On Vacation

Posting will be limited or non-existent over the next week or so as I am on vacation, enjoying the delights of the Jersey Shore. Far from the rough-and-tumble blue-collar world sketched by Springsteen (accurate at the time for his neck of the woods, Asbury Park, now being gentrified by gays), the Jersey Shore is fairly exclusive - $1 million-plus homes being the rule. It is highly segregated (as is most of New Jersey) with blacks rarely being seen, though Mexicans are becoming more visible working in the kitchens and busing tables in the many eateries. Now it could be that the rich kids just don't want to do that work, but the wait-staff is always all-American, so obviously the kids will work for a fair wage. It's not clear, however, where these migrants live - the shore communities are not readily accessible via mass-transit, so I suspect they're living quietly (for now) in the upstairs of restaurants or in specially set-aside bungalows. Thus, while New Jerseyans confidently lay out huge sums of money to enjoy beach vacations untroubled by minorities, a time-bomb could be ticking in their littoral nest-eggs as unknown numbers of Mexican immigrants collect in their midst.