Remembering...

I was sitting on my bed this morning going over my script when I realized I was going stir crazy. I busted out my NYC Foders guide and starting looking for something free to do. I ended up going to a section dedicated to the World Trade Center. Now I had been down to the site the last/first time I was in NYC but the book listed moment by moment what happened on that day. I found a picture in the book of people in Washington Square park watching the towers burn. I have been to Washington Square park frequently and that seems so crazy to me that you could see them all the way from there so vividly. I've met a few people here who have told me where they were when it all happened and shared their personal stories with me about their experiences being in NY on that day. I can't imagine anything more frightening and unreal. 

I decided to go down to the site and see it again. It always takes my breath away at how huge the site is and how big the towers must be. It's frightening and somber to see all the buildings around it being reconstructed and thinking "Jesus this is where it began, This is where it happened." I remember my first visit their my friend asking me "Can you imagine standing on this side walk that day," to which I replied "If we were standing here that day we'd be running or dead."

I ended up going into the Church and spending a bit in the graveyard there. It's so old, 1700's I believe. The headstones are elaborate and some of them are worn. It's amazing just how close the church is to the site and how it survived without damage. I think I have heard that it provided refuge to victims fleeing the site. 

Revisiting the site again also got me to thinking about Mariane Pearl and her husband  Daniel Pearl two people which I idolize and respect very much. For those of you who haven't read A Mighty Heart yet you must, (The movie with Angelina Jolie is wonderful too.) I first heard about Mariane when I saw the movie A Mighty Heart. I was left with such a mixed feeling in my heart, of love for this woman who overcame the most terrible aspect of this war, while pregnant and hatred for this war and the smarmy, cowardly President and companies who run it. Every time I watch the movie or read about Mariane I am always struck by her strength and will. Her story touches me in so many ways that evolve.

I came home and saw the movie again. Something struck me different this time. Now it's the way our popular culture seems to see middle eastern people. How we are "supposed" to be struck with fear by the sight of someone who even looks remotely middle eastern and god-forbid wears a turban. I see it almost like those old Sambo cartoons in the south or those terrible cartoons that were of Jewish people during WWII, when is this world ever gonna learn? This fear brought on by ignorance and misunderstanding that is something that the Pearl's fought so hard against by trying to bring understanding. 

I don't know what makes aspects of our culture "popular" and brings it to the forefront, but my best guess would be corporations. I refuse to go down like that, I think what more people in this country need to do is define their own lives not just because the T.V or Magazines tell how. We need to think about what we would find beautiful and intelligent and who we idolize. There are better things and people in this world that we should pay attention too. Tell me what Maya Angelou is up to these days, has Mariane Pearl written anything, Is there a young composer I should listen to, which do you find more beautiful the blue of the sky or the blue of the sea? WE need to make up our own minds and not have them made for us. It's just a thought.