In what has become a strange but distinct pattern, I've come to see that people in Colorado see New York (and residence there) as a proxy for being Jewish. I was at a fundraiser a week ago and someone came up to me and saw my name tag. (Aaron Leavy...for those of you who are confused). It's a Jewish sounding name. He says, adopting a faux Yiddish accent, "funny you don't look Jewish." Which I think is probably not only not true, but very strange. I was a bit taken aback. It's usually the other way...Aaron Leavy...oh you're a Jew, and then I have to explain that I'm not. He sensed this and said, "don't worry, I grew up in the Bronx." First off I wasn't worried. And second I'm going to guess that John Maclean is not a Jewish kid's name. Could be wrong. Who knows, but being from the Bronx doesn't make you a Jew. It's not, as far as I can tell a communicable thing...you cannot get a contact buzz. If you're in a room with lots of Jews you don't get second hand-Jew.
Second event reinforcing this notion. July 4th. I was talking with a woman about her neighborhood association. She explained that they had tried to get voter turnout to increase in her precinct. I said that talking about it and making people feel guilty if they didn't vote sounded like a really effective approach. This woman's name is Maloney. Her response was, "I'm from New York I know about guilt." Strange. Not offensive just really odd.
I'm from Ohio. For what does that serve as proxy?
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