Category Archives: HISTORY

Yearning To Breathe Free

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“Give me your tired
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me
Lift my lamp beside the golden door”
Emma Lazarus

Statue of Liberty

Most American’s don’t know who Emma Lazarus was or why she’s very relevant today. They don’t know she was an American author of poetry, prose and an activist for Jewish causes. Emma’s fame came not from her writing and activism but from a few words on one of our countries most iconic symbols for freedom.

Emma Lazarus was born on July 22, 1849 in New York City, the fourth of seven children. Born to a wealthy Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese descent, her father, Moses, was a successful sugar merchant who made certain his children got the best education.

Her siblings and she studied with private tutors and learned multiple languages including German, French, and Italian. Excelling in academics, by the time she was seventeen, she had already written a book of poems called Poems and Translations: Written Between the Ages of Fourteen and Sixteen.

As she continued to write, she used her poems and essays to speak out against the persecution of Jews in Europe and growing anti-Semitism in the United States. She publicly proclaimed her identity as a Jewish poet and advocated for Jewish issues internationally. Lazarus wrote in various publications promoting Zionism and a Jewish homeland in Palestine. In addition to her writing, she also met with immigrants and refugees, volunteered at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and helped establish the Hebrew Technical Institute in New York to provide Jewish immigrants with vocational training.

In 1883, Lazarus formed the Society for the Improvement and Colonization of East European Jews. That same year, she wrote The New Colossus, to be presented at auction to raise money for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The organizers decided to print the poem in the Catalogue of the Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition at the National Academy of Design to inspire continued work on the statue. Then late in 1883, one of the lines from Colossus was inscribed on a bronze plaque, and in 1903 wss installed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

The last stanza of the sonnet was used by many creative people. It was set to music by Irving Berlin in his song “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor” for the 1949 musical Miss Liberty, which was based on the sculpting of the Statue of Liberty Liberty Enlightening the World. The stanza was also set by Lee Hoiby in his song “The Lady of the Harbor” written in 1985 as part of his song cycle Three Women.

From what I’ve read about Emma, those words on the Statue of Liberty are among her proudest accomplishments. She was a champion in helping immigrants. She knew first hand immigrants experiences coming to a new country and assimilating. She knew how badly they were treated. Her work always produced sensitivity and enduring lessons regarding immigrants and their need for dignity. She contributed toward shaping the self-image of the United States as well as how the country understands the needs of those who immigrated to the United States.

As we celebrate the 250 Anniversary of this country, Emma’s words must be embraced. Because in the current climate of this country, our democracy, our freedom of speech, our immigrants and future immigrants are all in danger.

Now and perhaps more than ever in this country’s history, the inscription on Miss Liberty, rings true for all of us. Especially our immigrants, most of which were our own parents, grandparents and great grandparents. None of us are native to this country except all the Indigenous people.

She never married or had children. Sadly, she died at the young age of 38 years old on November 19, 1887, from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Her short lived life was dedicated to her family heritage. Her tour de force in life was helping those like herself, yearning to breathe free.

Shine On

Morning Walk

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“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth,
so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.
To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.
To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over
the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”
Henry David Thoreau


Shine On

Father of the Cell Phone

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“An inventor is one who can see the applicability
of means to supply demand five years before it is
obvious to those skilled in the art.”
Reginald Fessenden

Our cell phones have the capability of a supercomputer. They can perform as a cell phone and instantly they are a computer, television, music playing device, camera, video camera, library, GPS, and a gaming system.

What I find interesting is that I use it less and less as a phone. My monthly cell phone bill shows zero actual phone minutes used and thousands of kilobytes used for data.

For example, at the DMV the other day, the line was hours long. So I pulled out my cell phone, and began reading a book from my OverDrive account.

When I looked around the long line of people, I noticed they too were engaged in cell phone activity. I began to wonder, how did cell phones first get started? So, I pulled up Google on my trusted cell phone.

The cell phone dates back to its early inception of the shore-to-ship radio telephony during the Second World War. The inventor, Reginald Fessenden probably never anticipated the huge impact he would have on society. An inveterate tinkerer, Fessenden eventually became the holder of more than 500 patents. His rendition of ‘O Holy Night‘ from a 1906 broadcast was the first coherent audio transmission to be received.

The telephony developed into mobile phones that were first used for automobiles in the 1940’s. The early mobile phones of the 1970’s to the 1990’s were bulky, consumed high power and the telephone network supported only a few simultaneous conversations. The first cell phone I used in 1993 could only be used in the car and was the size of a man’s size 12 shoe.

I wonder how Reginald Fessenden would react to the huge success of his invention? No doubt he would be proud. But, I bet he would of had no idea how far his inventions would take us and that he would become the father of the cell phone.

Shine On