Author Archives: Roger W. Smith

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About Roger W. Smith

Roger W. Smith is a writer and independent scholar based in New York City. His experience includes freelance writing and editing, business writing, book reviewing, and the teaching of writing and literature as an adjunct professor at St. John’s University. Mr. Smith's interests include personal essays and opinion pieces; American and world literature; culture, especially books and reading; classical music; current issues that involve social, moral, and philosophical views; and experiences of daily living from a ground level perspective. Sites on WordPress hosted by Mr. Smith include: (1) rogersgleanings.com (a personal site comprised of essays on a wide range of topics) ; (2) rogers-rhetoric.com (covering principles and practices of writing); (3) roger-w-smiths-dreiser.site (devoted to the author Theodore Dreiser); and (4) pitirimsorokin.com (devoted to sociologist and social philosopher Pitirim A. Sorokin).

sunrise and sunset (New York Harbor)

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photos by Roger W. Smith

 

 

 

Different times, different seasons.

I have visited as early as four in the morning.

It’s a beautiful spot.

It should be noted that the last photo is of sunrise on the East River. I took it at around 6:25 a.m.

 

here are some more (from October 2022)

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

  October 2024

the Statue of Liberty

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Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

 

photos by Roger W. Smith

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

  September 2024

the original “Power Broker” articles (The New Yorker)

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July 22 1974

July 29 1974

August 12 1974

August 19 1974

 

Prior to publication in book form, Robert A. Caro’s The Power Broker was serialized in The New Yorker. The original New Yorker articles are posted here.

 

— posted by Roger W. Smith

  August 2024