File:Anti-nuclear protest, USA, 1977 (4).jpg

English: Anti-nuclear Protest, Boston, USA. 1977.

From the 23rd of July, 1977 I spent a month in the United States of America. My american cousin, who worked for the IBM at the time, invited me to Poughkeepsie, a garden town near New York City. I enjoyed her garden pool, the neighbourhood parties of the time, Boston and Philadelphia. She showed me around in Vermont, we visited her cottage there. She was well to do. A few days later I buyed a seasons ticket for the Greyhound bus line and started a month long journey – all alone – on my own. America – for me – seemed to be a huge, vast country, with easy going, warm hearted people: the Land of the free, the Home of the Brave. Published under Creative Commons in the Metapolisz DVD line. („Land of the Free, Home of the Brave”: Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner in 1814. The quote is from that song.)

The Star Spangled Banner (Francis Scott Key, 1814)

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream: 'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion, A home and a country should leave us no more! Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved home and the war's desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: "In God is our trust." And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Amerikai unokatestvérem budapesti látogatását követően 1977 –ben meglátogattam az Egyesült Államokban, a New York államban levő Poughkeepsi -ben. 1977 július 23 –án indultam Ferihegyről, Shannon –nál történő átszállásal Ney Yorkba. A kellemes kertvárosi övezet fürdőmedencés luxusát nem sokáig élveztem. Poughkeepsie kiélvezése után tettünk egy kirándulást északra, Vermontba is, megnéztük Bostont, Philadelphiát. Pár nap elteltével vettem egy bérletet a Greyhound buszjáratra, ami korlátlan utazásra jogosított fel pár héten belüli időtartamra. Amerika egy hatalmas országnak tűnt számomra, melegszívű, a dolgokat könnyen vevő emberekkel: a szabad emberek országának. Poughkeepsie, Arlington Va, Wappinger Falls, Hudson river New York City, Atlantic City, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Pa, Wheeling. W.Va,, Phillip’s Hall, Bethany College, Oglebay Park (Wilson Lodge), Vermont, Washington, Florida, Jacksonsville, Worth Lake, Palm Beach, New Orleans, New Hope, Mexican bay, Gulfport Miss, Megjelent Creative Commons alatt a Metapolisz DVD sorozatban.