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New York Today: The Mother of Exiles, in 2017
Updated, 8:07 a.m.
Good morning on this snow-speckled Monday.
The Statue of Liberty has another name: the Mother of Exiles.
The nickname — symbolizing the United States as a nation of immigrants — was imagined by the poet Emma Lazarus, who in 1883 wrote the sonnet “The New Colossus” to raise money to create the statue’s pedestal.
These excerpts were inscribed on a plaque and mounted inside the monument — in 1903:
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. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome …
“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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
“There are tears running down the cheeks of the Statue of Liberty tonight,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York wrote in a Twitter post over the weekend, shortly after President Trump signed an executive order barring all refugees from entering the United States for 120 days and Syrian refugees indefinitely. The order also blocked entry for 90 days for citizens — refugees or not — of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
“These policies do not reflect the values of the United States or of New York City,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “In this great city of immigrants we will remain true to our values and always welcome all who yearn to breathe free.”
Hundreds of protesters responded to the order by swarming Kennedy International Airport on Saturday, where 40 or more travelers were detained over the course of the weekend. Disorder also swept airports across the nation and lawyers mobilized. City taxi drivers called for an hourlong work stoppage. A federal judge in Brooklyn issued a ruling to partly block the president’s order, helping 100 to 200 people who had been held at airports around the country. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo set up a hotline — 1-888-769-7243 — to support those missing or detained in transit.
“To be clear,” Mr. Trump said in a written statement on Sunday, “this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting. This is not about religion — this is about terror and keeping our country safe.”
As he defended his order, thousands gathered at a rally in Battery Park, and ferries continued shuttling visitors from Lower Manhattan to Liberty Island to spend some time with the Mother of Exiles.
Here’s what else is happening:
Weather
The fluffy stuff is back.
Light snow should dust our sidewalks, and cars, and planters, and garbage piles.
Which means it’s chilly, and with the wind, it will feel like it's 20 to 30. (Bundle up!)
If you think we haven’t had much snow this season, you’re right. But only by a smidgen. We’ve had 10.1 inches; the average is 11.6.
With less than half an inch expected today, we probably won’t hit the average. Perhaps tomorrow, when more snow is on tap.
In the News
• Here are some of the stories of those affected by Donald J. Trump’s executive order. [New York Times]
• Leaders in Brooklyn’s Yemeni-American community fear the future as their relatives are detained at Kennedy Airport. [New York Times]
• Christian leaders in New York have strongly criticized President Trump’s executive orders, and a former New York district attorney has called the policy a “disgrace.” [New York Times]
• Closing arguments are set to begin in the Etan Patz murder retrial. [New York Times]
• A killer is paroled after four decades, but on the condition that he be deported to England. [New York Times]
• Subway trains running on the 7 line derailed at the same station in Queens twice over the weekend. [CBS]
• A dredging project began in Flushing Bay near La Guardia Airport to alleviate a stinky smell. [NY1]
• Read how the city charges homeowners for front stoops. [Crain’s New York]
• The author Brad Meltzer sees his children’s books as antidotes for a society that has mistaken fame for heroism. [New York Times]
• After a separation of 17 years, Miguel Ramos arrived in Yonkers in October to live with his mother, Mirna Ramos. Then she learned she had cancer. [New York Times]
• Today’s Metropolitan Diary: “Famous People Encountered on the Street”
• Scoreboard: Hawks scrape by Knicks, 142-139 (in quadruple overtime).
• For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Monday Briefing.
Coming Up Today
• Visit Hidemi Takagi’s photography exhibition on barbershop culture in Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, at the borough’s Central Library. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. [Free]
• Indulge in some Monday Night Magic (and comedy) at the Players Theater in Greenwich Village. 8 p.m. [$42.50]
• Push your limits at a flying trapeze or ballet barre class at Circus Warehouse in Long Island City, Queens. Times vary. [$65]
• Looking ahead: Join writers from “Late Night With Seth Meyers” for an improv comedy show on Thursday at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Chelsea.
• Nets at Heat, 7:30 p.m. (YES).
• For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.
Commute
• Railroads: L.I.R.R., Metro-North, N.J. Transit, Amtrak
• Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.
• Alternate-side parking: in effect until Feb. 13.
• Ferries: Staten Island Ferry, New York Waterway, East River Ferry
• Airports: La Guardia, J.F.K., Newark
And Finally...
For all you golf fans out there, a dispatch from the mini-golf front:
The much-adored miniature golf course on Governors Island is in danger of not reopening.
The course, which was designed by local artists, is uniquely New York: Where else can you tap your golf ball over a little George Washington Bridge?
But as the costs of maintaining the course rise, its future has grown murky. Figment Project, the group that created the course, recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the money to reopen the attraction this summer.
Some things to look forward to, if that comes to fruition: the Governors Island Miniature Golf Masters Tournament, and new holes on the theme “NYC Has the Beat,” with designs reflecting our city’s lively music scene.
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