Since Everyone Else Is Remembering

On a self-absorbed blog like this one, writing on Sept. 11, 2011, about anything but the World Trade Center attacks seems mistaken. Some of my intersections with the 10th anniversary today are: the compelling interviews I heard on "This American Life"; a co-worker's friend telling me at the supermarket that she was planning to make a patriotic pudding for desert -- vanilla pudding, with strawberries and blueberries (considering this was in Harvest Co-op in JP, she was likely being ironic); a former classmate's appearance in an ABC News story because he was interviewed in 2001 by them while in 8th grade and the channel was revisiting people; and Facebook urging me to "like" "being American."

I suppose all that I'll add is I vividly remember the first plane struck while I was in the shower at Dana Basement, my freshman year at Swarthmore. When I left the bathroom, a junior who lived on my hall told me and I was struck with disbelief. I went to the dining hall for breakfast and told the few people with whom I ate. It was very strange news to relay. One class still happened shortly after, perhaps because on one of the country's most liberal campuses, in suburban Philadelphia, the meaning hadn't yet fully registered. I spent the whole afternoon watching the TV with the rest of the dorm, feeling lonely.