Why I Left

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vi
3. Introduction 1
4. Why Do They Hate Us? 7
5. The Challenge 13
6. I Pledge Allegiance to the Mall 19
7. Suburban South Jersey 24
8. Selling Balloons to New Jersey 34
9. The New Jerseyest Summer of My Life 40
10. The Golden Age of Bicycle Racing 42
11. The Ultimate Bike Tour of Trenton 51
12. On Immigration and Sandwiches 57
13. Keansburg 67
14. Why I Want My Son to Grow Up in Jersey 71
15. Garden State Breakfast Pie 77
16. The Only Bar That Matters 87
17. Why Did the Salamander Cross the Road? 101
18. Exit 0 108
19. Signs I’ve Been Meaning to Read 118
20. Me and Mary Murray 128
21. New Jersey Black History Sites 133
22. State Prerogatives 140
23. New Jersey like You’ve Never Seen It 146
24. A Couple of Blocks from the Boardwalk 154
25. Heaven in a Six-Hundred- Square-Foot Apartment 157
26. Block by Block 161
27. Bagels, Bollywood, and Bhajans 165
28. An Interview with Weird NJ 169
29. Near & Dear 177
30. Why I Left 181
31. A History of New Jersey, in Artifacts 185
32. Going Home to New Jersey 195
33. The LGBTQ Community’s Complicated Relationship with New Jersey 200
34. Fable and Flora 204
35. Alone on the Turnpike 211
36. Havana on the Hudson 216
37. Finding Religion in New Jersey 224
38. Finding Home 233
39. My Favorite Devil 236
40. Somewhere in New Jersey 241
41. “The Fields! The Orchards! The Roads! The Lanes!” 245
42. Seasons Eatings 252
43. The Egg-O-Mat 257
44. Fourteen Things You Didn’t Know Were Invented in New Jersey 263
45. The Sopranos Family Tour 267
46. La miramira 272
47. New Jersey Trivia 277
48. Acknowledgments 281
49. Further Reading 285
50. About the Contributors 289
51. About the Editor 303