks, and open it to my home state, New York. I read a fabulous Jonathan Franzen interview with New York state herself, after having his questions vetted by assistants, and after visiting with a geologist. He reminisces how much he loved New York when he was young -- how now it is all about the money. She (New York) toys with him, saying it was always about the money -- he just didn't notice.
We don't see Jonathan in the movie, but we do see Tony Bourdain who writes about New Jersey, the other state in which I grew up. "Nobody claims New Jersey," he says in the movie. Except for Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen. In his essay about New Jersey, Tony says there was an enthusiastic effort some years ago to get "Born to Run" adopted as the state song -- hilariously inappropriate, he says because the song is all "about getting the f**k out of New Jersey."
Which is why I claim New York...as he does, because technically he can, too, having been born in NY, before his family scurried him across state lines to Bergen County, NJ when he was an infant.
But Asbury Park, Tony says in the movie, is a city of "hopes and dreams." Oh yes! The jewel of the year was that week spent in Asbury Park, with its blistering hot sun and tepid, wild waves, its butterscotch ice cream and the hotel babysitters who taught me how to make lanyards. What I loved, was to lay on the blanket until I sweat rolled into my eyes and hair, then dash into the waves to cool off, and dive back onto the blanket, flipped onto the other side, to bake again.
Years later, I would live in Florida, Iowa, Seattle, LA and mostly Oregon. The first visit to the Oregon coast was a shocker. It was summer, and I brought my bikini and suntan oil, a blanket to lay on and little else. The clouds were heavy, it was too cold to lay down on a blanket, and dipping a toe in the water didn't happen a second time.
I've come to love Oregon -- despite the fact that it spit me out when I first arrived, acting so New York, with a new husband straight from Texas. Him with his cowboy hat and boots. Me in my high heels and short skirts. Outsiders. Definitely outsiders.
But I'm from New York. And I'll always be New York. Jonathan says, quoting New York State's Personal Attorney "You're saying you fell in love with her."
He replies, "Yes! And I had the feeling she loved me, too."
Me, too! I think, as I read. Just please don't tell my Oregon friends, I love New York.
What a novel way to sell books! Just back from a thirty-eight minute movie about STATE BY STATE by Portland Indie Powell's Books, I pluck my volume from my stacks, and open it to my home state, New York. I read a fabulous Jonathan Franzen interview with New York state herself, after having his questions vetted by assistants, and after visiting with a geologist. He reminisces how much he loved New York when he was young -- how now it is all about the money. She (New York) toys with him, saying it was always about the money -- he just didn't notice.
We don't see Jonathan in the movie, but we do see Tony Bourdain who writes about New Jersey, the other state in which I grew up. "Nobody claims New Jersey," he says in the movie. Except for Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen. In his essay about New Jersey, Tony says there was an enthusiastic effort some years ago to get "Born to Run" adopted as the state song -- hilariously inappropriate, he says because the song is all "about getting the f**k out of New Jersey."
Which is why I claim New York...as he does, because technically he can, too, having been born in NY, before his family scurried him across state lines to Bergen County, NJ when he was an infant.
But Asbury Park, Tony says in the movie, is a city of "hopes and dreams." Oh yes! The jewel of the year was that week spent in Asbury Park, with its blistering hot sun and tepid, wild waves, its butterscotch ice cream and the hotel babysitters who taught me how to make lanyards. What I loved, was to lay on the blanket until I sweat rolled into my eyes and hair, then dash into the waves to cool off, and dive back onto the blanket, flipped onto the other side, to bake again.
Years later, I would live in Florida, Iowa, Seattle, LA and mostly Oregon. The first visit to the Oregon coast was a shocker. It was summer, and I brought my bikini and suntan oil, a blanket to lay on and little else. The clouds were heavy, it was too cold to lay down on a blanket, and dipping a toe in the water didn't happen a second time.
I've come to love Oregon -- despite the fact that it spit me out when I first arrived, acting so New York, with a new husband straight from Texas. Him with his cowboy hat and boots. Me in my high heels and short skirts. Outsiders. Definitely outsiders.
But I'm from New York. And I'll always be New York. Jonathan says, quoting New York State's Personal Attorney "You're saying you fell in love with her."
He replies, "Yes! And I had the feeling she loved me, too."
Me, too! I think, as I read. Just please don't tell my Oregon friends, I love New York.
Labels: AND PREMONITIONS OF NEW YORK'S DESTRUCTION, Jonathan Franzen, Matt Weiland, New Jersey, Sean Wilsey, STATE BY STATE, the shore, Tony Bourdain
posted by Diana Page Jordan @ 10:46 PM
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