Where The Hell Am I?: 9/11

Showing posts with label 9/11. Show all posts

Sunday, September 11, 2011

September 11th: 10 Years Ago

Here I am in Omaha, Nebraska unable to get back to sleep. I just read a really good 9/11 blog post by Patti Digh, "remember". She writes well about what it was like for her that day. She also talks about how polarized and hateful things are in the US right now. However, she brings it home to what matters: living your life now to the fullest.

I'll admit that I've been avoiding watching TV and the coverage on the 9/11 anniversary.

I wasn't in the USA when the attacks happened. I had just moved to a university near Daegu, South Korea for a new job as a visiting professor. I had my little Daewoo Tico, and I was driving around that evening while listening to military radio. I can't recall which US morning radio show it was, but it was fun to drive around a new place in a foreign country while listening to an American radio show.

Then they broke into their broadcast and said a plane had hit one of the World Trade towers in NYC. I was hoping it was some horrible accident, but the World Trade had been attacked before. Then a second plane hit the other tower. Like everyone following what was going on, I knew my country was under attack. I turned my car around and headed back to my apartment. At some point, I heard that the Pentagon had also been attacked and that there was another plane that went down somewhere in Pennsylvania.

I'd just moved, so I didn't have a TV. Good for me that South Korea is a well-wired country. I simply walked across the road to a PC-bang (Internet cafe), logged in and kept up with the news. Also, that Internet cafe also had a big screen TV and switched news covering what was happening. I was at this cafe when the towers collapsed. I stayed there until dawn just keeping up with the news. It really was just overwhelming, and I felt helpless. So many lives were lost. I cancelled my classes for that day.

Last week, on Labor Day I left the wonder that is NYC to move back to the SF Bay Area. I miss NYC already, but I know that I need to live somewhere that I not only love but where there are people that I love and have deep connections to.

Today, I'll be doing exactly what I did when I heard about the attacks: driving. It's a propos.

I still hurt and probably will always hurt for those who lost their lives in those attacks. I also hurt for the family and friends they left behind. Peace be with you all.

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Tuesday, May 6, 2008

The End of America

This is very important.

Talk by Naomi Wolf author of "The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot" given October 11, 2007 at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus.

Interview with Naomi Wolf discussing "The End of America"

Naomi Wolf: Ten steps to closing down an open society
Lately I’ve been listening to the offerings at the Canadian left-wing blog Paulitics: Paul’s Socialist Podcast. The latest episode features feminist author Naomi Wolf offering a distillation of her latest book, The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, in which she draws parallels between historical instances of fascism–especially in Europe in the early twentieth century–and proto-fascist tendencies in contemporary America under the Bush Administration. She notes, for example, that the term “sleeper cell” originated in Stalinist Russia as a propaganda term denoting so-called “capitalist terrorists” disguised as good Soviet citizens and hiding among the general population. She also talks about the Bush Administration’s use of the the “no-fly list” against Bush critics, such as Princeton law professor Walter F. Murphy, and even Wolf herself.

Wolf tracks authoritarian trends in Bush America against a ten-step “blueprint,” which she argues was crafted by Mussolini and adopted by leftist and rightist totalitarian regimes throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. She expands upon these steps in this article, but here’s what you need to do in order to close down an open society:

Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
Create a gulag
Develop a thug caste
Set up an internal surveillance system
Harass citizens’ groups
Engage in arbitrary detention and release
Target key individuals
Control the press
Dissent equals treason
Suspend the rule of law

Do you agree with the comparisons Wolf is making between the drift towards fascism in the twentieth century, and America under Bush (or, for that matter, Australia under Howard)? If so, do you think the results of recent elections in the US and Australia (2006 and 2007 respectively) hint at a trend away from proto-fascism in these countries?
More resources:
Alternet interviews Wolf on her new book.
Excerpt from the book dealing with the “no-fly list”
Wolf on The Colbert Report:

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Monday, September 11, 2006

Five Years Later: 9/11 From the Perspective of an Expatriate

Like Pearl Harbor for the WWII generation and the day John F. Kennedy was assinated for my parents, September 11, 2001 will be a "this is where I was" day for my generation. I was living in South Korea at the time. Five years later during the evening and at about the same time I heard about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, I'm still living in South Korea.

The thing is 9/11 touched all Americans. It touched people all over the world. The lady who sold me my diabetic supplies at the time came out to give me a big hug the day I came in after 9/11. Of course, those who were at the sites and, unfortunately, those who either lost their lives or lost loved ones feel it in a way that I can never imagine. God willing, this is something that I'll talk about with my children and my grandchildren. However, no matter where we were whether it was Ground Zero or halfway across the world, I'm certain that 9/11 is an event that has impacted us in a myriad of ways and put its mark on a generation. Upon reflection, although I've always been interested in international issues, I think 9/11 might be one big reason I'm pursuing international studies and diplomacy and security now. I'm sure many life paths were changed due to 9/11 events.

For me, it was the start of my second year living and working in Korea. I'd recently bought a car. I was enjoying my adventure of living in a foreign country. I'd just moved to Daegu for a new job at another university. It was late in the evening and, as was my habit when I was in California, I was taking a late night drive. I was excited because I was learning the layout of the new city I was in, enjoying my freedom by exploring and enjoying the radio show that was on. Daegu has US military bases, so they have English radio and TV. I was listening a morning radio show that was being broadcasted in from the States on AFN, and that's when I heard it.

I was in the middle of the city somewhere and they said a plane flew into the World Trade Center. Like everyone, I was thinking "what a terrible accident!" Then they came back on a few minutes later and said another plane hit the other tower. Again, like everyone, I realized then that someone had launched an attack against my country. I turned my car around, made it to the expressway and got myself home.

I'd just moved from a small city named Yeosu in the Jeollanamdo province, and my apartment was still sparsely furnished. I hadn't even bought a TV yet, so I went straight to the local internet cafe and plugged into the net. That cafe had a big screen TV, so I watched 9/11 unfold that way. Needless to say, I was dumbfounded when the towers fell, and I stayed up all night, cancelled my classes the next day and went to Wal-Mart and bought a brand new TV the next day.

All sorts of things went through my head watching the events unfold that night. I was assaulted with all sorts of feelings. Five years down the line those feelings are still there and, I think, they'll always be.

I had a much longer piece written out, but I decided to keep it short and simple. The feeling I want to focus on is hope. I hope that we can repair the reputation of the USA worldwide because I think that's a necessary component to winning this war. I believe that we can and will win this war on terror.

I hope that we're all taking this as seriously as we took the Long Telegram and the Cold War and because it's that serious if not more so.

A list of the victims from Pink is the New Blog. It's usually a gossip blog, but all gossip was suspended today in honor of those fallen on 9/11/2001.

9/11 Articles and Analysis:
Winning or Losing?
Nation Marks Fifth Anniversary of 9/11
Sept. 11's Ripple Effect

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks #13 Sept. 11

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Thursday, September 7, 2006

Blogging Chicks

I've joined the Blogging Chicks blogroll which I've added to my blog.

I was reading articles about blogging and gender. Unfortunately, it seems that women bloggers don't get linked to as frequently as men. Here is one from The Washington Monthly on the issue. Just run a search for "female bloggers" or "women bloggers" and you'll find tons of stuff. There are many theories as to why, but knowing that I decided to make sure that I'm active in female oriented blogrolls.

As you can see, I'm an equal opportunity linker, but I will go out of my way to link to other women.

Click on the graphic to go to the Blogging Chicks website.

For other female bloggers: Blogging Chicks will have a 9-11 Carnival, so go to the site to get more information on it.

Cheers and keep blogging ladies!