American Dream: To Do What You Love To Do

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American Dream: To Prevail Against All Odds

by Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

My daughter's dream of earning her Ph.D. came true recently. She labored for six years, not knowing if she would prevail or not.  She studied the Hepatitis C virus and how it enters the liver.

She persevered! She got it! A lesson for all of us.

I asked what she would aim for, now that she had won her Ph.D. She said she just wanted to keep doing what she was doing, scientific research. 

Here's Sharon with her advisor and mentor, Dr. Matt Evans. You can see her ace her thesis defense at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLLIybs_OXQ.

She just added "Ph.D." on masking tape to her name outside her laboratory.

She's at her bench, where she pushed the frontiers of science back a little.

This is the building where she worked, the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine building at 100th Street and Madison Avenue. The shot is taken from across the Jackie Onassis Reservoir in Central Park, NYC.

Here is where my daughter labored long and hard.

One last shot of where she spent six years of her life.

How about you? Will you persevere? Stick with it!

American Dreams: Performing in a Fabulous Space

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American Dreams: Performing in a Fabulous Space

By Norma Jaeger Hopcraft

I went to the Beacon Theater in NYC, not far from Central Park West, to see a concert. Enjoyed the music but LOVED the theatre!

All this is going on ABOVE the stage, which you catch a snatch of (the blue-ish area at the bottom).

The walls...

The set-up for the band, and the crowd, anticipating a fun night.

I bet your local Regal Cinema doesn't have one of these!

Some of the trim...

The ceiling...

The band, heavy at it.

The person in front of me had a head like a beacon!

Lights, sound, color.

A chandelier.

The lobby.

Your local Loews doesn't look like this!

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American Dream: A Statue of Oneself, and Not in Wax

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People Commemorated for their Big American Dreams

George Washington, José Martí, and Christopher Columbus all have statues in New York City commemorating their leadership, which they exercised for good or ill. You'll see what I mean in the captions.

A bass relief of Washington kneeling in the snow. The sculpture is outside the Federal Building on Wall Street where he was sworn in as the first president of the United States.  His American Dream came true--he won the war so he kept his life and his beloved farm, Mount Vernon.  He put them both at risk to fight England. 

All the rest of these shots were taken within footsteps of Columbus Circle.  Here is a cool statue on the southern edge of Central Park.

Sculptor Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington (-1876–1973) created this larger-than-life bronze equestrian statue depicting Cuban patriot and author José Martí (1853–1895)

Another view of José.

The Maine Monument commemorates the 260 American sailors who perished when the battleship Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana, Cuba.

Statue of Christopher Columbus, whom Native Americans remember not as a hero but as a torturer, enslaver, and tormentor of indigenous peoples.

Last spring, Woytuk's sculptures graced Columbus Circle.

Nothing like African wildlife in New York City on a brisk spring day.

To be honest, I've wondered what it was like to be so famous that somebody made a statue of you. Maybe I could sell my soul to the Devil and gain the fame, or at least notoriety, that spurred Madame Tussaud to make a wax image of me. What about you? Have you ever thought you might like to see yourself in Madame Tussaud's? : )

Handspans

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One week later, everything has changed.  Dad walked around his home with the aid of a walker today.  He’s not coughing – he beat pneumonia, or whatever it was.   He sat up with us for hours on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning.  I left Monday noon thinking he was in okay shape.

He’s tired of being so disabled – he’s gone blind, among other problems – but he’s courageous and usually patient with his weakness.  You don’t want to be around him when he’s exasperated.

So on Tuesday afternoon, after checking on the status in Mystic, I relaunched my plans for the trip.  On Wednesday, my bed became Central Pack.  It’s snowing, in the low 30s here; it will be in the low 80s in Savannah on Saturday and Sunday, so it’s a matter of taking layers.

I opened the maps.  If I stretch my hand as wide as possible, I can touch New York City and Savannah. 

It takes four handspans to reach San Francisco.