I am the son of immigrants who came into New York Harbor after WWII. Whatever the backstory, the Lazurus poem and the soaring Statue resonate as powerfully today as they ever have. To many people, the purpose and spirit of America continue to be perched on that long-ago constructed pedestal.

Am I the only one fascinated by the editorial choices of the NYU cataloguer of Americana? I would say the this piece gives a little insight into the typical NYU graduate student (undoubtedly the source of this cultural wisdom), but I think it would not be particularly helpful to a foreigner trying to make his or her way in America. The insipid tone of superiority to "Americans" that the piece adopts is either an example of the "irony" in which mediocre intellectuals seek refuge or the bozos who wrote and published this are themsleves from an alien culture (NYU-istan?).