Long Island is a wonderful place to live. You live close to the city, are always probably ten minutes from the beach, and there are lots of cool places in between. Unfortunately, those who aren't blessed enough to live ON the island (not in it), don't appreciate the beauty and adventure our state within a state has to offer, they just scrunch up their noses and say...
1. You're rich.
No, I don't have a swimming pool in my backyard. No, my dad is not a doctor, dentist, or lawyer. Long Island is home to many wealthy people and beautiful homes, but just because Billy Joel vacations 20 minutes from my house and "The Great Gatsby" is based on a town a few over from mine doesn't mean I have a money tree growing in my backyard.
2. You're Jewish.
Personally, I have enough Bat Mitzvah sweatshirts to clothe a small village. Most of my friends have been to Israel and a good majority of them speak Hebrew. The thing is, that is just my town. There are two counties, 96 villages, and 195 hamlets on Long Island; not all of them are predominately Jewish! We have one of the largest populations of Jews, but that only makes up 23%.
3. You know everyone who lives on Long Island.
"Oh, you're from Long Island? Do you know my cousin's best friend's hair-dresser?" Long Island is smaller than a state, and a lot of people have mutual friends/acquaintances (ever heard of Jewish geography?). However, there are over seven million people currently living on Long Island, so don't look confused and perturbed when I tell you your camp friend's ex-boyfriend was not in my graduating class.
4. You have an accent.
No one I know wawks their dawg to get cawfee and a chawclate chip cookie. No one.
5. You know the Long Island Medium.
It is very exciting to all of us that such a famous figure happens to have "Long Island" in her name. I have never run into her in the supermarket, sat next to her in church, or come across her at a local sports event. Just because the cast of "Secrets and Wives" is from my school district doesn't mean Theresa Caputo is my next-door neighbor.
6. You Live on the beach.
Long Island is an island, which means it is surrounded by water. Unfortunately, every town is not. As wonderful as it would be to open my windows at night and fall asleep to the waves crashing on the shore, that is just not the case.
7. You go to a Big Ten school.
As fun as it would be to go to a tailgate every Saturday before the big game, I decided to go to a SUNY. Just like 75 percent of my graduating class.
Although some of the stereotypes about Long Island may be true, the stigmas attached to them are not. Long Island is a great place to live filled with endless things to do and cool places to see, and living in close quarters with extremely wealthy people is not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, I have absolutely no complaints about the iPod I received as a giveaway at a Bat Mitzvah.
