Emma Lazarus’ poem, The New Colossus, famous lines are engraved on a plaque at the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty located on Ellis Island in NYC, and they read:
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”
Through the 1800 and 1900s the Statue of Liberty welcomed immigrants who arrived to the United States on ships, by way of New York City Harbor. These days immigrants arrive by any means possible, sometimes creating all kinds of mayhem on the way to their desired version of « freedom ».
There is no Lady Liberty heralding their efforts these days, and sometimes they are most unwelcome in the new land. The days when people genuinely looked up to the United States as the best place in the world to be, have slowly dwindled away; the reasons are many but still they come; in search of a better way of life than the one they are leaving behind.
A visit to Ellis Island, home to the famous lady, is impressive and enlightening and one that I absolutely recommend; learning its history gives you pause, makes you appreciate and understand the trials and tribulations that many immigrants endured when they decided to leave their country, and homes and families in the early days. In context, today, you can imagine the same things are happening driving people away from their homes to embark into the unknown.
« Give me your tired, your poor/ Your tired masses huddled to be Free »
This summer, I attended a business conference held in National Harbor, MD; I did not recall hearing about this city before, at least not that I could remember.
Nevertheless, I quickly signed up to attend the summer institute conference. National Harbor as it turned out, was all-good; especially because of its proximity to our nation’s capital, which I had the opportunity to visit during last year’s conference.
Aside from the obvious reasons we attend job-related conferences, there are some not so obvious benefits. One of the things I look for is location, location, location! When conferences are held in places I have never been to before, (and that includes many), I jump at the opportunity; quickly launch into a Google research project, and then get excited to learn all I can to begin plotting what to do when the workshops breakout for the day.
I love to travel, explore and see what the city I am in is all about. This morning I was looking through the picture gallery in my Droid with the intent of deleting old files to free-up some memory. I came across a few pictures, taken during my two most recent business trips and instead decided to share them with you. I will soon file them away in that digital album on the desktop I rarely ever go back into.
Washington, DC
The Washington monument was looking magnificent on the day I took this picture. I could not ask for a better shot, and was truly amazed to see that it came out of my cell phone camera. I am by no means a photographer, but I hope for the best and expect the camera to see what I see, when I point and shoot at an object. It is always a crime of opportunity; I may or may not have the camera with me, but the cell phone? That is another story. LOL!
The sculpture shown here both took me by surprise and creeped me out at the same time when I first saw it at National Harbor. I thought, what is that all about? Its location made me
The awakening in full view
think it was making some reference to the sea gods and it looks intense and scary, at least to me it did. I have since learned it is “The Awakening”, created by J Seward Johnson in 1980 and first displayed in Hains Point, MD (another place I never heard of), for 27 years, it was then relocated to National Harbor in 2008 when the sculptor sold it for $750,000! It must be nice!
I lived in Brooklyn, NY for more than twenty years, during that time I visited every “must see” tourist site there was to see in NYC and even some you would not want to see. Every museum: Brooklyn Museum, Children’s Museum, MOMA, Guggenheim and places such as Madison Square, Empire State building, Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty–any and all major attractions were part of my weekend itinerary, along with regular visits to Macy’s for shopping and FAO Schwartz to ensure the kids did not complain—I was a very smart mommy!
The point is this, there is so much to see anywhere you live that you should not let the moments of your life go by without taking advantage to enrich yourself. Gather some knowledge and share it with others. There are no excuses accepted these days since Google can take you places you have never been before. I know, it is no substitute for being there, I agree; but a “virtual trip” does not hurt anyone and if you ever get the opportunity to visit in person–you would already have an idea of what to expect when you get there.
Chica on the Move 