ELLIS ISLAND ARRIVALS FLOCKED NEW YORK

Each new Generation grows from the generation before. I liken it to building blocks,with each row of blocks getting higher and stronger. This generation then that started at [http://www.history.com/minisites/ellisisland/Ellis Island Ellis Island], would be the start of the Industrial Revolution.

My generation thrived off of those immigrants who flooded the gates of Ellis Island, in New York City, fleeing Europe with not much more than the clothing on their backs, and each hand holding a child or two. They left war torn Europe and poverty to make a better life, in a new country, 'the greatest country of all' AMERICA.

They were workers and they all lived close to each other and areas were sectioned, not by laws, but by nationalities. They worked hard, saved every penny, so that their children would be better off than they were. They even shared apartments, maybe two or even three families in two bedrooms, and a bathroom down the hall. The lucky ones, had their own bathroom, but these were far and few between.

They did not ask for help, they were too proud for that. If help was offered, they would not accept, saying, that they could manage. They were close, and caring and concerned. The children came first! everything else second.

They did not have it easy. They never complained. There were times that families went to bed hungry and woke up even more so. I was a child of this generation but not of those that were that poor, nor rich. My parents never complained, gave us first, and took for themselves second. We were to have what they did not have, an education so that we would not have to work as hard.

They gave us however, something that this generation lacks. Family memories. Memories of family gatherings, families sitting down to eat together, laughing together, shared stories together,did homework together, and foremost,cared about each other. together. Yes, we loved and respected each other, and followed traditions were passed down to my generation.

I always called my aunts and uncles, 'Aunt Jane', or 'Uncle Lou'....never just 'hey Lou can you grab me a beer'. We respected our teachers, our policemen and feared getting them angry. The worse thing that could have happened to me, and I remember as if it were yesterday, was my teacher, Mrs Tiber, sending home a note to my mother because I misbehaved. I shook with fear, and had to accompany my parents back to school for a conference with Mrs. Tiber. Another time, I was chewing gum in class. I had to stand up, remove the gum from my mouth, and place it in the top shirt pocket of my white blouse, and with my hand, squash the pocket closed.

Can anyone imagine this happening today?....Oh my! I can see irate parents storming the school room, screaming and pointing a finger at the startled teacher, 'what did YOU do to my child!!! Instead of asking, 'what did my child do'?

Today each child is an angel, even those who storm the classrooms, with guns in their hands, shooting children, who did nothing more than show up to class that day to learn. The first thing that their parents say is, My child would not do something like that, he might have been provoked.

My generation learned from the generation before. Holidays were something that was shared 'with' family. Traditions were followed. We dressed in our finery, we bought new shoes and new clothes. Mothers cooked, the room permeated with the warm scent of chicken cooking in a pot, meat stewing in another pot. Potatoes in the oven, getting baked to a golden brown. Tables were set with the finest linens and silverware and the 'good dishes' were taken out.

Cousins sat with cousins in the 'children's table'. I think I sat there until I was 12, because there never was room at the 'grown up' table. Eventually even the children's table was filled with teens, but it was always called, ''The children's' Table. I smile as I think back and I yearn for them. But no one is alive anymore and so traditions faded.

Even returning to school after the summer vacation turned into something special. We bought new shoes, new clothes, and school supplies. Today the kids return in the same torn jeans, the same sloppy shirts with messages written on them, maybe a pencil and a piece of paper stuffed in their pockets.

Families now live far apart. Holidays are a time to travel, but not to visit family but to view strange countries or far off cities. This generation is too busy working, making money, spending even more, tired, and have no time even make love at night. There is never enough food to buy, cars to have in garages, big enough homes, and clothes have to have 'designer names' or they cannot be worn. This generation leaves no traditions, no memories, and they cannot say, as I do, 'I remember ..and smile'

Old people lived with the young, and died at home in their beds. There was no such things as sending them to live among strangers. Today, children check in on their parent in a nursing home, plant cameras to make sure that their parents are not beaten or raped, while they travel the country.

My grandmother was always old. The story 'The Woman in the Window' is written about her. I visited her every day. I sat with her, when she gummed her food, because she had no teeth. I walked behind her, as she walked up the stairs, because she wore long dresses and I did not want her to trip.

Today I have to be content if my grandson visits me briefly, once in a few months, and calls me seldom, although we live maybe 23 miles apart, in the same state. Why?. not because he does not love me, he does!, but because he is ''too busy''. I was never ''to busy to visit my grandmother'...and I wish she were alive today, I would still not be too busy''

The young forget that we are on this earth a shorter time than we are below it. When a loved one dies, they cry...they visit them at the hospital..IF they have the time to go to the hospital to visit them when they are sick and dying, why then, do they not visit them while they are healthy and well and enjoy their company.

This is a strange generation, but then again, this is a strange world we live in. We feel insecure when we fly, we look around in a Mall, we do not go out at night, and we lock ourselves in tightly in our homes and still we fear.

I do not know what the next generation will be like, as they will have no traditions to remember, no grandparents to cherish, few friends that will be lasting. I just know, that when I was little, we lacked money, but we had something even better. We had love, we had family, we had aunts and uncles, we had cousins, and we were left! with memories and traditions.

WHO CAN WE BLAME FOR THE MESS

While I can go down memory lane, and recall life in America as it was then, the youth of today are the ones that can make a difference of life in America to come. They must VOTE and be involved in all that is happening around them. They are the ones who will say where they want their country to go or to be like. It is up to them to take back America, take back the pride of living here, and being a part of a great Nation. This is probably the last chance....so do not let anyone deter you from that path.

It is up to the youth, the major voters of today, to learn, listen, and know what is going on in their country, within the politicians, and within the government. Remember it was the people who, either by voting, or not voting, those leaders that deceive us. They voted not once, but twice for those who now are being questioned and some even jailed. Blame them for the mess, but make sure you help clean it up by VOTING for the one candidate that you feel confident about to clean up the mess.



When we eat the same bad apple twice, it is our fault that we get stuck with a very very rotten apple.

LIFE WAS ALOT SIMPLIER WHEN I WAS GROWIING UP

I have been trying to cut back giving all of my time to my writings on wikiHow. I had too many hours spent here in solitude, and not enough spent outdoors in socializing. I bumped into a dear friend and her husband yesterday and we enjoyed a few hours of fun and frolic...They are fun people, but get to see them seldom.

I guess everyone just has their own life and deeds that keep them busy...I liked it better when we lived in what was called a 'neighborhood enjoying the friendship and gossip of those that lived in the same building. It was like a great big family, 6 stories high, and 8 apartments to each floor. Each family within each apartment had their own story that was shared with all. It was a place where friendly people surrounded us with love and concern and a helping hand.

Everyone knew everyone, helped everyone, and was welcome in anyone's home..There were no locked doors when I was growing and no bars on the windows. I never met anyone on drugs or even aware of guns. We were more interested in playing simple games, like jacks on the bench outside, or hop scotch, on the street. The boys played stick ball, and flirted innocently with the girls. We went to school to learn, and we both respected and feared our teachers. We respected the police and every boy dreamed of becoming President.

It was nice.....when I had a date, everyone sat outside, watching me come out with my date.....Life was simpler then, a lot of gossip, with a lot of love and concern....Now, I could lay down in the middle of the street and a car would run me over. No one would even help, because everyone is locked away in their own condos......

Even on wikiHow, as is the norm on the Internet, no one knows who or what sex anyone is, or are they young or old or black or white. Everyone takes on a new persona, carefully selected I guess to be the exact opposite of their own life or personality.
They hide behind weird names, afraid to reveal their identities. Thus they build new identities with new names. Here they might be bossy while at home humble......Those that boss the most in the hidden world of the Internet, where no one knows where they live, or how they live, or their age, or their abilities outside of this closed room inside a screen, are probably the most humble, frightened, incapable of making their own decisions in the 'real' world. I pity those that have to hide behind this glass wall, but at the same time, pleased that they have some outlet for their aggressions. I am however, glad that I do not have to live or be with them, in the outer world....the bitter world, the newly uneducated world, where the young do not know how to put a sentence together, cannot spell, and hatred abounds from one end to the other.

Where is the love that had used to be, where is the pride in oneself, and in Country and our fellow man. Watch the TV, those we entrust with the stability and safety of our Country, have deceived us. Those we entrusted with our space travel, are a sham, those that we watch on the big screen, to amuse and entertain us, are not worth the millions that they earn. They squander it on drugs and drink, while many honest working , God fearing families go starving.

Is this a world? Is this a place we are eager to raise our children in. I am glad that I have seen and lived in the best part of America, when I was proud to salute the American Flag, when we celebrated Christmas in schools, and even though I am Jewish, I was not the least adversely affected by decorating a tree, to adorn our class. We said the pledge of allegiance proudly, and verses were read from the bible, not of my faith, but never detracted from my own....It was a ritual and a memory. We walked down on graduation, to the music and words of "Our Father Who Art in Heaven'....and I remember every word even now.

What memories are we bestowing on our own children? I shiver when I think of them. Maiming of teachers, killing students, friends who they shared meals with, inability to read, and lack of ability to write or spell, outside of using the Internet Chat shortcuts, which, when put together in a paragraph distort meaning of what they intend to say.

When we cannot be proud or believe in our President, one who holds the highest office in this nation, then we just have to sit back and wonder!! What is to become of us, our dreams, our hopes, and our future.

BLACK BEAUTY -"Beauty"

I do not know who adopted who that late afternoon at the Humane Society. I went in looking for an orange kitten, and walked out with a black one. It was love at first touch, between my beauty and me. I held her in my arms, and she snuggled next to my heart, and my head went down on top of hers, and every one in the room when ''Ahhh". It was an immediate match, and it made me sad to have to leave her there that night.

We had been attached and we still are, so close we are it is almost hard to realize that she is not a 'little person', as I call her. It is impossible to feel lonely when she is around, she makes me laugh and fills the empty room with her antics.

THEY SAY THEY UNDERSTAND BUT DO THEY?

I was at the dairy department of Publix today, but I could have easily been at the dairy department of Walmart. It makes no difference the location, or the name of the Supermarket, because the customers are all the same.

As I passed by the Yogurt shelves, looking for my special ''yummy'' Natural Coffee Yogurt, I came across a woman holding a container in the air. She was obviously reading or attempting to read the label on a container or two of yogurt.

I stopped and asked her if she knew what she was reading. My only purpose in asking was because I had been thinking of writing an article for the Seniors, in my column in the Altamontesprings newspaper. The article was to be about Reading Nutrition Facts on Food Labels. I explained this to her, and she responded to my question with a ''yes, I understand what I am reading''....she went on to also say, that she can hardly read anything these days, as she has Macular Degeneration.

But, she went on to say, 'a long time ago I could understand the labels''. A long time ago, the labels were not as they were today, but I never mentioned this to her.

I wondered, as I turned to move my shopping cart down the aisle, if she could not read, why or what was she looking at?

Another woman, on another day, picked up a container of yogurt, that was sugar free, but with many added ingredients that were not healthy or needed in the human body. Many added chemicals and food dyes, and of course sucrose which is so very unhealthy for the body. What is wrong with a little genuine sugar?...People survived for years and are still healthy with a bit of sugar instead of all the 'chemical creations' that we are forced to feed our bodies.

This time the woman looked at me, and smiled...saying she was going on a diet and wanted no sugar, and no fat in her yogurt. Well she sure picked the right containers, but if she was looking for something healthy, she was on the wrong track.

I took a container from her hand. I held it up, and read all the artificial ingredients in that small container, of supposedly healthy 'yogurt', to her,and her eyes grew wide with disbelief. I then took a container of cream cheese and read her the ingredients in the low fat one, and the regular container.

My explanation, was that if you really wanted to have something healthy, stick to the original. There were less ingredients, because there were no additives. No additives meant a healthier product.

If we want to have cream cheese, cut down on the amount you eat, and eat the regular. It tastes better, and does not have that gummy feel or taste that the other imitations, or sugarless, or fat free do.

I believe that the food we eat now is poisoning us with chemicals. We do not eat ''food'' anymore...we eat imitations of food, and poor imitations at best.

I will keep on asking, at the dairy counter, every person over the age of 55, if they know how to read the Nutrition Facts on Food Labels. Maybe one day, I will find one, who really does. In the meantime, I enjoy Dannon Natural Flavored Coffee Yogurt every morning for breakfast and not worry about having anything imitation or unnatural in my body.

Maybe I will try asking people at the Cold Cereal Department the same thing, when I notice one reading the ingredients. Maybe I just will.......right now I will think about it...

THE ROADS AND PATHS ALL LED TO TODAY

Because all my life I was chasing to find the 'real me.'....and on the way I experienced the death of two husbands. But it was not until the death of the second husband that I started the route to finding out 'who I was" and it took 75 years for the real me to slowly start materializing.

It started with the need to eat coleslaw that one afternoon, and it brought me into wikiHow. From there, my eyes opened wide as I realized that this was a place to write. My first and only love is for writing. I have written about my pains and my losses, my children and my husbands, my dates, and my friendships, my sadness, and my longings, but never did I write about 'me'. This was because I never knew who I was! I never knew who the real me was . I never had a chance.

I always was someones daughter, and had to listen to what they wanted for me, I was someones mother, and had to do what was best for the children, I was someones wife, and had to take care of a husband, and guide him in his job choices, but I never was 'me'...there was no time for that in my busy life of being something to everyone, and nothing for me.

I never thought of searching, for what good would that be. I never had the time to search, for where would I start?

I wrote an epitaph once, "Here Lies Sondra, she Died without ever knowing who she was"....and I guess that was my life!! up until the death of my dear and loving husband Adrian. The day he died in May of 1989, was the day I started to live, although I had not realized it at the time.

I mourned, and I cried, I wrote and I read what I wrote. I released my pain through my words, and searched an empty house, for him. But he never lived there, so there was no part of 'him' in the house.

I decorated the house, but it was not a home. I made friends and just as quickly lost them to either their moving away, or dying. I moved again, and yet again, until I took a stand, and moved once again, away from the only family I had here, my daughter and grandchildren, all in the quest to find the real me.

It was 5 years later that I talked to a friend on the Internet. She heard about my need and suggested that I give to others. So I made an appointment to meet with a woman who headed the Literacy Group. I kept the appointment, but she was not there. Dejected, I turned and walked away, into the College that was on my path. I entered, just to question, what courses they give, and I left with a receipt that showed I had registered there.

From that day to this, the trip to find me was able to start in earnest, through two years of grueling tests and classes, consisting of Algebra, Statistics, Psycology, and Speech. An acting class was tossed in and the Communications also. I never was absent, and never got less than a B in any class, with many reaching the A level. I was not there to play, but to learn all that I should have learned many years ago, before I married in haste.

I had walked in to the college, frightened and scared, and I walked out proud and on first name basis with all, including the President of the College. I made friends with the young as well as the old.....I walked in at age 63, and walked out at age 36. I graduated with Honors, and framed my degree. I did not continue, but if I did, I would have wanted to be a Social worker and help people. I would be there for them, to listen to and advise. I would show them the way to detach from their problems. I never did this, never had the desire to continue school I had already finished, what I had 'always wished I had done'. I finally had a picture of me wearing a cap and gown, and a College Diploma.
he story I wrote in my book about my life, revealed that at last I knew who I was. I did not realize it as I wrote it...but reading it showed the reflection of the person I was. I looked back in my book, The book of my life, and found the one that I had written, that said..."She died without knowing who she was" and grinned at I compared both of them.

Three wishes I thought, and I had just gotten one. I wondered what would lie ahead, would two more wishes more come true?.....I did not dwell on what would or should or could. I just had to find a life for me now, after college was through.

I always wanted to paint with a brush. Never knowing how to draw more than a child's figure made of sticks, I never tried until just then when I realized that all I needed was a brush and somepaints. they have a name for it, Abstract painting, and I could do that, so I bought an easel, acrylic paints and some small canvases. The larger size scared me, how would I fill it, so I started small, and found it filled much too fast!...

My paintings at first, all looked like fish, I guess the swirl of the brush gave this look, so I named them by fish names until I read, in the Internet how to use brushes and paints and the likes. My paintings no longer looked like fish. My colors were bright, I learned how to use shadings, that glowed in the light. I used many medias, that brought out different looks. and had them framed and hung them all on my wall.

One day I bored, of the same type of work. so I stopped, put away the paints and the easel and the brushes, and searched for yet another type of work, to keep me busy, and keep me learning, and this time I painted Ceramics of all types and styles. I learned how to dry brush, as I already knew the wet style, and bought myself some ceramics figurines to decorate and style. The hardest one, was the first one I did, and no one would believe that I had never done this before. I bought more, and painted more, each time learning more and more throught Internet Connections and sites. I asked questions, and learned how to paint ceramics much the same as I had asked questions and had learned how to use the computer many years before. I never take lessons, because I want to learn from "Me" and not how someone else does it. Remember I was still on the quest to find the real me!! And so I bought more figurines, placques and wall adornments, and started selling them and buying more. but my shoulders were hurting me from the back and forth motions needed in dry brushing, so little by little, my paintings stopped. I packed away the remaining unpainted figures, and put away the brushes. I stored the bottles of paint, and rested for awhile. I had no idea where the next day would take me, and at the time I did not have a clue as to what would lay ahead for me, or what I would do.

Weeks past and then months, and I was getting depressed and very bored. I had dated many and turned many away, and now I wondered if I made a mistake. I was lonely, just me and my cat in a house seemed be missing something, perhaps a man. Maybe I should have not turned away so many, who wanted me, to marry me and move me miles away to live where they lived. Why would I want that I had thought at the time, my life was here, where I lived and where my children were close enough to see. If I settled for a man, to fill the void in my life, I would once again be losing my life!!...

I had been married, I had done that. and wanted it no more. I was on a search now, to find who I was. If I settled now, once again, i would lose all that I was working for, for ever so long. And so I stopped the tears, and stopped asking 'why', why was I destined to grow old alone. I looked at the other couples my age and more, and honestly felt that I would not want to be them. I needed to find the part of me that thrived on learning, doing, and being there for others. It had been 15 years since I was alone, and liked the thought of being able to eat breakfast for dinner. I enjoyed making my own decisions without having to ask' can I go out with the girls' to another person. I finally made my own decisions, had my own thoughts and my own life....and figured we cannot have ALL so I settled for part. I was still searching for the other part..there was more to come I was told along time ago.

I was in a Church, no not of my faith, but the Minister had told me then, when I asked him "Why God, Why was I destined to live on alone'. He looked me in the eyes, and told me at once. 'BEcause God had destined you for something Big'...Big I questioned, where should I look. He said to me, just live your life, as you will and you should. And so, through the years I asked my 'walls in my house', Where was the 'big thing' that I was destined to do. I had tears in my eyes as year after year passed and I found myself lonely and at times in despair but never gave up.


then one day, I had the urge to have cole slaw with my dinner. It was a wierd urge, unusual one, and could have easily been fixed with buying a bottle of dressing and a bag of cole slaw. I never went to the store, but walked to my computer instead and into the search engine, typed in How to Make Cole Slaw.

I reached a site, my eyes opened wide. In front of me was a page of how to make cole slaw, but also a site. It was a writing site, someplace to be, and so I joined them, almost immediately. I printed out the recipe, How to Make Cole Slaw, and wrote an article of my own. I never left there, and it has been over a year now since that day. I learned how to write on a wiki How, I learned how to edit and add pictures to enhance, I learned how to use compute url, I sat at the computer almost day and night. It was like a habit, an obsession of sorts, but I learned from others, and I wrote even more. I never realized just how much I was improving the site, I never looked at figures, I just sat and wrote. then One Day Jack came to me, on the screen of course, as he lived in California, and little did I know, that he was the founder of this site that I found. He told me how much I had added and how much I gave....

I gave yes, but I received just as much. I taught by my writings, and learned as I wrote. I was now #1 Contributor, above all the rest, but most of all, I was older than all!!....I learned more from wiki than I would have ever imagined, about how to do all sorts of things just by sitting at home, at my computer.

I did not realize but my path was still open, in front of me, and all involving wiki. there were the interviews that were given and printed in first the New York times, and that in McCleans Magazine in Canada. I was being quoted in newspapers and more, and all the while taking the trip with wiki. The trip was taking turns, and I went right with it. It was exciting, and aggrevating at times. Jack and I worked very well, together we made a team of making wikiHow grow into the best and the biggest of all the wiki's...and we foughts at times, and got angry at each other at other times. I live in Florida, and he in California, so our fights were with our fingers and our minds....that clashed at times..as happens at times. But all the while our friendship grew and so did wiki.

One day I phoned the Orlando Sentinel, and told them about wiki and the sites of my publicity. They sent a reporter to my house to write, about me as a 76 year old, who loves and centers her life around computers. This it seems is rare in a Senior, of my age. The article was almost a full page, and took me on a path that I would never had surmised.

Wherever I went, people said hello, they had seen me in the newspapers. I felt like a celeb. I got in the mail a local newspaper, I read it and said, what the heck....I phoned the publisher, and asked for a job, I wanted to have a column geared for the Seniors. I wanted to help them, to wake up and live, and enjoy their life, for as long as they had. He hired me (no pay of course) and a column was born with my name underneath. Another dream of mine has just come true!! two fold, because I had always wanted to see my name in print, and also help others.

My name was in print on the web...no matter where you looked my name appeared. Just had to search for Sondra Crane, and article after article showed up with my name. Now with the newspaper, my name would appear, where those who did not have computers would know who I was. I was helping those on the web. Now I would help those who did not know how to even use a computer, as well as those that did.

I had woman call me, to find friends for them. Another one offered friendship, something I lacked.