Interesting soul-searching, Laura. Thanks for sharing.

As for me, I will retain my username because it speaks to who I am, where I am. Being from the Bronx is special to me: like illustrious Bronxites General Colin Powell and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, we are children of working-class parents who benefited from a kind and generous City Of New York while taking advantage of our talents and opportunities. Being from the Bronx, we were looked at in lower esteem than our neighbors from other boroughs, especially Manhattan. And now that Brooklyn has become the trendy place to be in the city, the Bronx has receded even farther from view.

No matter. Bronxites are talented, perceptive, defiant and confident, and are determined to change the world, for the better. And I am determined to do it in Iowa, my adopted home, where I have lived for nearly 34 years. Where I have learned about and come to appreciate other people, other lifestyles, other traditions, other points of view.

So I remain Bronxiniowa. Wherever I go.

– Ira Lacher

“Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”