Day 5: Getting on, getting off the sea, under a cloudy sky
State of Liberty
Ellis Island
Chinatown
Bus
Day 5 was 4 hours of forming queues at the port and lowering ass onto wet benches among screeching school children, European tourists and tomorrow's forgotten pictures of thumbs, the Statue and the sea. An officer at the New York harbor pulled me aside and asked me if I was a teacher or if I intended to become one. He said I looked like a teacher. I should have said: no, engineer or economist, but an invisible hand reached into my brain and seized the words before they could form.
At the Ellis Island exhibition,
I had the incredible urge to scratch onto a wall: Mother, I was here. She had visited years ago. My futile impulse would take this message to its intended recipient only if time folded onto itself and she found her way back to Ellis Island and to this gallery wall documenting the lives of unnamed disembarkers at a foreign land.
"From 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through the portal of Ellis Island, a small island in New York Harbor. Ellis Island is located in the upper bay just off the New Jersey coast, within the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. Through the years, this gateway to the new world was enlarged from its original 3.3 acres to 27.5 acres mostly by landfill obtained from ship ballast and possibly excess earth from the construction of the New York City subway system.
"First and second class passengers who arrived in New York Harbor were not required to undergo the inspection process at Ellis Island. Instead, these passengers underwent a cursory inspection aboard ship; the theory being that if a person could afford to purchase a first or second class ticket, they were less likely to become a public charge in America due to medical or legal reasons.
"This scenario was far different for "steerage" or third class passengers. These immigrants traveled in crowded and often unsanitary conditions near the bottom of steamships with few amenities, oftenspending up to two weeks seasick in their bunks during rough Atlantic Ocean crossings. Upon arrival in New York City, ships would dock at the Hudson or East River piers. First and second class passengers would disembark, pass through Customs at the piers and were free to enter the United States. The steerage and third class passengers were transported from the pier by ferry or barge to Ellis Island where everyone would undergo a medical and legal inspection.
"While there were many reasons to emigrate to America, no reason could be found for what would occur only five years after the Ellis Island Immigration Station opened. During the evening of June 14, 1897, a fire on Ellis Island, burned the immigration station completely to the ground. Although no lives were lost, many years of Federal and State immigration records dating back to 1855 burned along with the pine buildings that failed to protect them."
The sea is heaving. We all are heaving. It is time to go home.
Ellis Island
Chinatown
Bus
Day 5 was 4 hours of forming queues at the port and lowering ass onto wet benches among screeching school children, European tourists and tomorrow's forgotten pictures of thumbs, the Statue and the sea. An officer at the New York harbor pulled me aside and asked me if I was a teacher or if I intended to become one. He said I looked like a teacher. I should have said: no, engineer or economist, but an invisible hand reached into my brain and seized the words before they could form.
At the Ellis Island exhibition,
I had the incredible urge to scratch onto a wall: Mother, I was here. She had visited years ago. My futile impulse would take this message to its intended recipient only if time folded onto itself and she found her way back to Ellis Island and to this gallery wall documenting the lives of unnamed disembarkers at a foreign land. "From 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through the portal of Ellis Island, a small island in New York Harbor. Ellis Island is located in the upper bay just off the New Jersey coast, within the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. Through the years, this gateway to the new world was enlarged from its original 3.3 acres to 27.5 acres mostly by landfill obtained from ship ballast and possibly excess earth from the construction of the New York City subway system.
"First and second class passengers who arrived in New York Harbor were not required to undergo the inspection process at Ellis Island. Instead, these passengers underwent a cursory inspection aboard ship; the theory being that if a person could afford to purchase a first or second class ticket, they were less likely to become a public charge in America due to medical or legal reasons.
"This scenario was far different for "steerage" or third class passengers. These immigrants traveled in crowded and often unsanitary conditions near the bottom of steamships with few amenities, oftenspending up to two weeks seasick in their bunks during rough Atlantic Ocean crossings. Upon arrival in New York City, ships would dock at the Hudson or East River piers. First and second class passengers would disembark, pass through Customs at the piers and were free to enter the United States. The steerage and third class passengers were transported from the pier by ferry or barge to Ellis Island where everyone would undergo a medical and legal inspection.
"While there were many reasons to emigrate to America, no reason could be found for what would occur only five years after the Ellis Island Immigration Station opened. During the evening of June 14, 1897, a fire on Ellis Island, burned the immigration station completely to the ground. Although no lives were lost, many years of Federal and State immigration records dating back to 1855 burned along with the pine buildings that failed to protect them."
The sea is heaving. We all are heaving. It is time to go home.
posted by No You're Not at 2:31 AM
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