When we moved from the city, we initially embraced life in Jersey. We had a parking place, a washer, a dryer, good schools, no drug dealers in puffy jackets loitering in the lobby. It was the good life, baby. We had made it.
Now, it’s all settling in and we’re realizing that we’ve moved to Jersey. Not one of the Jersey towns right outside of the city that are really just extensions of the Upper Westside. No way. We’re in the thick of it. Big hair, pink jogging suits, and slurpees. Yeah, you heard me. Slurpees. It’s a way of life out here. The local 7Eleven is hopping. People leave their car running and jump in the store for their purple slurpees and a pack of smokes.
You know the whole state closed down for business a few weeks ago and did anyone care? No. Corzine could have emptied out the government for the rest of the year and no one would have cared. Shut down the Slurpees and there would have been riots.
We kept the kids away from the Slurpees until a few weeks ago. But then Jonah tasted one, while on a playdate with his buddy Alex. There’s no going back. Sigh. Let’s hope he never eats one of the those continually rotating hotdogs.
Apt. 11d 
Oh, I love a Slurpee! (My Mom is from Jersey.)
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When I go to Jersey, it’s the Wawa version of the Slurpee that calls my name. Had a Coke-flavored one last week. Oh, it was heaven.
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I’ve commented before – I’m the one who grew up in your current town. Is the 7/11 still right behind the main street? Mom took me there nearly everyday after school at… you don’t want me to say the name, likely. The local catholic school. Slurpee and a quarter for pac-man. Often, a comic book.
God, you really bring me back! 1st & 2nd grade, 1983ish, I think. I wonder if the 7/11 is still in the same place.
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Yes, it’s in the same place. Between the main street and the middle school. No pac-man anymore though. My husband takes the kids for slurpees before the weekend tromps through the woods. They’ve got native. Jonah likes the coke-flavored slurpees. Steve is partial to the purple kind.
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Look at it this way. If you’d stayed in Manhattan, the kids would want $5 frappachinos or $5 juices from Jamba Juice, which are the city version of a Slurpee.
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Slurpees are wonderful things as are suburban 7-11s. The coke versions are light-years better than Dunkin Donut iced frappucinos (now live in RI, so DDs are as ubiquitous here as were 7-11s when I grew up in 609 New Jersey) and much cheaper. Yes, you are in suburbia. It has its problems and issues, but I’d put Slurpees down as — at worst — an “issue” rather than a problem. Enjoy.
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Well, for me it’s an ICEE (or even better, those Mr. Freeze things at Dairy Queen that invariably give me a headache because I drink them too fast) but I take your point.
Except: can’t you get Slurpees in NYC? That just seems…wrong.
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Only a New Jerseyite would appropriate the Slurpee as a New Jersey phenomenon and ignore its true, glorious heritage as a part of Texas culture
7-Eleven is the current name of Tote’m, which started as the Southland Ice Company outside of Dallas.
7-Eleven is all about hot Texas summers before refrigeration, where you could buy your ice and a cold drink (like a Slurpee!) in August.
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Also, please limit your references to “big hair” and “pink jogging suits” to “North Jersey.”
We in the Deep South (Southern New Jersey) enjoy our Slurpees just fine, but have a more slicked back, toned down look.
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My husband is completely mocking me for my overwhelming pro-Slurpee readership.
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Well, I am anti-slurpee. I’m anti-refined sugar, which definitely includes slurpees. I think it may have something to do with all the super-fat kids lined up to get slurpees. I just don’t want my kids in that peer group.
This is making me realize I may just be a snob. Somehow I’m OK with the local boutique ice cream shop, where refined sugar abounds, but which does not feature lots of overweight teenagers. Whatever that means about me!
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Or maybe they are overweight, but because they look and dress like you, you don’t notice as much.
Sucking down a Frappachino is as bad for people as drinking a Slurpee, but the RIGHT kind of peope eat gourmet ice cream and go to Starbucks while THOSE OTHER PEOPLE stand around being fat at 7-11.
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So here’s the question for you, Michael — do you disapprove of people having frappuccinos because of the inherent badness of frappuccinos, or because the frappuccino drinkers don’t look like you?
(For the record, I do not do Starbucks either.)
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There is absolutely no health difference between refined sugar and the mislabeled “raw” sugar (it’s not raw, just less refined). This is an urban myth of the upper-class.
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I don’t disapprove of either the Frappuchino drinkers or the Slurpee drinkers and I try not to judge based on class. America has serious class issues and it’s something we all wrestle with. You seem to acknowledge that yourself. If the people drinkiing Slurpees were perceived to be a more dersireable social class, we may be less embarrassed by it and try to stigmatize it.
Trust me, that line at the gourmet ice cream store has just as many overweight people. But because they are more acceptable because of their class, we don’t stigmatize it.
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Michael — We Jersey girls get to make fun of ourselves. This post was just poking fun at my fellow Jerseyites’ obsession with this drink. I think that I’ve made fun of Starbucks, too. I think everything should be fair game.
But you’re right. There is also a classist element to this post and several recent posts. It’s easier to be a woman of the people when you’re about fifty miles away from them. But this blog isn’t about solving the problem. It’s just about hinting at it from time to time and picking away at it in the comment section.
BTW, Starbucks drinks are incredibly fattening. One of their drinks has 2,000 calories. There’s a website devoted to this. Meant to post a link.
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hey- found your blog when searching for comments on raising kids in nyc. It’s great! I just got married, grew up in Jersey, but have been living in washington heights for 3 years now… wondering what our future holds. What drove you to move to my home state- schools? Income tax? Parking?
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welcome, tanya. My old blog, apt. 11d (www.apartment11d.blogspot.com) talks about my move from washington heights to jersey. You might like the references to the old hood. (I still miss it terribly and often think about moving back.)
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Thanks! I just read pages and pages- I got into your book/ article recommendations in addition to your thoughts on the big move. I should tell you more about me: I’m 32, I grew up in Ridgewood, NJ and I’m back there at least once a month to visit my family. I’ve been a teacher in Westchester for 8 years, and my husband is a reporter for a North Jersey newspaper. Also- I shop at the trader joe’s in Hartsdale. The Westwood one is ok, but lacks the yummy breakfast bars we like so much. I wonder what the Paramus one is like…
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