Long Island has a tremendous sense of history that infiltrates the spirit of the area. Mount Sinai itself was once the secret hideaway for Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller and the island has been the home to many artists over the years. A great range of artists have found inspiration here from William Sidney Mount, William Merritt Chase, and Winslow Homer to Jackson Pollock, William DeKooning, and Andy Warhol. There has also been a plethora of writers here on the island including: Herman Melville, Truman Capote, Kurt Vonnegut, Spalding Grey, and Edward Albee.
I don't want to give the impression that this is the prevailing occupation or attitude here on the island (I just like to imagine). We also have our crowded malls, our cheap flea markets, and our rageaholic drivers sitting in traffic on the L.I.E. After all Long Island began as a group of fisherman and farmers and the blue collar life is still prevalent here (and it's also a good time). My grandfather was a farmer and my father was a landscaper so I have a good understanding of the blue collar way and I'm proud of it. They were both self-made men and there's something to say for that.
We also have a huge number of colleges and universities across the island (I know because I've been either a teacher or a student at almost all of them) and recently more technology industries such as Nikon and Computer Associates have built headquarters here. So we have a true range of occupational identity about us. Personally, I like the diversity- we have a good amount of influx to keep things interesting yet enough consistency to have a personality.
