Ivo Zadarsky

Ivo is an American character that was born in Communist Czechoslovakia. His initial claim to fame is chronicled by his Ivoprop company, "3 A.M., August 4, 1984 - A young man, working in starlit darkness, feverishly completes the assembly of a homemade trike aircraft. Carefully, he points the wheels in the direction of Vienna, thirty miles away on the other side of the Czechoslovakian border The silence is finally broken by the starting of a two-cylinder Trabant auto engine and the quiet swishing of the propeller sound swells to a blare as the shadowy delta-wing moves forward across the plowed field and lifts off. Ivo Zdarsky is on his way to becoming the first refugee to successfully fly a homebuilt aircraft over the Iron Curtain to freedom."

He sold that plane to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin, "It is one of the most frequently visited museums in Berlin, with 850,000 visitors in 2007. Through its presentation of the many ways in which people tried to escape East Germany, it aims to bring that period of history to life and ensure that it is not forgotten. At the same time the museum has been criticised for having too little space for the exhibits, the way they are presented and the explanatory texts that accompany them are considered out of date and ideologically biased. A critical examination of western propaganda in the cold war and especially on the subject of the Berlin Wall is non-existent."[Wikipedia].

Ivo founded a propeller company, (One of his props is on its way to Mars as the first interplanetary Ivoprop), and is now an inventor in Utah. Ivo would love to visit SANS Rocky Mountain where he would be in an environment with other creative successful Americans.

Paul Robeson

One of the great American characters that created the land of the free that we live in is Paul Robeson. We may not agree with everything that he believed in, but we don't come from his circumstances either.

According to Archives.gov, "He was the son of a former slave, born and raised during a period of segregation, lynching, and open racism. He earned a four-year scholarship to Rutgers University, making him the third African American to attend the school. There he was a member of the prestigious Cap and Skull Honor Society, played four varsity sports (baseball, football, basketball, and track), won speech and debate tournaments, and managed to graduate valedictorian of his class. After graduation, Robeson applied his athletic abilities to a short career in professional football. Aside from his prowess on the gridiron, he earned a law degree and changed the direction of his career. His legal career was cut short, however, after a secretary refused to take dictation from him solely because of the color of his skin. He left law and turned to his childhood love of acting and singing. Robeson starred in Shakespeare's Othello, the musical Showboat, and films such as Jericho and Proud Valley. He was one of the top performers of his time, earning more money than many white entertainers. His concert career spanned the globe: Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Moscow, New York, and Nairobi.

Robeson's travels opened his awareness to the universality of human suffering and oppression. He began to use his rich bass voice to speak out for independence, freedom, and equality for all people. He believed that artists should use their talents and exposure to aid causes around the world. "The artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice," he said. This philosophy drove Robeson to Spain during the civil war, to Africa to promote self-determination, to India to aid in the independence movement, to London to fight for labor rights, and to the Soviet Union to promote anti-fascism. It was in the Soviet Union where he felt that people were treated equally. He could eat in any restaurant and walk through the front doors of hotels, but in his own country he faced discrimination and racism everywhere he went."

Somehow, though, he never left the mark on history that he deserved. According to Biography.com, "Robeson published his biography, Here I Stand, in 1958, the same year that he won the right to have his passport reinstated. Robeson again traveled internationally and received a number of accolades for his work, but damage had been done, as he experienced debilitating depression and related health problems. Robeson and his family returned to the United States in 1963. After Eslanda's death in 1965, the artist lived with his sister. Robeson died from a stroke on January 23, 1976, at the age of 77, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."

Or, as Archive.gov puts it, "To celebrate, Robeson gave his first New York concert in a decade at a sold-out Carnegie Hall. But the years of struggle had taken a personal and professional toll. Negative public response and the ban on his travel led to the demise of his career. Before the 1950s, Robeson was one of the world's most famous entertainers and beloved American heroes--once being named "Man of the Year" by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Despite all his accomplishments, Paul Robeson remains virtually ignored in American textbooks and history."

Take a minute to listen to his version of Old man river from Showboat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh9WayN7R-s 

Paul would have loved SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 with so many talented and committed instructors.

Fiorello La Guardia

According to the Jewish Virtual Library,  though he was Jewish, "he allowed the public to identify him as Italian, not Jewish, even under the most tempting of political circumstances. When issues of Jewish interest came up in New York or national politics, however, the "Little Flower" was an ardent advocate for Jewish rights. As mayor of New York, he was one of Hitler’s most outspoken opponents.

LaGuardia was born in Greenwich Village in 1882 to Achille Luigi Carlo LaGuardia, a Catholic, and Irene Luzzato Coen, who had been raised in an observant Jewish home in Trieste. In 1880, the couple emigrated to the United States. After their third child was born, Achille joined the U.S. Army. The family was sent to remote outposts in South Dakota and Arizona. In 1898, Achille became gravely ill from eating "embalmed" rations supplied to the Army and died four years later. When Fiorello LaGuardia was elected to Congress in 1922, the first bill he introduced called for the death penalty for "scavengers" who supplied tainted food to the military. The bill did not pass, but LaGuardia never lost his Progressive disgust for government corruption or the ability of "the interests" to escape justice."

As the Britannica puts it, "La Guardia was elected to the House of Representatives as a progressive Republican in 1916, but his term was interrupted by service as a pilot in World War I. He was returned to Congress in 1918 and, after serving as president of the New York City board of aldermen in 1920–21, was reelected to the House in 1922. He was reelected four more times, and in the House he opposed Prohibition and supported woman suffrage and child-labour laws. He cosponsored the Norris–La Guardia Act (1932), which restricted the courts’ power to ban or restrain strikes, boycotts, or picketing by organized labour.

In 1933 La Guardia ran successfully for mayor of New York on a reform platform, supported by both the Republican Party and the upstart City Fusion Party, that was dedicated to unseating Tammany Hall (the Democratic organization in New York) and ending its corrupt practices. As mayor, La Guardia earned a national reputation as an honest and nonpartisan reformer dedicated to civic improvement.

And the airport? According to Wikipedia, "The site of the airport was originally used by the Gala Amusement Park, owned by the Steinway family. It was razed and transformed in 1929 into a 105-acre (42 ha) private flying field named Glenn H. Curtiss Airport after the pioneer Long Island aviator, later called North Beach Airport.

The initiative to develop the airport for commercial flights began with an outburst by New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia (in office from 1934 to 1945) upon the arrival of his TWA flight at Newark Airport – the only commercial airport serving the New York City region at the time – as his ticket said "New York". He demanded to be taken to New York, and ordered the plane to be flown to Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Field, giving an impromptu press conference to reporters along the way. He urged New Yorkers to support a new airport within their city."

La Guardia appreciated honest and hard work so he would have fit right in at SANS Rocky Mountain 2017.

8 John Jacob Astor - America's first millionaire

Astor was actually born in Germany, according to Historynet, "The third son of a butcher, John Jacob was born in Walldorf in the Duchy of Baden, Germany, in 1763. His father was a ne’er-do-well, but his mother was industrious and frugal to the point of parsimony, though the family often went in rags. The eldest son, George, left home for England, where he set up in the musical instrument business. The next son, Henry, soon departed for New York City where he became a butcher like his father. John Jacob remained at the small family holding until 1780; by then his mother had died and his father had remarried. When relations between John Jacob and his stepmother became strained, he left his father’s house with what money he had to seek his fortune. He headed out on foot for the Rhine Valley."

As Wikipedia tersely puts it, "He entered the fur trade and built a monopoly, managing a business empire that extended to the Great Lakes region and Canada, and later expanded into the American West and Pacific coast. Seeing the decline of demand, he got out of the fur trade in 1830, diversifying by investing in New York City real estate and later becoming a famed patron of the arts."

From history.com, we learn, "Quickly learning all he could about the growing American fur trade, Astor made numerous trips to the western frontier, and by the end of the century, he had become the leading fur merchant in the United States. After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, Astor moved aggressively to exploit this huge new territory for its furs. Although Lewis and Clark’s exploration of the territory brought back the disappointing news that there was no easy water passage across the continent to the Pacific, Astor was nonetheless convinced that a Pacific Coast operation could profitably sell its furs to the huge China market. In 1810, he created the Pacific Fur Company. Within two years, his men had established a trading post named Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River (about sixty miles northwest of modern-day Portland)."

John would have loved to visit SANS Rocky Mountain 2017 to see for himself how the west has grown up since his day.

And his beloved deep water port Astoria, they are doing just fine. Wikipedia reports, "Today, tourism, Astoria's growing art scene, and light manufacturing are the main economic activities of the city. Logging and fishing persist, but at a fraction of their former levels. It is a port of call for cruise ships since 1982, after $10 million in pier improvements to accommodate these larger ships. To avoid Mexican ports of call during the Swine Flu outbreak of 2009, many cruises were re-routed to include Astoria. The residential community The World visited Astoria in June 2009.[28] The town's seasonal sport fishing tourism has been active for several decade and has now been supplanted with visitors coming for the historic elements of the city. The more recent microbrewery/brewpub scene and a weekly street market have helped popularized the area as a destination."

Homer Ramsdell - Industrialist

Homer Ramsdell, an interesting personality by any measure, not only made his mark on Denning’s Point on the Hudson river, he left his mark all over New England. He purchased the majority of Denning’s Point in 1872 and was trying to control access to it by 1876 by raising gates and posting a trespassing notice in the September 22, 1877 Fishkill Standard. Good luck with that, residents of Fishkill Landing, Matteawan and Brynesville had been using the point for clam bakes, boat racing and other activities involving alcohol as long as anyone could remember.

In 1880 Ramsdell began construction of a very large brickyard, (brick factory). The area, you see, had large deposits of clay and some sand, the stuff bricks are made from. This was long before the era of environmental impact statements, so Ramsdell engaged in land sculpture widening the neck of the peninsula using fill that was hauled in.

However, the locals were upset that a large manufacturing facility was going up ruining their party spot, so Ramsdell’s house was robbed and arson occurred on several occasions, as well as an attempt to sabotage the primary machine; Homer was not deterred. Respected by some, detested by others, he continued to develop the factory until his death in 1894. His obituaries show he did a lot more than make bricks he was a true 19th century industrialist.

The trustees of his estate reopened the point to recreation by the locals after his death and the attacks stopped.  In 1925 David Strickland, a certifiable racist, updated the brick making machinery to a new design enabling the brickworks to turn out 400,000 bricks a day.  It is interesting to stop and think about how many homes and buildings have the well known <DPBW> logo.

Homer would have loved SANS Rocky Mountain 2017. He proved during his lifetime that he could do anything he durn well wanted to do. The majority of hands on activities at Rocky Mountain are done using virtual machines where the student can do whatever they durn well choose to do.

I don’t know if Homer knows it, but locals won big time in the end. Denning Point today is a New York state park.