Loose Change, 2nd Edition

So here it is. The sixth anniversary of September 11th. I don't know how you feel about that. I was raised in lower Manhattan, so I am, as I am sure you can imagine, very sentimental and sad today to say the least. But saying that I am "sad and sentimental" is an understatement.

I am also angry and frustrated. Even after six years and one cross-country move to get away from things that remind me of the tragedy, I still think about September 11th everyday. When I moved to Los Angeles about a year and a half ago, I did so hoping that it would be a 9/11 out-of-sight-out-of-mind escape. But that has not happened.

I still hold my breath and close my eyes, anticipating the worst, every time I hear low-flying aircraft, loud explosive noises, and emergency response vehicles. I still wince to prevent myself from crying each and every time I give a moment's glance to the New York skyline that raised me.

There was an urban legend floating around after 9/11 that certain songs were banned from radio airplay, including the classic, "What a Wonderful World." Somehow the following song is not only eerily prophetic, but sums up the arc of my emotions. The opening riff seems relaxing, but is fraught with droning tension. The lyrics lead us into an awareness of the mass confusion and ennui that surround us all. The song builds to a crescendo of pain before demanding release. And that release can only come through love, as the tension slows to a heartbeat.

September 11, 2001 9am EST

Some people have said that George W. kept his calm in order to avoid alarming the children. I think a simple, "Excuse me. I'm needed elsewhere right now." would have sufficed. Split screens have synched up Bush sitting there like a deer in the headlights with the footage of the towers. I feel like this country doesn't need to wake up to that trauma again. So open your books to "The Pet Goat." And I hope you read more than you watch TV. For God's sakes, kids, do not turn on the TV right now.

Nationally, a new Bin Laden tape appears, a bomb scare at a U.S. Military base in Germany, William Saffire looks into how the meme 9/11 has taken hold in the language (A meme is “a unit of cultural information”) and NYC tries to move on. Here is a smattering of local September 11th news:

• There are four city events taking place today between 7 a.m. and the Dodgers Game tonight. More info at the Fire Department's blog.
  
• More events at Daily News.
  
• Valley Residents Opine
  
• LA Times lead story: "Post-9/11, 'safer today' but 'not safe'"
  
• A Washington D.C. resident in LA on business recalls his 9/11 experience in a Washington Post comment section: "Los Angeles radio stations reported endlessly on the effect the attacks were having on L.A. traffic and speculated that Disneyland would be the next target. Must get out of here, I vowed" (James Hood, 12:28 a.m.)
  
• A Lodi, CA man gets 24 years in a terrorism case.
  
• Slightly related: "We have more than 9,500 officers now, the most in city history and, yet, we have fewer cars on the street."

Photo by someonewalksinla via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr