{"id":416,"date":"2010-01-18T03:28:52","date_gmt":"2010-01-18T07:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www3.arts.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=416"},"modified":"2010-01-18T03:33:01","modified_gmt":"2010-01-18T07:33:01","slug":"a-garden-state-of-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2010\/01\/18\/a-garden-state-of-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"A Garden State of Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cast
"Cast" of Jersey Shore- aka overgrown oompa loompa's<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before I begin, I would like to preface this entry with the following: Yes, I am from New Jersey, and no, I have never encountered (for better or for worse) the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Situation.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

I guess my obsession with the MTV hit \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jersey Shore\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was a long time coming. Everywhere I went people were talking about the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153shore\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and these self proclaimed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153guidos\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153guidettes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Even my friends (both from New Jersey and elsewhere) were completely hooked. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is that what Jersey is like,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d my friends from Michigan would ask, to which I would have to calmly respond, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d For my friends back home, the intrigue of the show was the fact that it presented them with a new perspective of their home state. The places, roads, and landmarks that are shown throughout the show were the backdrops of some of our fondest memories. In fact, most of my friends spent the weekend after prom frolicking about in what has now been made infamous by MTV, Seaside Heights, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

For those of who have read thus far and still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what the hell \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jersey Shore\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is let me quickly explain. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jersey Shore\u00e2\u20ac\u009d follows the lives of eight twenty- somethings living and partying together for one summer on the shore. Part \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Real World\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and part \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Hills\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (except instead of Dior we have to settle for DEB) \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jersey Shore\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is truly a whirlwind of fake tans, big boobs, and even bigger hair.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0The fakery, however, is not exclusive to the outward appearance of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cast.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In fact, the entire notion that this show is an authentic portrayal of the Jerseyites (yes, I just made up a word!) is truly ludicrous. The truth is that only one of the eight cast members is actually from New Jersey, while most of the cast hails from New York (while one guy is from the great state of Rhode Island)- oh the joys of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153reality\u00e2\u20ac\u009d television!<\/p>\n

Ultimately, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jersey Shore\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is truly just another caricature of the Garden State, founded upon stereotypes rather than reality (an albeit addictive and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153so bad that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good\u00e2\u20ac\u009d type of caricature!). My only hope is that you, the viewer, will be able to discern the truth from the reality. Trust me, New Jersey is more than theTurnpike, malls, and annoying accents. Take a chance and find out\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I can give you first hand accounts if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Have a great MLK day\/ FOUR-day week and be sure to leave your comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before I begin, I would like to preface this entry with the following: Yes, I am from New Jersey, and no, I have never encountered (for better or for worse) the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Situation.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I guess my obsession with the MTV hit \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Jersey Shore\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was a long time coming. Everywhere I went people were talking about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416\/revisions\/418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}