Visiting New Jersey, home of Tony Soprano on the 2nd stage of my Walter Hines Page Scholarship to America.

I left Boston by Amtrak which I had researched and decided upon would be my primary mode of transportation down the East Coast of America.Whilst it may be stating the obvious America is huge country and traveling times and distances would be a factor as to where I would visit during my three week WHPS.

https://www.amtrak.com/home/

Boston to Newark (the main train hub for New Jersey) is around 250 miles in distance it takes roughly around 4 hours on the Amtrak and costs just under $100, with comfortable seats, air conditioning, free wifi and not forgetting the toilets for me it was no brainer.

Added to which from Newark I would be able to transfer directly onto the PATH light railway/metro system taking me to Journal Square where I would be based for my time in New Jersey.

http://www.panynj.gov/path/

I decided upon this as logistically train travel offered me the following: I could travel reasonably cheaply, it offered flexibility in times of departure and an array of places to visit, it was generally considered a safe and reliable method and finally it connected me with the cities I was visiting into their central public transportation hubs.

New Jersey:

New Jersey is the  fourth smallest state by area but the 11th most densely populated of the 50 U.S. states, it is also the second wealthiest state by  ‘per capital income’.

In the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements in the state, with the English then seizing control of the region and renaming it the Province of New Jersey.

In the 19th century, factories in cities such as Camden, Newark and Trenton helped drive America’s industrial revolution and utilizing the population growth of America through its immigration policies many immigrants settled in New Jersey giving the state a culturally diverse populace.

Little India:

For my time in New Jersey I would be based in the downtown area of Journal Square known informally as ‘Little India’. This is a district or enclave that has a very distinct feel of the sucontinent and is reflective of the diverse cultures and neighbourhoods that New Jersey reflect, and how newly arrived immigrants to America have supported and remain connected to their cultural identities.

Other New Jersey cultural enclaves include:

• Ironbound (Portuguese/Brazilian enclave)
• Five Corners (Filipino)
• Havana on the Hudson (Cuban)
• Koreatown (Korean)
• Little Bangladesh (Bangladeshi)
• Little Istanbul (Turkish)
• Little Lima (Peruvian)

ESU – Middle School Debate – Freemont, New Jersey:

One thing I was excited to attend during my time in New Jersey was an English Speaking Union Debating program.

Karen Blair (more on her in my later blogs) the Pennsylvania ESU branch president kindly organised our attendance at this event by liaising with her New Jersey counterpart Ralph Wyddrum, as such early one Friday morning we set off to Freemont, New Jersey.

The event was being held at Freemont High School and brought together 250 middle school debaters from 29 schools from New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C.

Speaking with students, parents and the staff from these schools I was able to learn that The English-Speaking Union Middle School Debate Program teaches the fundamentals of argumentation and debate to students in grades 5-8. Established in 2011, the program now includes three ESU-sponsored leagues in New York, two in New Jersey and one in Washington, DC. Some 50 public, private, parochial and charter schools participate in the program, engaging more than 1,000 teenagers annually in weekly after-school debate activities designed to develop and hone student’s public speaking, critical thinking, listening and debating skills.

it was a fascinating day observing students work through the various rounds of debates with the topics extremely varied and stimulating, and beneficial to see a ESU program so warmly embraced by so many schools and students.

https://www.esuus.org/esu/programs/middle_school_debate/mspdp_

Sandy Hook/Fort Hancock:

The following day after the English-Speaking Union Middle School Debate Program Ralph Wyndrum took Karen Blair and myself to visit some historical New Jersey sites, we had a fascinating afternoon exploring the coastal barrier spit that’s makes up Sandy Hook.

The Sandy Hook Lighthouse is the oldest working lighthouse in the United States. it built and became operational on June 11, 1764. The lighthouse was built to aid mariners entering the southern end of the New York Harbour. It was originally called  the New York Lighthouse because it was funded through a New York tax on all ships entering the Port of New York.

President Washington wrote in 1790 regarding the protection of the lighthouse “I have directed my private secretary to lay before you an act for vesting in the United States of America the light-house and the lands thereunto belonging at Sandy Hook”.

Fort Hancock is a former United States Army fort at Sandy Hook, the coastal artillery base defended the Atlantic coast and the entrance to New York Harbor, with its first gun batteries operational in 1896. It plays a huge part in American military history as this was a major departure point for U.S soldiers in their crossing the Atlantic in both World War 1 and World War 2.

ESU meeting:

Ralph Wyndrum & his lovely wife also very kindly hosted Karen and I at their beautiful home during our time in New Jersey and arranged in the evening after our Sandy Hook adventures we meet and have dinner with the ESU New Jersey branch members.

A stimulating evening and lovely dinner was enjoyed by all that attended and it fell to me to discuss and update members on how the UK was adjusting to life after the European Referendum (Brexit) which I vainly attempted to do. I also listened intently to the plans the New Jersey branch had for their forthcoming annual events calendar which seemed exciting and supportive to NJ students.

A night out in Jersey!

Once back in Little India after my adventures in upstate New Jersey, I enjoyed an evening out with some American teaching colleagues I had met and connected with previously at an ESU event we were all attending in London, at the time they were on another ESU program, this being “Study abroad for Teachers or “T-lab”.

https://www.esuus.org/esu/programs/study_abroad_for_teachers/

In my honour we met up at pjryans (which is my name and was a nice touch by my hosts) and in typical American sports bar tradition an evening of beer pitchers, chicken wings, sliders and other assorted foods were consumed all in the environment of a bar which had about 30 different television screens playing an array of sports.

http://www.pjryansjc.com/squared/welcome

It was especially enjoyable with the Boston Red Sox winning their baseball match against the Minnesota Twins 17-6. It seemed my visit to Boston and Fenway Park in the eyes of my American colleagues deemed I was now a fully pledged Sox fan.

A fantastic night was had by all, which once again I broadly remember!

Frank Sinatra – ‘ole blue eyes’

Finally the most famous resident of New Jersey is arguably Frank Sinatra who was born and grew up in Hoboken. It is hard to miss the legacy of this singer who was the child of Italian immigrants and who is honoured throughout the town of Hoboken and throughout New Jersey.

Tony Sporano:

However New Jersey has become famous globally in more recent times due to the HBO television show “The Sopranos” which is set in New Jersey and is a tv show I simply adore, it is based around an Italian-American dysfunctional family.

Having driven on the New Jersey turnpike and seen many of the sights used in the opening credits and seen New York from the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, I couldn’t finish this second blog without a reference/link to Tony Sporano.

Many thanks for visiting my blog and reading the second of six reports on the cities I visited on my WHPS.

Please feel free to leave a comment and your thoughts in the comments box at the bottom of this post.

Next Up ……

“How do you like these apples” visiting New York on the 3rd stage of my WHPS.