An Open Apology to (some of) New Jersey

Dear (some of) New Jersey-

Over the years, I've made some facetious jokes at your state's expense. Sure, the hyperbolic awesomeness of MTV's Jersey Shore didn't help, nor did some of your natives that I've met over the years. I even claimed in "Kaboom" (exaggerating, of course) that LT Dirty Jerz was the only non-scumbag I'd ever met from your state.

But today, I had a book event in the charming slice of Americana known as Clinton, at the Clinton Book Shop. And literally everyone I met at the event, employees and customers alike, was friendly and welcoming and stereotype-busting. It was like, mind-blowing, yo. And it begs the question - all those times that my friends from Jersey told me that there were actually nice parts of the state, beyond the swamplands and hair gel factories - had they actually been correct? And really, being from Nevada, who was I in the first place to cast state stones?

So, yes, interwebz. I was both wrong about New Jersey and (some) New Jerseyites.

I just hope this is an isolated case, and not part of a trend of grand sweeping proclamations being proven inaccurate through experience. Because my mind can only be blown so many times a year before I proclaim that the more I learn, the less I know.

Somebody should write that last part down. That's quotable.