The New Colossus

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(all photographs credit below)

Not (but of late) like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name, Mother of Exiles.

Men seek to keep her chained-just burning dull ember.

From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she with silent lips.

Yet is it pomp We now seek?

What will become of  words that once beckoned All?

"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!"

 ECHOES

Late-born and woman-souled I dare not hope

The freshness of the elder lays, the might

Of manly, modern passion shall alight

Upon my Muse's lips, nor may I cope

(Who veiled and screened by womanhood must grope)

With the world's strong-armed warriors and recite

The dangers, wounds, and triumphs of the fight;

Twanging the full-stringed lyre through all its scope.

But if thou ever in some lake-floored cave

O'erbrowed by rocks, a wild voice wooed and heard,

Answering at once from heaven and earth and wave,

Lending elf-music to thy harshest word,

Misprize thou not these echoes that belong

To one in love with solitude and song.

Emma Lazarus

For the moment- the issue of Planned Parenthood funding for women's healthcare is tenuously secure. There is in fact actually  only about 3%  of  Planned Parenthood's  total resources go to fund abortion services, with the rest going to various screening and other women's health services. In accordance with the Hyde Amendment no federal money can be used for abortion services.  Friday- just prior to midnight a government shutdown was averted, Senator Jon Kyl took to the Senate floor with this Big Lie. 


The Big Lie will be heard again- and if it is heard long enough- like all lies-it gathers believers. This is what the Senator is hoping, but for the moment, Planned Parenthood carries on- until the next fight.



The New Colossus  by Emma Lazarus & to Emma Lazarus questions about the future

photographs in order:

HERB RITTS
Neith with Tumbleweed. Paradise Cover 1986 at Phillips de Pury & Company

HELEN LEVITT
N.Y.C 1940 Phillips de Pury & Company

DESIREE DOLRON

Xteriors XI, 2001-2002 Phillips de Pury & Company

ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE
Sonia Risika 1988 Christie's

NOBUYOSHI ARAKI

Untitled from Bondages, 1998 Phillips de Pury & Company

 ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE

Lisa Lyon, 1982 Phillips de Pury & Company

LINKS TO READ

Where Government places the District in the palm of its hand and bargains with it  The Washington Post blog
What do you know about Emma Lazarus?
FactCheck.org on abortionthe Hyde Amendment