The Plinth

“I’ve just met a girl named Maria, and suddenly that name will never be the same to me. Maria”. Tony’s voice fills the night sky and the love he feel for Maria lights up the screen. West Side Story is an immensely popular musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in the 1950’s. The movie was critically acclaimed and won ten Oscars. The setting for the movie tells a much different story. By the filming of the Movie over 6,000 families had been uprooted and their homes paved over. This drastic upset was to build Lincoln Center as well as other various projects around New York City. Robert Moses was the “master builder” behind these projects and because of his actions many Latino and Black families were forced out of their homes.

Recently our school, Fordham Lincoln Center, put up a plinth in honor of Robert Moses calling him a “Friend of Fordham and a Mater Builder.” Immediately there was uproar, and I am proud to say that I was one of the voices. How can we as a school, a school who has very recently been besmirched with various hate crimes, put up a statue exonerating a man who marginalized entire communities, communities that our students are a part of. Acknowledging the success of his work is one thing but honoring him so publicly is another. So many families were affected by that move. More families than students of this University were forcibly removed from their homes. Their loss and their pain must be remembered.

It’s easy to say, “Well its just a statue, it doesn’t mean anything!” but this statement is wrong. It does mean something. Everyday, when students walk past it or incoming students see it on a tour, those families are forgotten. Not only are they forgotten, we say their lives were not as important as an opera house or a highway. We say we do not care what you went through. But we do.

Dorothy Day says in The Long Loneliness, “It is the people who are important, not the masses.” Each one of those families had a story. They had things that made them unique and those little intricacies are what make us human. Because of the sheer volume it is easy to forget that those were people who were hurt too, not just numbers.

The covering of the Robert Moses statue was the best thing they could have done with it until it can be removed. I would rather see cardboard everyday than the face of a man who is responsible for so much pain and suffering. We, the students of Fordham University College at Lincoln Center, do not support our school honoring someone of his caliber and never will. Every time we feel an injustice has been made our voices will be heard. The memories of those families are not forgotten, and we will never let them die. 

Garden of Hope for the U.N.

Located on 47^th street between 1^st and 2^nd avenue, almost secluded from the hustle of the big city is Saint Mary’s Garden of Holy Family Roman Catholic Church. Appearing protected by the great walls of the church, this breath-taking garden offers peace and tranquility to anyone seeking a moment. Walking through the gates of this garden almost feels as if you’re passing through to another realm, offering the wonderful architecture of the bridge along with two pools of water on each side. This bridge leads to the focal point of the garden, a statue of the Saint Mary almost hovering above anyone who walks up to it. The aluminum statue provides a sense of hope for those who enter the garden.

The church as well as the garden was built on a stable and was dedicated in 1965 to the needs of the United Nations community and Turtle bay Parish. The statue of the Virgin Mary was cast in Italy. Although this garden is unique because of its urban setting, Mary Gardens are very common throughout the world. Often starting as Parishes planting symbolic flowers eventually growing into gorgeous gardens. There is no particular guideline to adhere to when creating a Mary garden, but all serve the same purpose, create a place for peace and tranquility for one to pray.  

While researching information on Mary garden I could help but feel the creation of these gardens related to Henry Beecher, author of “Religion and the Beautiful”. Beecher spoke on how people were afraid to spend money on beautiful things because they were afraid spending on non-necessity was sinful. These gardens are not a necessity, but provide a beauty that shows God in the garden itself because these gardens are symbolic for life and life is within God. 

After spending some time in the garden of Mary you really do leave feeling a sense of hope and at peace. I am not the most religious individual, but I can see how these places, as uncomplicated as they are provide hope. Perhaps what I like the most about the garden is it does not exclude people from it because its entrance is located on the street. I feel as though the garden welcomes anyone to take part in the peace, which reflects on the church as a whole. Overall I found this adventure through New York to find a religious piece to be a personal experience because I had to select one that stood out to me.

Columbia

In the United States, there is no other city besides New York that offers such a wide variety of monuments, statues, and landmarks that embody American Exceptionalism. From the Empire State Building to the Statue of Liberty, American Exceptionalism is strongly embodied in New York’s skyline and architecture. One statue and monument that is not usually recognized as one of New York’s significant landmarks, is the statue of Columbia on top of the USS Maine National Monument, located near Columbus Circle. Columbia was once a widely known figure in the United States who was essentially the female personification of America. Since the early 20^th Century however, Columbia has been replaced by the Statue of Liberty as the United States’ most well-known female personification. Despite this, Columbia is still an important symbol for American Exceptionalism.

            Atop a colossal pylon, a bronze gilded statue of Columbia and three hippocampi—legendary creatures which are half horse and half fish—keep watch over Columbus Circle and all who enter Central Park. Historically, this monument was created in honor of those who died aboard the USS Maine in 1898 after the ship’s sinking in Havana, Cuba. However, the statue of Columbia in this monument, is entirely capable of holding a different meaning. Personally, I connect this statue of Columbia with Henry Ward Beecher’s writings on beauty and religion. Beecher wrote that God created beauty for a reason, and that reason is so that we, as humans, can relish in the beauty of the world. Columbia appears as a goddess in this statue and sunlight glares off her golden armor. It is a bright and shining statue and is a strong contrast to the grey buildings and green trees that surround it. In terms of American Exceptionalism, this can be explained in terms of Beecher’s view by seeing Columbia’s beauty as divinely given to us and placed in the United States, a country full of natural beauty, such as the trees in Central Park, as well as manmade beauty like the architectural wonders of New York City.

            Although Columbia may be a somewhat forgotten American icon, she still represents values that are essential to the American narrative such as freedom, liberty, and justice. These values are essential to the idea of American Exceptionalism but they can also be seen as values which are essential to American religion and religious freedom. In his book Peace of Mind, Rabbi Joshua Liebman writes that the United States could potentially become a nation composed of religious freedom and acceptance if it were to follow a harmonial tradition of religion. By this, he means a tradition of healthy minded and spiritually healthy people. The spirit of Columbia offers this to the United States through her representations of freedom, liberty, and justice. These ideals of an American icon of the past are not forgotten and continue to shine as bright today as they did when this statue of Columbia was first erected.