In honor of entrepreneur-poets and flag day:
"It was always an exciting moment when land was finally spotted. Passengers saw Long Island first, though they probably weren’t aware of it…People grabbed their belongings, tying up their sheets and blankets, combing their hair, washing as best they could…The steerage passengers would go onto the deck, wanting to drink in their first impressions of their new home. George Gershwin’s father leaned out so far his hat flew off in the breeze. He had tucked the name of the family’s only contact in America inside that hat."
From At the Edge of a Dream: The Story of Jewish Immigrants on New York’s Lower East Side 1880-1920, by Lawrence J. Epstein