Lady Liberty, Spring Cleaning and Bikini Tweets

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

 

These words from the sonnet The New Colossus, familiar to people worldwide, bring to mind the inspiring sight of the Statue of Liberty. Millions of immigrants saw her as a beacon of welcome and hope as they completed one journey across the Atlantic only to begin another one in this great, dynamic and exciting land called "America".

 

On a blustery spring break day we took our boys, along with two of our best friends and their children, to see Lady Liberty and Ellis Island.  I wonder how many people living in the New York City area have never been there? I know my grandmother, nearly 98 years old, born and raised in Manhattan, has never been*. It seems we often take for granted that with which we become familiar. When we lived in Florida, 10 minutes from the beach, we often didn't get there for a month or more at a stretch, caught up in our daily lives. Have you visited the Statue of Liberty? If so, when was the last time? For me, it was when I was about 11 or 12. Whether it's been years or never, now is a great time to visit with your children to learn about the history of our country and be inspired.

 

The ferry from Liberty State Park in NJ first stops at Ellis Island. Definitely get off the boat and visit the island. With over 12 million immigrants coming through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954, it is estimated that over 1/3 of all Americans today are descended from those who entered the United States here. That means if not yourself, than there's a good chance either the person on your left or on your right is one of those Americans (including yours truly). This place holds a special place in American history not so much because any singular event happened here, but because of exactly the opposite. It was a workaday location: processing immigrants day-in and day-out for over 60 years. Unlike a place such as Independence Hall in Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence was signed, it's a notable location at the personal level by having intimate connections with more than 100 million Americans alive today even if they've never visited. Why? It's the place their ancestors arrived having, at great risk and uncertainly, left their homelands to join the ranks of Americans that have made this country great.  

 

Because the story at Ellis is at its core about people and not objects, unlike many other museums there's not a lot of "stuff" in display cases. To be sure there are artifacts - suitcases, clothing, and other personal articles to help understand the immigrant experience, however the main story is in the photographs and words of the people. People of every race, creed, color, religion, ethnicity and nationality. You truly see the Great Melting Pot that made, and continues to make, the United States the greatest nation on earth. As Bill Murray said in Stripes: "We're Americans, with a capital 'A', huh? You know what that means? Do ya? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We're the underdog. We're mutts!"

 

Yes, I'm a mutt: half Polish and half Irish. And in those photographs of Poles and Irish at Ellis Island I can see the strong ethnic blood lines; they look so much like the faces in the yellowed family photographs we have. In the Registration Hall I imagined how 100 years ago my great-grandparents, excited yet undoubtably nervous, waited to be processed; the same process for them all yet stories so individual. One of my great-grandmothers left her village in eastern Poland when she was 16 years old and walked across Europe by herself to Holland to take a ship to America. And from Ireland, my great-grandparents came with 5 children in tow and one on the way. Yet common to all the stories, of my family and those told at Ellis, was a desire for a better life and the promise America held. 

 

It's easy see the unique appeal of Ellis Island to the American people. While we visit Independence Hall and gaze in awe at the chairs Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington sat in during the Continental Congress as our Nation was framed, at Ellis Island I gazed and wondered if the chair I was looking at was used by my great-grandmother to rest her weary feet upon joining this Nation. Visit the Ellis Island research website where you can delve into your own family's arrival.

 

While Ellis Island may be a more compelling story at the personal level, The Statue of Liberty is the world-famous symbol of all the collective individual stories. The two places complement each other perfectly. Another short ferry ride and we arrived at Liberty Island, home of The Lady herself. Until you see her up close, it's hard to appreciate just how enormous she is. Lady Liberty was often the first recognizable landmark an immigrant would see as he or she sailed into New York Harbor, a symbol that they had indeed arrived in the Promised Land. She has also been a symbol to American soldiers going off to and returning from war, representing all they fought, and died, for. When my father was stationed in England (where I was born) for 3 years while on active duty in the USAF, my mother recounts how she wept tears of joy upon spotting the Statue of Liberty as our ship sailed into New York Harbor (yes, we took a ship back to the States; it was the 1960's). I, being not quite 3, had other things on my mind and asked if the tugboat I spotted was, in fact, one of those "grandmothers" I'd heard so much about.

Given her symbolism, it's fitting that her crown in now open to the public again since closing after 9/11. We can never allow terror to win by curtailing our civil liberties and American way of life out of fear. If you go, be sure to make reservations, either for the monument (the base) or the crown, well in advance (this is required as you cannot purchase passes to get into the base or statue once on Liberty Island). Prices are certainly reasonable: $15 for adults and $8 children 12 and under to visit the crown.

 

*Technically, my grandmother came through Ellis Island but was still in the womb.

 

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For a great rundown on the firing of Boston College basketball coach, Al Skinner, check out my buddy Dave over at The Savage Truth.

 

It's springtime (in case you didn't notice) and this weekend is looking to be sunny and near 80. Other than being Easter weekend, this means it's the first real chance (at least the first chance I feel like taking advantage of) to get the yard cleaned up for the warm weather. I've already sourced out a number of bulk mulch providers and need to give them a call for delivery. Here and there after work a few nights I've spent time picking up the piles and piles (and piles) of broken branches and twigs covering the yard from the winter weather. The mystery that confounds me is who moved the piles I put along the curb for pickup off the road and back onto my lawn. Everyone else's piles of broken branches are right where they left them - out in the street along the curb. Go figure.

My celebrity intrigue, don't ask me why but it's Kim Kardashian, has apparently broken up with Reggie Bush and has been Tweeting pics of herself in a bikini. Yes, she's famous for being famous, certainly not for talent; but look, a lot of people watch trashy TV shows or read pulp fiction. This is my equivalent so give me a break.