Getting Into Her Head

What signs do we need that our country has begun to turn around from the past eight years of fear and misery? The jobless rate is still as high as it has been in twenty-six years, but the number of jobs lost this month was the smallest in the last six. The stock market continues to climb out of the depths. Schools are re-opening after a month of swine flu scares. But none of that compares to this: The crown of the Statue of Liberty will reopen this Fourth of July for the first time since September 11, 2001.
Thirty visitors an hour, chosen by lottery, will be allowed to visit the crown in groups of ten. That means if you are one of the chosen, you can have twenty minutes at the top of one of the most recognizable icons on the planet. Twenty minutes if you count the time it takes you to hike up the one hundred and sixty-eight step spiral staircase and the time it takes to absorb the attending park ranger's description of the experience.
If you wanted to go all the way up to the top of the torch, you will still be disappointed. That part of the statue has been closed since 1916, when German agents sabotaged a munitions dump on an island adjacent to Liberty Island. Only a few lucky staff members get to climb that extra forty feet to the extremity of Liberty.
Twenty-five million dollars of stimulus money will be used to spruce up our lady and her environs. The work will include stabilizing a 1908 building and making repairs to the island's crumbling seawall. For now, we'll be fixing up the place where huddled masses and wretched refuse have been landing for the last one hundred and twenty-three years. If you're yearning to go up there, make sure you take the time to breathe free.