Even the smallest act of service, the simplest act of kindness, is a way to honor those we lost, a way to reclaim that spirit of unity that followed 9/11.
~ President Barack Obama, 2011
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/08/presidents-weekly-address-mark-9-11-by-serving/1#.UE9bbhj5nCk
Today is Tuesday, September 11, 2012. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, I wanted to get some painting done on my house before I headed midday to the college where I was teaching. I called my dad, an early bird, and asked him if he wanted to come over and help. He declined, saying he had some other projects to work on. Then he called me right back with the news about 9/11–and said he’d be right over to help me paint. School was cancelled the next day, and again I spent it painting; it was calming to do something outside, normal, physical. I didn’t watch any of the news footage but listened on the radio for more news. Once that I heard that twin sisters, close friends of mine since 7th grade, who worked for United and American often flying from their home base in NYC to LA, weren’t on those flights, I was greatly relieved. I know many people lost loved ones that day. It changed us all.
I wrote this poem the morning school was back in session as I tried to negotiate going back to “normal” life.
What are your 9/11 memories? How did that day change you?
Related articles
- Pause and Reflect ~ 9/11 Memorial, NYC (marinachetner.com)
In Friday’s Ventura County Star, Karen Lindell wrote about “how seven local residents – two painters, two sculptors, a digital artist, a songwriter and a poet-artist – channeled their particular variation of mad, sad and overall helplessness after 9/11 into creativity.”
And Art Predator is the poet-artist featured in the article: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/sep/09/the-art-of-coping/#ixzz1XbEXNMYu
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whisper down the write alley 