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monde dane

~ My passport is American, my wife is Japanese and my thoughts are undocumented. If you read between the blog lines, who knows what you might learn.

monde dane

Tag Archives: Independence Day

Obama’s Hiroshima Speech Critiqued by Japanese 9th Graders – CHIKA

01 Friday Jul 2016

Posted by danedegenhardt in ALL THINGS JAPANESE, EZ OBAMA, HOLIDAYS, MUSIC, Uncategorized

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Hiroshima, Independence Day, Obama, view from Japan, WAR

This is one of seven papers written by my 9th grade students describing how they feel about President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima and the words he spoke there.  I will be posting the remaining six over the weekend.  This Independence Day weekend is an excellent time to post these kids’ thoughts — to remind us that America can find greatness not in making war, but in working for peace.  

President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima became a big topic in Japan. I think it was an important sign of the mutual understanding between America and Japan. I can tell you the reasons for my opinion of his speech.

The biggest point was that it was the first time an American president visited either of the two cities that were destroyed by atom bombs. Also, in the very first part of his speech he expressed his condolence to the people who died there. He didn’t actually say any apologies about the nuclear attack, but I felt his sympathy.

He also spoke of specific examples of hibakusha (atomic bomb victims). I think he tried to show us his thoughtfulness and create a close feeling with those people. I guess it must be difficult for an American president to interact with Japanese hibakusha, I was impressed by his amicable gesture.

President Obama came to Hiroshima and he prayed for peace all over the world. We mustn’t forget this meaningful occurrence. I want to always keep his words in my heart.

CHIKA M. (14) – Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo

 

Independence Day Tribute to America’s Immigrant Roots

05 Saturday Jul 2014

Posted by danedegenhardt in HOLIDAYS, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Bill O'Reilly, Immigrants, Independence Day, Statue of Liberty, Willie Nelson

Don’t feel much of the good ole American spirit these days, what with the militarization of law enforcement from the DEA to the local sheriff, the obscene excesses of the top 1% and the violent ignorance of the bottom 1%.  Then, there’s all that vulgar McDonald’s Mallificence and mind numbing mass media culture.  I could go on and on about all the things that spark a sardonic recall of Cindy McCain’s mindless prattle, “Why, I’ve always been proud of my country.”

Well, instead of harping on all those negatives, I want to focus on one constant positive that I can teach my young Japanese students about America and be able to say, “Here’s something I can be proud of my country for; Immigration, the why, what and wherefor that formed an ‘enlightened’ European nation across the continent.”

Of course, to keep this a pride full story, I have to pass over any mention of the genocidal habits of the early illegal immigrants. [Sorry for the downer, Cindy. You didn’t know about that, did you?]

Liberty Enlightening the World

statue-of-liberty

Sketch of Bartholdi’s concept for the Statue of Liberty published in Scribners Monthly – June 1887.

“The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World” was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States. The 46-meter statue, designed by French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, was constructed in France and shipped to the US in pieces. The people of America donated the money to build the 47-meter-high pedestal. The giant lady was dedicated on Oct. 28, 1886, on the site of an old army fort on Liberty Island in New York Harbor just off the coast of Jersey City.

Passing LadyLibrty

Photo: The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc./National Park Service

The French said the statue was to honor international republicanism, but in 1903 it became a symbol of immigration with the dedication of Emma Lazarus’ 1883 ode to the nation’s immigrant roots.

The New Colossus

Not 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.

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.

“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!”

EllisBabies

Families at Ellis Island, 1905. Photo by Lewis Hine

In 1911, my grandmother, then 23 years old, sailed past Lady Liberty as she arrived at neighboring Ellis Island aboard one of several German ocean liners built specifically to carry immigrants to America, their ‘promised land’.

-4The S.S. George Washington sailed the same route the Titanic would take one year later. In fact, while sailing that route on the afternoon of 14 April, 1912, the George Washington spotted a huge iceberg. The crew transmitted a warning to all ships in the area, but the Titanic, then on its way, never got the message.

Grandma Ella did make the crossing safely with her six-month-old baby, William, my uncle.  My grandfather William Valentine Degenhardt had come over ahead of them. He found a home for his family in nearby Rahway, New Jersey.

100927 USA 408W

My grandfather, William Valentine Degenhardt and grandmother Ella with their first son William. Circa 1918.

IMMIGRANTS NOT ALWAYS WELCOME

America has always been a nation of immigrants, but often new immigrants are shunned by those who arrived before them.work-5562461-1-flat550x550075f-history-marches-on-nativism-marches-in-placeRecently, the news is filled with images of children from Central America who were arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol for illegally entering the country across the US-Mexican border.

KidsCrossBorderBill O’Reilly, the popular Fox TV news commentator said what a lot of conservatives are thinking;

“These immigrant children will create an ‘underclass’ of people dependent on American taxpayers and that could damage the entire infrastructure of America.”

oreilly-southernborder

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR THE O’REILLY SOLUTION

Immigration-Impact-400x215There have always been bigots, alarmists and nativists; there have also been good folks who try to keep America’s legendary hospitality alive. One of them, David Lynn Jones, echoed the words of Emma Lazarus in a simple country and western song. This song was performed by Willie Nelson and released in 1986 for Lady Liberty’s 100th birthday.

85c3587bf2a9480f1c145c965539761a

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR SONG

LIVING IN THE PROMISELAND

Give us your tired and weak
And we will make them strong
Bring us your foreign songs
And we will sing along

Leave us your broken dreams
We’ll give them time to mend
There’s still a lot of love
Living in the Promiseland

Living in the Promiseland
Our dreams are made of steel
The prayer of every man
Is to know how freedom feels

There is a winding road
Across the shifting sand
And room for everyone
Living in the Promiseland

So they came from a distant isle
Nameless woman
Faithless child like a bad dream
Until there was no room at all
No place to run, and no place to fall

Give us our daily bread
We have no shoes to wear
No place to call our home
Only this cross to bear

We are the multitudes
Lend us a helping hand
Is there no love anymore
Living in the Promiseland

 

WHAT IF THE FOURTH HAD NEVER BEEN

04 Saturday Jul 2009

Posted by danedegenhardt in HOLIDAYS, Uncategorized

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America's Song, Bono, Independence Day, Will I. Am, YUJI DIALOGUES

Yuji Happy Birthday!

Dane My birthday isn’t for a month yet.  I’m growing old fast enough as it is, you don’t have to hurry it any.

Yuji No.  I mean Happy Birthday America.  Today is Independence Day.

Dane Oh that?  I had been ignoring it for so many years, I had forgotten about it.

Yuji Ignoring your nation’s birthday?  Why would you want to do that?

Dane In a word?  Bush!

Yuji Oh yeah. But you should be happy now. No more Bush. And… you’ve got Obama!

Dane Yeah, mister “Hope and Change”. So far, there hasn’t been enough change and I’m starting to run low on hope.

Yuji Well, what do you think it would be like if McCain had won?

Dane Worse, I suppose. He might have started another war, this time in Iran.

Yuji Well McCain didn’t win, so you should relax and enjoy the Fourth of July.

Dane It’s hard to do the fireworks and flag waving when we’re still mixed up in two hopeless wars.

Yuji What has Independence Day got to do with war? I thought it was all about Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.

Dane Exactly! And that document, as noble as it is, was actually a declaration of war.

Yuji What are you saying? You think the Revolutionary War was a mistake?

Dane It might have been.

Yuji You’ve got to be kidding! Americans had to fight for their freedom.

Dane We didn’t really have to.

Yuji What are you talking about?Have you ever thought what it would be like now if they hadn’t fought?

Dane Yes, I have, actually. And I figure it would be just like Canada.

Yuji No! It would BE Canada!

Dane Right. And that wouldn’t be so bad. I don’t hear the Canadians complaining.

Yuji But America wouldn’t have been the birthplace of democracy.

Dane No, but it would still be a democracy, like England, Canada and so many other countries are today.

Yuji Maybe. But I’m sure American history would have been a lot different.

Dane It sure would have!We probably wouldn’t have had a civil war.

Yuji Does that mean you’d still have slavery?

Dane No, in fact the Brits outlawed slavery in 1833. So British America would have freed the slaves 30 years earlier than the USA did.

Yuji What about the west? British America might not have gotten all that land from France and Mexico.

Dane They probably would have taken most of it from France in the Napoleonic Wars. And that feisty old Victoria might very well have swallowed up everything as far south as Panama.

Yuji Then who’d you get to produce all your stuff at slave wages?

Dane The Venezuelans?

Yuji Anyway, Victoria would have sent all you Americans – and Mexicans – off to fight in her endless wars across the British Empire.

Dane Oh yeah, I hadn’t thought about that! But you’re right, we would have been drafted to fight in India and God knows where.

Yuji So if you had not fought the Revolutionary War you would have had to fight in a whole lot more wars around the world.

Dane If you look at it that way, I guess the Revolution was worth it after all.

Yuji So now you should feel better about celebrating Independence Day.

Dane Yeah, I guess so. But there is one other thing.

Yuji What’s that?

Dane If we were a Commonwealth nation we wouldn’t have to listen to all those corny patriotic songs!

Yuji Forget about it! You’re absolutely hopeless!

.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, USA!

04 Saturday Jul 2009

Posted by danedegenhardt in HOLIDAYS, Uncategorized

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Tags

Independence Day, MUSIC, Ron Paul, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson

jones

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priggee

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© Dane Degenhardt, Monde Dane, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Dane Degenhardt and Monde Dane with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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