[Magdalen] Naturalization Ceremony

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

There's a Monticello (pronounced Mawn-ti-SELL-o) near us.  Would you mean
the home of Thomas Jefferson?  That would indeed be a wonderful place to
have a naturalization ceremony. We visited there a couple of years ago. A
fascinating place.  The efforts made to bring things to life have yielded
good fruit.

Always liked Thomas Jefferson. A lot of people think his monument in DC is
the most beautiful -- not too flashy.  There he stands, larger than life,
in his Temple, surrounded by his credo, "I have sworn upon the altar of God
eternal hostility against any form of tyranny over the mind of man."

Yes, that would be a great place to take the kids to see what this
country's all about.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Sat, Jun 6, 2015 at 7:50 PM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com> wrote:

> They have a naturalization ceremony up at Monticello every year on the
> Fourth of July and I keep thinking it would ba a good things to take some
> of the grandkids to. Maybe this year...
>
> > On Jun 6, 2015, at 7:37 PM, Esther Williamson <momohl1 at cox.net> wrote:
> >
> > Yes it is. I really enjoyed it.
> > Esther
> >
> >> On 6/6/2015 7:23 PM, Grace Cangialosi wrote:
> >> This is lovely, Jim--thanks!
> >>
> >>> On Jun 6, 2015, at 3:42 PM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
> oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Had an interesting afternoon yesterday.
> >>>
> >>> Went to the Wallace center, a part of the FDR Library and Home in Hyde
> Park
> >>> as a driver.  They were having a naturalization ceremony, and the DAR
> was
> >>> supplying refreshments.
> >>> I've never seen this before, and I wanted to see it.  It turns out it's
> >>> like so many other things.  Hurry up and wait.
> >>> Homeland Security now must speak individually with each candidate.
> Among
> >>> other things, they ask them if they have changed their mind since
> applying
> >>> for citizenship.
> >>> H S had a group in the morning in Rockland County, and were apparently
> >>> delayed for two hours, so everybody had to wait for them.
> >>> This gave our county executive, Marcus Molinaro, a chance to practice
> his
> >>> stand-up routine "I have a lot of jokes <pause> some of them are
> funny."
> >>> After a particularly lame joke, he pointed to one lady, "Excuse me
> ma'am. I
> >>> see you are laughing.  Did you REALLY think that was funny? Yes? And
> where
> >>> are you from, ma'am?  Jamaica? Oh I have to get down there to talk."
> >>> He gamely went on poking fun at himself for about fifteen minutes ("If
> >>> someone somewhere is opening an envelope, I will be there!")
> >>> He was always interested in politics as a young man, and he got tired
> of
> >>> hearing the trustees in his village saying, no matter what the subject,
> >>> "Oh, we can't do that." He learned a bit about representative gummint,
> and
> >>> he suddenly realized that if he wanted change, he might be the one to
> start
> >>> it.
> >>> He ran for village trustee at eighteen years old -- and won.
> >>> A year later, he found out the mayor was retiring, and he was starting
> to
> >>> enjoy politics. "So I ran home as fast as I could and asked my mother
> if I
> >>> was permitted to run for mayor. She said yes, so I did, and I won. I
> was
> >>> mayor for twelve years."
> >>> Marc is now in his forties (I believe). You may hear more of this man
> in
> >>> the coming years, he's that good.
> >>>
> >>> Eventually we worked around to the ceremony.  Looking out the window
> at the
> >>> statue of Eleanor and Franklin sitting on a bench just like plain
> folks, I
> >>> looked around at these people (73 individuals were naturalized that
> day) I
> >>> felt we obviously have something going on here if these folks are
> coming
> >>> here from different lands (There was a map in the room with a stick
> pin for
> >>> every country: Canada, S. America, Vietnam, Russia, Africa, the usual
> >>> European suspects)
> >>>
> >>> We started out by singing the national anthem in a sort of organum.
> >>>
> >>> And then the oath itself, including the same words I swore as a
> non-com,
> >>> but with a marvelous twist:
> >>> The administrator went "Repeat after me.
> >>> I -- state your name --"
> >>> And they then went around the room. Each of the seventy-three people,
> one
> >>> by one, stated their name.  This part touched me so very deeply, but I
> was
> >>> totally unprepared for the little incident that happened next.
> >>> In the midst of this, each person is reciting his name, going around
> the
> >>> room in a prearranged order, and then I heard, but it did not fully
> >>> register until a moment later (Huh? Did that really happen?), one
> person
> >>> stated his name:
> >>>
> >>> "Ronald Reagan <surname>"
> >>>
> >>> Some one person spontaneously clapped. I am glad they did because I
> would
> >>> have convinced myself I imagined it. But it was over, and the ceremony
> just
> >>> carried on.
> >>>
> >>> Two people in front of me were obviously new citizens, and I got the
> >>> privilege of being the very first person to congratulate them on their
> >>> citizenship.
> >>>
> >>> And then, all in the room now being citizens, we pledged allegiance to
> the
> >>> flag<snif>.
> >>>
> >>> Then we sang America the Beautiful in sort of parallel thirds.  Sweet.
> >>>
> >>> Everybody got their picture taken by friends, standing next to the flag
> >>> pointing to THEIR stick-pin.  Goodness.  From all over the world....
> >>>
> >>> We had a huge pile of cookies and drinks and they were all gone. Yay.
> >>>
> >>> I always enjoy visiting the center.  I never knew FDR. He died before
> I was
> >>> born. But I've always felt a connection.  We talked about Mrs.
> Roosevelt in
> >>> school all the time when I was a kid.
> >>>
> >>> When I was an undergrad at Pitt, I had some business in the Cathedral
> of
> >>> Learning, and was getting into an elevator. I was chatting with the
> >>> elevator operator, who was an African-American gentleman. For some
> reason,
> >>> the name of Franklin Roosevelt came up, and at that moment, the man
> took
> >>> off his hat.
> >>>
> >>> He looked me, looked at his hat, looked at me.
> >>>
> >>> And then, he said, "He made us feel like he cared about us." I cannot
> >>> imagine a more noble monument than that doffed cap.
> >>>
> >>> Our President could not stand, yet he helped America get back on its
> feet.
> >>>
> >>> And every time I visit, I think of all that....
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
> >>> *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not
> preserved,
> >>> except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
> >
>