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REGIONALISM
NARRATOR: Another force
that fractures our sense of state identity is
geographic segmentation. Although
Connecticut is the third smallest state in the nation, most of us see it as a
collection of several smaller and distinctly different regions.
TOM LEWIS (Geography Prof.,
Manchester CC): In spite of the fact that the state is roughly a hundred miles
east to west, 60 to 80 miles at its widest north/south extreme, the concerns
and the interests and the focus of dairy farmers in the northeastern part of
the state in a town like Thompson are far, far different than the concerns and
the interests and the focus of an urban/suburban population like what we find
at Fairfield County or in Bridgeport for example.
"The Constitution State"
Tens of thousands every day
pass through the Constitution State,
In their rat race from Boston
to New York.
To them it's just 200 miles
of winding highway snake,
Or the train's along the
northeast corridor.
NARRATOR: Connecticut has always
been deeply influenced and divided by its location between its two powerful
neighbors. For some, Connecticut has a decided New York vent. For others, a New
England flavor.
JIM SHELTON (Reporter, New Haven
Register): A lot of people in this part of the state talk about the Q Bridge.
The Q Bridge is a main part of their life. They sit in traffic ah for a long
time on the Q Bridge and it sort of separates New York from New England in a
lot of people's minds. When you're waiting in traffic on the bridge, you are
still stressing out about your job. You are still worrying about what you're
going to fix for dinner. You're still worrying about whether it's going to rain
or snow before you get home. You get over the bridge and the farther away from
the bridge you get, a lot of people tend to relax. The traffic eases up a
little bit. The view gets much nicer. The Q Bridge separates New York from New
England for a lot of people.
NARRATOR: The most often noted
border is the one that separates Fairfield County from the rest of the state.
Our image of affluence is derived largely from wealthy Fairfield County
communities.
CAPT. JAMES GLEASON (Greenwich
Police Dept.): Greenwich has a different class of people in many respects in
that a large number of our population earn their livelihood in New York City
and they, on a daily basis, take the train into New York City and are in the
City for a good 10 or 12 hours a day and return here to live. Greenwich has
been known in some cases as a bedroom community for New York City, which is
very true.
KEN SIMON: Do you feel that you
are a Connecticut resident?
MALCOLM PREY (Greenwich Car
Dealer): I'm a Connecticut resident. My driver's license says so, but ah if you
-- if I'm traveling some place in the world and somebody asks, "Where are
you from?", I say I'm from the New York area. To say Greenwich,
Connecticut is unknown. People envision wooden bridges and back country areas,
which Greenwich is not. Greenwich is basically a suburb of New York, as is the
better part of Fairfield County.
NARRATOR: As some see it,
Litchfield County is on its way to becoming an exurb of New York.
CHARLES MONAGHAN (Editor,
Connecticut Magazine): In recent years, you've had a lot of New York people, as
we call them here in Connecticut, ah, moving up into Litchfield County as well
into second homes or just going to live there and really transforming a lot of
formerly utterly unselfconscious farm towns into these sort of sleek bastions
of exurban New York. You've got fancy restaurants up there now. You've got
fancy shops. You've got a lot of people driving around in fancy cars and those
Litchfield County towns were so quintessentially Connecticut and now they've
got such a strong New York influence that it's changed quite a bit.
ROBERTA SATOW (Soc. Prof.,
Brooklyn Coll.): They love the sense of history here and Americana here and
rootedness here and this is what America's all about. They love the small town
rituals and so on that they're not a part of. They're not really part of it,
but they like being in a place where it's happening.
NARRATOR: As a sense of place
just 125 miles on the other side of the state is quite different.
KEN SIMON: There's a nickname
for this part of the state.
ROBERT MILLER (Putnam Town
Historian): The quiet corner. Some people laugh at that. It isn't that quiet,
but I think it's well named. If you fly over here in an airplane from
Washington to Boston, you will find this is still a dark area in the whole
eastern megalopolis.
KEN SIMON: Do you think that
people feel that they're in the same state as say Fairfield County?
ROBERT MILLER (Putnam Town
Historian): I think sometimes they feel they're in Massachusetts, because it's
so close to the media there. Even politics -- they're more worried about who's
going to become governor up there about their budget than ours and knew more
about it, but it's sort of a natural thing.
Commercial, CT Broadcasters
Association
You live here. You don't live
here. So zap New York and get connected to Connecticut on Connecticut TV.
LEW FREIFELD (Vice Pres., WTNH):
The basic underlying reason was to get more viewers who were watching outside
television stations to start watching Connecticut television stations. We have
an enormous number of television households that even though they're physically
located here in this market place, are watching New York television or
Providence, Rhode Island television, Springfield, Mass.
Commercial, CT Broadcasters Association
It's news about your town,
not the Bronx. It's the weather here, not in Boston.
LEW FREIFELD (Vice Pres., WTNH):
And what we found was that these people felt for some compelling reason that
New York television had greater authority.
Commercial, CT Broadcasters Association
Watch Connecticut TV,
Channels 3, 8, 20, 30, 61 and CPTV.
Get connected to Connecticut TV.
NARRATOR: The influence of both
New York and Boston can be seen even in the state's divided sports loyalties.
SPORTS COMMENTATOR: The players
may say the rivalry is dead, but don't tell the fans.
RED SOX FANS #1: The Red Sox --
Yankees --
SPORTS COMMENTATOR: Face it left
field -- for there are scores --
YANKEE FAN #1: Yankee fan all
the way.
SPORTS COMMENTATOR: And gone for
a home run.
YANKEE FAN #2: Being a Yankee
fan, I hate Red Sox fans. They're arrogant.
RED SOX FAN #2: Yankee fans are
known to talk out loud.
Up the middle and a base hit.
RED SOX FAN #3: I like the Red
Sox. I really hate Yankees, but I'm a Giants fan, so that's kind of a
contradiction. I like post seasons.
SPORTS COMMENTATOR: And a looper
to center field and that is going to be trouble.
SPORTS FAN #1: Well, see, now,
that's the problem there, because Connecticut …
SPORTS FAN #2: There is no
Connecticut identity.
SPORTS FAN #3: I think the only
-- the longest game that Connecticut roots for is the Celtics of any sport.
Well, ya, you have the Giants --
SPORTS FAN #1: But as in
baseball, your -- you're divided.
YANKEES FAN #3: It's gotta be
the Yankees, definitely.
METS FAN #1: I root for the New
York Mets.
RED SOX FAN #4: Boston Red Sox,
New England Patriots, cause that's where we live.
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