Looking for a 9/11 event?

Here's one in MN that looks hopeful: Minnesotans Standing Together

From their page:

Join Minnesotans from every walk of life at this special ceremony to remember the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Together we will honor the ideals of freedom and democracy, remember and lament our losses, and create hope.

Sunday, September 11, 2011
Minnesota State Capitol
St. Paul, MN
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Musical prelude beginning at 1:00

Leaders from more than 12 different faith communities will offer words of consolation and inspiration.

That Used to Be Us. . . and next

As we are approaching the tenth anniversary of September 11, we are also hearing and reading lots about what happened, the consequences, what changed.  Like so many Americans I have some memories of the day, though I have only seen glimpses of the actual events.  Frankly, I avoided watching the repeated showings of the tapes.  I've read some novels that have those events in the forefront of the plot or in the background.  Most commentators agree that the definitive book is yet to be written.

Among my most vivid memories is something my son, then 9 years old, said as the USA began to bomb in retaliation.  "At school they tell us that if someone is mad at you, you should try to find out why."  That statement came back to me several times last year as AmCon students talked about Tocqueville and their sense of America's place in the world and then again when Clara made that stunning statement, "I have no memory of the United States before 9/11."

What seems most important to me as we approach this anniversary can be derived from those two statements which each point us to the fundamental question: Who do we think we are?   What kind of people, that is what kind of nation, are we?  This is not merely a question about our role in geo-politics and the world economy; it is also a question of character and virtues.

This teaser about That Used to Be Us by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum suggests that they address this question.  Of course, they are a generation older than my son and his classmates, so they have a mid-20th century formative experience fueled by an expanding national morale and an expectation of progress, even if chastened by social unrest and assassinations.  (We remember the day JFK was shot as our parents remember Pearl Harbor and our children 9/11.)  The sub-title hints that there is both honesty and hope in the book: "How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back."  Doesn't that evoke our discussions about the American dream?

Northfield knowledge

Nlfd MN downtown, one of 20 USA neighborhoods that work
This 2004 article is now a bit out of date.  (Here's the whole list.) The post-office is likely to be closed in favor of a single facility elsewhere in town and there may be a few more empty storefronts.  The bike path is longer than it was eleven years ago.  The Riverfront, Saturday marketplace is new.  The Contended Cow is doing more live-music programing.

Nonetheless, overall the piece gives us a look at the ways in which the downtown contributes to community life in our small town: the businesses, the events, the people, even the parking.  I'm impressed that the author takes account of these multiple factors (physical, social, human, etc.) and their interactions.  If I were to be the one writing, I think I'd want to include a bit more about the library and emphasize the riverwalk a bit more.  These would not change the basic picture however.

Halloween . . . drag . . .

Already there is Halloween stuff for sale at Menards.  No doubt this is because there isn't much to buy for Labor Day and they don't really do school supplies.  This year I'm less interested in the use of pumpkins to mark the boundaries of land and more in the phenomenon of costumes.  Perhaps someone will want to dress up as a laborer for Halloween, rather than as a cowboy or a Disney Princess.  If so, Menards would be place to go for the outfit.  Or, to draw upon current use of the term, to buy the clothing for one's drag.

We are what we wear?  Yes or no.  Discuss.

Clothing is important in Ragtime, especially for Coalhouse, but not only for him.  Clothing is really important in Gay New York.  After all it is from this context that we get the term "drag."  AmCon students may recall my use of my own clothing as costumes last year during Week One as well as the clothing which Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere  wore in their portraits. All of us using clothing to signal something about our identity and expectations for behavior.

As we consider how America (and Americans) re-make themselves.  We'll do well to pay attention to clothing.

The transition into fall

Today I go off to the opening faculty meeting and turn the page on the calendar.  Linda Pastan leads the way with this lovely poem.

 

 September

by Linda Pastan

it rained in my sleep
and in the morning the fields were wet

I dreamed of artillery
of the thunder of horses

in the morning the fields were strewn
with twigs and leaves

as if after a battle
or a sudden journey

I went to sleep in the summer
I dreamed of rain

in the morning the fields were wet
and it was autumn

"September" by Linda Pastan, from Carnival Evening: New and Selected Poems 1968-1998. © W.W. Norton & Company, 2009.