9/11 is inevitably a day of reflection. The task gets more difficult each year as the searing character of the day fades irrevocably and the astonishing and multiple failures of the political, military, and cultural response to the attacks on 9/11 continue to mount. As an individual and as an American I have a bundle of complex responses to the meaning of the day that I am still not fully capable of explaining and won't try here. As a historian, my understanding of the significance of the day continues to evolve. One thing I don't find useful or necessary personally is to plan, create, or attend memorial services, but I don't begrudge others who do.
I have found Andrew Bacevich's reflection to be interesting, as his stuff generally has been.
Last night, Alaska's Fiddling Poet Ken Waldman came to the VWC campus and played. I played some banjo tunes and one fiddle tune with him during his reading, which was fun. One way to mark Sept. 11 may be to read his series of poems written monthly for a year after the attacks, which are in his book The Secret Visitor's Guide. Another might be to read one of his best collections, a series of sonnets written in the voice of George W. Bush: As the World Burns: The Sonnets of George W. Bush and Other Poems of the 43rd Presidency.
I have found Andrew Bacevich's reflection to be interesting, as his stuff generally has been.
Last night, Alaska's Fiddling Poet Ken Waldman came to the VWC campus and played. I played some banjo tunes and one fiddle tune with him during his reading, which was fun. One way to mark Sept. 11 may be to read his series of poems written monthly for a year after the attacks, which are in his book The Secret Visitor's Guide. Another might be to read one of his best collections, a series of sonnets written in the voice of George W. Bush: As the World Burns: The Sonnets of George W. Bush and Other Poems of the 43rd Presidency.
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