By E. Elise
Liberty’s Torch, visit to New York City, August 2007, photo © 2007 by R3. All rights reserved.
It’s my Granddaddy’s birthday. We were going to New York by train. In New York we’re going to see the Statue of Liberty, and the “Vampire State 
Building” as my cousin, Isaac, used to call it.
My family that went with me was Granddaddy, Jenny, Uncle Larry, Isaac, Erica, and Paula. We had to wake up extremely early at 3:00 am to be on the enormous train by 5:00 am. I could hear people yawning and groaning like bears coming out ofhibernation because it was so early. The train can go more than 170 mph. I could barely see a city full of energy because of the smog.
When we got out of the train, I could smell the nice warm breakfasts. Also I saw so many suitcases, I thought it was an airport! We went on the subway 
quite a number of 
times. The seats felt like ice. I could hear it roaring and screeching to a stop, like a car about to drive off a cliff. Also it was really nerve-wracking to jump on the train.
On the ferry ride to Ellis Island, I could taste the fruit punch Gatorade from the snack shop on the lower level of the boat. Some people were standing on the benches with high-priced cameras trying to take beautiful snapshots of the Statue.
“This is the original torch,” said the tour guide. In the Statue of Liberty, the base is like a museum of her. The Statue of Liberty was supposed to be the artist’s mother, but she was unable to stand. So he used his wife’s body and mother’s face. At her feet are chains to resemble the end of 
slavery.
When it was time to go to the train station again, we were tired and hungry like an animal who didn’t catch their prey. We had dinner and a smoothie. On the way to Harrisburg’s station, we saw a skyscraper with a flashing light in every window. It was almost like everyone was taking pictures of the train. I love New York!
Yes, that’s what I said, New York was awesome! One of my favorite parts was security. In the Empire State Building youhad to go in a box where it blows air from the ground. My hair went wild. Next time, if ever, I want to see everything in New York.
About E. Elise: E. Elise lives in Central Pennsylvania with her mother and older brother. She is currently a student at Broad Street Elementary. She likes to swim. One exciting time was when she went to New York. This is her story.
Liberty’s Robe, visit to New York City, August 2007, photo © 2007 by R3. All rights reserved.
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 flameIs 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!”This tablet with her sonnet to the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty engraved upon it, is placed upon these walls
in loving memory of Emma LazarusBorn in New York City, July 22nd, 1849
Died November 19th, 1887
-quote on the bronze plaque from the Liberty exhibit in the base of the Statue of Liberty (photo above). It was presented by philanthropist Georgiana Schuyler in 1903, twenty years after Emma Lazarus wrote her sonnet. Originally displayed on the interior wall of the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal, it was placed in the Liberty exhibit in the base of the monument in July, 1886.
Post Script: When I was visiting home in November for my Mom’s 70th birthday, my niece, E. Elise, tugged at my sleeve, and asked if she could read me her latest pieces of writing. She said she had asked her teacher if she could bring her writing folder home to share with me. And even though the folder was never supposed to leave the classroom, her teacher agreed.
I listened intently as she read (Whose B-Day) Going To New York out loud to me and my family in the dining room on the couch before the cake was cut. The story was about her Granddaddy who came up to visit from South Carolina last August. And over his birthday, my brother arranged a family trip to New York City.
I was ecstatic to see E. Elise so excited about writing (she is named after her Great Grandmama Elise). I loved her piece. And after I saw the family photos of the New York trip, I knew it would be a great post for red Ravine. I hope you are thrilled as I am to see my 10-year-old niece as our Guestwriter this week. And to see the young ones so jazzed about writing!
Photoblog Credit: The photographs were taken by members of my family who graciously allowed me to upload and post them in this piece. I gave anonymous credit in the links (thank you reccos62, R3, and januaryshadows). And if you click on each photograph, it will take you to my Flickr account with larger views and more NYC photographs not included on this page. I also wanted to mention that the names in this post (other than the author’s) were changed to protect the innocent!
-posted on red Ravine, Wednesday, December 26th 2007
redravine.wordpress.com 
I love the enthusiasm, E. You made me want to see the statue with my own eyes. I didn’t know she had chains around her feet that stood for slavery!
Learn something new everyday.
I’m going to let my ten year old daughter read this, too. You’re a great writer.
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That’s fantastic! It is great to read a young girl’s impression of a trip. It’s interesting what stands out to her, and how she writes for herself, not for an audience. I really enjoyed this piece – thanks for sharing, and please thank your niece, too.
ps: The photos are wonderful, too!
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Wow!
E.Elise, you made New York come alive for me again. I lived very near there, in New Jersey, when I was ten, and I loved it, too.
I really like the part of your story where you said you passed a skyscraper and and it was like everyone was taking pictures of the train.
And the part about the subway sounding like “a car about to drive off a cliff.”
Some parts of New York are scary, but there is so much going on, and it just has a ‘feel’ to it, it’s easy to know why you love it!
Thanks for letting your story be here on Red Ravine.
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Very nice story.
It brought back memories of the trip, especially the lurching of the subway train (to me it reminded me of teaching someone to drive where they accelerate fast and stop suddenly).
Although we had a full day we were able to see everything my father wanted to see in his first trip to NYC as well as give him the experience of riding on the subway and a ferry.
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This trip to NYC was a wonderful trip that I will remember and cherish the rest of my life.
Bye, Shug!!!
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Elise was excited to finally see her piece on your site. amuirin, bloomgal & leslie, thank you for recognizing my daughter’s talent! Needless to say, I am very proud of her. Her Aunt Quoinmonkey has been an inspiration to her and she often talks about writing like her when she gets older. I think she’s on the right track!
Although I did not go on this trip with them, I feel as if I was there through all the stories and pictures.
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E. Elisa, you are a writer to be reckoned with!
If I may borrow the term “Vampire State Building” from you’re writings and Cousin Issac, I know another 10 year old (who lives in New York) that would love to use it!
New York is a wonderful place to see (and enjoy the food!) at any age and how great is that to share it with you’re Grand Dad on his special day.
A really wonderful story…and I love the shot by R3 of Liberty’s underskirts!
🙂 H
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R3-1, I’m so glad you got to see this post before you left Pennsylvania. I can’t tell you how happy I am you got a computer and have been reading the blog! And I bet Elise is thrilled you got to see her piece. Quite a writer. 8)
I hope you had a great Christmas with all the family in PA (the first in over 30 years). I feel like I was right there with all of you! I know you’re leaving late tomorrow and I’ll be thinking about you. Safe travels back to the South.
You all have a good dinner tonight! Order some fried shrimp for me! Much love.
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amuirin, I think that’s pretty cool you are going to show this to your daughter. If you happen to check back, maybe you could let us know what she thinks.
bloomgal, I like what you said about how she writes for herself, not an audience. It means she’s finding her voice. Really important for girls to hold on to!
leslie, you captured some of the things I liked about the piece, too. The descriptions were ones I could totally relate to. The visuals and the sounds.
This is a good place to mention that Elise showed me the process she went through writing this piece. Her teacher had them chart out phrases, visuals, smells, and sounds on a grid. I think the grid had a name (maybe Elise will be able to remind me what it was). Sort of a mapping tool.
And the bio that I included after About E. Elise: – Elise had already written that, as well, as part of the piece. It was a complete piece when I came to it. I don’t remember learning all that in English at that age. I was very impressed!
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H at anuvue, I like that you call them Liberty’s underskirts! Your humor always comes out in your comments. You know a 10 year old in New York? I wonder if he/she writes about New York, too.
I haven’t been to New York since high school. I went with my Tri-Hi-Y called the Zodiacs. I was blown away by it back then. I’m sure I’d feel the same way now. I’d have to find ways to keep my ground. Too many people, too little space for this introvert!
I do hope to go back in the near future. Liz just found out her nephew moved back to New York recently. He’s an artist so it’s the perfect environment for him. Maybe we’ll visit!
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R3, thanks so much to you and reccos62 for letting me publish your photographs. They are wonderful and add a lot to the piece. (We love visuals on red Ravine along with the writing.) I remember how you quickly downloaded them for me the night before I was leaving PA. Thanks!
You put a lot into planning this trip to New York. And I remember how excited you were about taking your Dad along with the family. It is great you all got to experience this together, even if it was a whirlwind trip! There is so much going on there, it’s hard to take it all in.
gritsinpa, blogworld moves on its own time. We eventually do get to publishing everything. But we end up having a lot in queue along with the pieces that yb and I want to publish for ourselves. And it just takes time! But I thought it would be nice to get this up while the family is together over the Holidays.
Elise is a great writer. I hope she keeps writing away. I am glad we got to publish her piece. And thank you for saying I inspire her. It’s not something I would have known if she hadn’t shared her writing with me. Thank you for letting me know!
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Hi E. Elise. Thank you for writing with us on red Ravine. I love the idea of a Vampire State Building. And walking through a box that swooshes air at you and makes your hair go wild. (One of the lines in my local airport security has one of those boxes, and I always try to pick that line since I love the feeling of the air spitting at me through all sides. I like the sound it makes, too. It reminds me of shooting water through my teeth.)
You are a natural writer. You included details that are things we as readers can latch on to and remember easily. Please thank your teacher for allowing you to take your writing folder home so you could read this piece to your aunt. Like amuirin, I’m going to show this post to my daughters. Both of them love looking at their artwork on this site. You can come back to it again and again, like they do.
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p.s., R3, the photo of Liberty’s Robe is phenomenal! The sky looks like a lighter hue of that same aged green-blue color.
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Wow! What a great story of your visit to New York! You are quite a talented writer & as your Mom pointed out, I also think you are following in your Aunt QM’s footsteps. When you told me tonight at dinner that it had been posted I could not wait to get home & fire up the lap top & check in! I am so very proud of you for many reasons, but I had no idea that you were such a terrific writer. I hope to see more of your work soon in redRavine. And now that you have that new digital camera, well…. Great job sweetheart! You will surely be an inspiration to other young people as well as adults. Love you much! Aunt D
P.S. I also enyed the photos from all who contributed them.
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Great stuff. I wish your niece all the luck with her future writing and image capturing.
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E. Elise,
When I read your piece, it made me say over and over, “I want to go there! I want to go there!” You made New York sound like a great adventure.
These are the things I didn’t know that you taught me:
1. That the Statue has chains to symbolize the end of slavery
2. That the train goes over 170 m.p.h. Wow! Killer fast!
3. That the Statue is the body of one woman, the face of another
Where will you go next?
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E. Elise,
Iam so impressed with your writing! You are already a writer of IMPORTANCE! And don’t let anything or anyone ever discourage you!
You are much braver than i. My first trip to New York, I stayed in the Apartment that was arranged for me, for a whole day, before I summoned up enough courage to venture out on the street.
I can tell that you put a lot of thought into your piece, because of all the details and descriptions you included.
The other comments included most of them, but two that I especially liked were the people, “Yawning and groaning like bears coming out of hibernation, because it was so early in the morning”…not like you…you were busy observing all that was happening around you, and always remember that this is one of the most important qualities a writer must develop; to watch and listen to the people, the sounds, take in the smells, (like the “good breakfasts” you told your readers about.)
I hope you continue writing and let us see and appreciate what you write on redRavine!!
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E. Elise, I also wanted to mention a few other things when I commented last night. Although I, like your Mom, was unable to take this trip, (Due to back issues for both of us, I am afraid we would have been like 2 snails slowing the rest of you down!) I have been to NYC before & the last time I was there the statue was closed to the public for much needed repairs. You made that part of the story so detailed that I felt as though I had seen her before. After reading your post I want to go back there soon! During my last visit I was lucky enough to up into the World Trade Towers. That was quite something. Love you! Aunt D
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I was thinking of going to NYC last week. Maybe I’ll go in January… We’ll see…
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Thanks for all of your support for the up and coming young writers of the world! I just talked to my niece on the phone and she’s very excited to see her piece on red Ravine. She told me she’s feeling shy about commenting. But she has been reading all the comments with her mom (gritsinpa). We’ll see what happens! It does my heart good to see young ones excited about writing.
E. Elise, thank you for writing with us and sharing your New York piece with the world. Keep writing! You’ve got that spark.
gritsinpa, good to talk to you today. I’ll let you know how the ham hock and black-eyed peas comes out on New Years’s. And yes, I actually have to go out and shovel more of the driveway today. No snow blower here. But I might be reconsidering…. 8)
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I remember how hard it was to comment the first time I did (on another blog out there). I can empathize.
Thank you, E. Elize, for being our guest and for having the courage to put your piece out there for our readers. You’re a great role model for other young people and for us older ones, too.
Hey, QM, will you be posting the ham hock and black-eyed peas recipe before New Year’s Day? I’d love to have it, as we’ve made it a recent tradition of our to make black-eyed peas for good luck.
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ybonesy, Yes! I’m going to post the ham hock and black-eyed peas recipe over the next few days. I just talked to both my sister and mother about how they make it (to get all the extra little fun tidbits!). So expect lots of Good Luck cooking instructions coming up soon!
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Hi E. Elise, what a great piece. I’m really a proud Grandmother and this just makes me more proud of you.!! You did a great job. Maybe someday I can go to N.Y. city with you and you can show me the sights. I’ve always wanted to go but haven’t had the oppotunity arrive. Although when we go lets take more than one day, I don’t think these old bones could keep up with you to see very much in one day. Maybe Aunt D and Grits in Pa. will be able to go also if we go at a slower pace. Looking forward to seeing your next piece on the Red Ravine.
Love Ya,
Memama
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Thank you all for your support I would like to especially thank QM & yb for entering it in. My family too . (gritsinpa,MOM,R3,R3-1,QM,alitttlediddy) I think that is all! I will continue to write & am going to show to my class (im exited) Once again thank you so much for supporting me .
P.S. If you havent tried to make Rocks or any other food
posted by QM , try it ! I love everything my family makes.
P.S.S. Im writing a persuasive essay on why other schools should be able to go to this awesome outdoor school called Echo Hill Outdoor School I learned so much there! It is along the Chesapeak Bay.In the district of Delaware (west of Galena)
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Well, E. Elise, the redRavine community will be waiting to read your persuasive essay. I can’t wait to hear what an outdoor school is like. Send pictures, too!
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E. Elise, I also am looking forward to your persuasive essay. I’m glad we talked this morning & was thrilled to see your comment. You are right about rocks & the food recipes that have been posted.(P.S. I am making mac-n-cheese for tomorrows dinner!) Love you! Aunt D.
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[…] (Whose B-Day?) Going To New York by E. Elise […]
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[…] Liberty exhibit in the base of the Statue of Liberty, originally posted on red Ravine in the piece Going To New York. It was presented by philanthropist Georgiana Schuyler in 1903, twenty years after Emma Lazarus […]
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