Yesterday we joined our country to remember the events of September 11, 2001. Bwog was impressed, inspired, and engaged by media coverage of the 10-year anniversary. If you missed yesterday’s headlines, here are a few pieces worth reading.

• New Yorkers visited a Bryant Park memorial featuring 2,573 vacant folding chairs—one for each life lost at the World Trade Center. [NYDN]
• A photo series depicting events of the decade following 9/11, both internationally and right here in New York City. [Atlantic]
• Columbia Professor Mark Lilla on what it means to “never forget.” [NYMag]
• The American Jewish response to the September 11 attacks, and how some parts still linger. [Tablet]
• How the anniversary was commemorated in different ways around the globe, from Germany to London to Russia. [NYT]
• A Barnard student takes a behind-the-scenes tour of the new Ground Zero memorial. [Spectator]
• After passengers refused to emerge from the bathroom, an American Airlines flight was escorted by fighter jets to land at JFK. [NBCNY]
• The events of September 11 affected every aspect of Americans’ lives, including our vocabularies. This encyclopedia addresses words and terms that have since adopted new meaning. [NYMag]

Stack of print journalism via Wikimedia Commons.

Members of the Columbia community gathered on Low steps this morning to remember 9/11. Following brief remarks by Jewelnel Davis, the University Chaplain, participants placed white flowers in the nearby fountains. Other speakers then recalled the names of Columbia alumni and family who were lost on September 11, 2001. Everyone sat in silence for 13 minutes until 10:28, when the second tower fell. The chapel bells tolled, and those gathered quietly dispersed.

The Columbia Republicans and Democrats teamed up to bring the 9/11 Never Forget Project to campus. Students gathered last night to place flags in the grass along College Walk. The 2,997 flags commemorate the lives tragically lost ten years ago.

Reading, writing, and talking can help us process the devastating attacks of ten years ago without submitting to fear and despair. Below are some reflections on 9/11 we find especially moving. An unexpected empathy swelled after 9/11, and we hope on the tenth anniversary to recover this compassion.

Sketchbook, Maria Kalman, The New Yorker:

From the caption: By the time the 9/11 memorial site is completed, more than four hundred swamp white oaks will have been planted. They will provide a dappled haven from the urban frenzy and solace from the horrors of history. In the center of the plaza stands a single Callery-pear tree. A burned stump after the attack, it was nursed back to health at the Arthur Ross Nursery, in the Bronx. Brought to its present spot, it flourishes. Where there’s life, there’s hope.

Frank Rich, New York Magazine: “Now, ten years later, it’s remarkable how much our city, like the country, has moved on. Decades are not supposed to come in tidy packages mandated by the calendar’s arbitrary divisions, but this decade did. For most Americans, the cloud of 9/11 has lifted. Which is not to say that a happier national landscape has been unveiled in its wake….Thanks to the killing of the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and the scattering of Al Qaeda, at least no one can say, ten years later, that the terrorists won. But if there’s anything certain about the new decade ahead, it’s that sooner or later we will have to address the question of exactly who did.”

Witness to the Apocalypse, accounts drawn from more than 600 interviews in the Columbia’s September 11th Oral History Project

Jim Dwyer, In Love With War, The New York Times: “At vast cost in human capital, we carved 9/11 into the history of loss in other places, the enmities of a decade rising from the horrors of the day. But the majesty of that day does not belong to the chronicles of war. It lives in truths the size of atoms, nearly invisible and — one hopes — indestructible….That morning, Raffaele Cava, age 80, was working on the 90th floor of the north tower. After the plane hit, no one could open the exits, so he went to another office and sat with Dianne DeFontes and Tirsa Moya. The hall floors were melting. Suddenly, two men in the stairwell pried open the door, walked in and ordered everyone to go. They were Frank De Martini and Pablo Ortiz, Port Authority employees who worked one flight down, and who took it on themselves to climb up and down 14 floors, getting scores of people out. They never left. Tirsa Moya walked Raffaele Cava down all 90 floors. You could ask no more of human beings.”

A clip from episode 8 of Ric Burns’ fantastic New York documentary, featuring Columbia professor Kenneth Jackson, former mayors Rudy Giuliani and Ed Koch, and poet Allen Ginsberg. The rest of the episode is available on YouTube in pieces.

Halcyon days.

In the last 48 hours, the US has received a specific, credible, but unconfirmed threat of a terror attack this Sunday, on the 9/11 anniversary. Moreover, a survey by the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia revealed that Americans have a false sense of security, and that in the event of a disaster, more than half of families have no emergency plan. (WSJ)

CAVA reflects on their reactions to September 11, 2001. (Spec)

Obama urged legislators last night to pass a new stimulus designed for job-creation specifically through cuts in public salaries and tax breaks and hiring holiydays for small businesses. Here’s to ya, 2011! (NYTimes)

Continuing their enduring quest to own everything—ever—Google has unexpectedly purchased Zagat, those little red things you used to read reviews in. (Dealbook)

A USDA study has reported that 2.5 million New Yorkers cannot afford enough food at some point in the year. So seriously, guys, John Jay isn’t that bad. (Gothamist)

Image from Flickr/ZagatBuzz

Last night, the J-school hosted a panel organized by the British literary journal Granta, whose latest issue is 9/11-themed, on the rise of Islamophobia. The audience was full of Journalism students tweeting about the panel. The speakers on the panel included star Columbia sociology professor (and former president of Students for a Democratic Society) Todd Gitlin, lawyer/journalist Alia Malek, and law professor/poet Lawrence Joseph. Peter Sterne reports from Bwog’s J-school bureau.

An example of improving US-Islam relations.

We all know Islamophobia exists, but where does it come from, and how can it be stopped? That was the question discussed at last night’s panel on Islamophobia. There was disagreement on whether the American government or American people were more Islamophobic, but the panelists pretty much agreed that Islamophobia was a result of xenophobia, not anything relating to the religion of Islam itself. It was an enjoyable panel, even if none of the panelists’ arguments were especially compelling.

Alia, a lawyer who once worked for the Justice Department, seemed to have the clearest idea of how American Islamophobia grew from individual hate crimes against people who seemed Arab or Muslim (though the first hate crime victim was actually a Sikh) into institutionalized discrimination when the government began treating Muslims differently as part of the War on Terror. “Different legal processes and types of incarceration for Arabs and Muslims,” she said, “send a signal to society that [Muslims] are ‘sub-American.’” Incidentally, Alia just wrote a book (which Bwog was convinced enough to purchase after the discussion) about the experiences of Muslim and Arab-Americans after 9/11.

Read more…

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Columbia will host a series of lectures. Our recommendations for the week are below, and the full list is after the jump. We’ll post our weekly bucket list soon.

• “Science, Policy and Public Health: Looking Ahead to the Next 10 Years” Low Memorial Library Rotunda, Morningside Campus, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, Mailman School of Public Health’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness & the Department of Epidemiology
• “Columbia University 9/11 Tenth Anniversary Commemoration” Low Plaza, Morningside Campus, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, 9:45 am, Office of the University Chaplain and University Programs and Events
• “Ten Years After: The Legacy of 9/11 in American Culture” The Italian Academy, 1161 Amsterdam Avenue, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, 5:00 pm, The Center for American Studies
• “How Do We Remember? With architect Michael Arad, designer of the World Trade Center Memorial” Location: Avery Hall, 100 Level, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011, 6:30 pm, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
• “Café Humanities: The September 11, 2001, Oral History and Narrative Memory Project: What We Learned” PicNic Café, 2665 Broadway (between 101st and 102nd Streets), Monday, Sept. 19, 2011, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm, Mary Marshall Clark and Peter Bearman

Read more…

Bwog’s heart is with those that were affected by the 9/11 attacks on this solemn ninth anniversary of the tragedy. While Columbia’s American flag flies at half-mast today, there are no events or memorials planned to take place on campus.

Kiss those tapas goodbye: Floridita owner Ramon Diaz loses his lawsuit, Manhattanville finally begins construction, and PrezBo celebrates (Spec).

Remember what happened the last time Columbia tried to expand?  Carle Hovde, CC ’50 and Dean of the College from 1968 to 1972, died last Saturday.  Faculty mourns (Spec).

As if the updated Kindle wasn’t bad enough, bedbugs have infested publishing offices (MediaBistro).

Those bottles of Purell may have been unnecessary — there’s still hope for a cure for H1N1 (NY1).

Fresh off his plea for healthcare reform, on the eighth anniversary of 9/11, Obama declares “every year on this day, we are all New Yorkers” (Daily News).

Look where I was this summer!

Some photos of paintings on walls

Now a little less than half of life is just showing up

First Ladies: the Wardrobe Change We Need!

An editors intro about Sept. 11: because nothing else is…

It’s been seven years since 9/11, and the city’s firefighters still come here, to Firemen’s Memorial on 100th St. and Riverside. The Ground Zero memorial is restricted to those from FDNY 343 and their family members.

“It’s sad that an event like this has to bring us all out,” said Officer Pat McNeely, from Ottawa, explaining that the force comes together when someone dies in the line of duty.  “Word always travels really fast in this job. Someone somewhere in the city always has the pulse on some other department.” 

Hundreds of blue-suited firemen gathered, talking in low voices, with bagpipe strains in the background.

For more memorials in the city, check here.

- LBD

Bwog snuck into Roone to see all the exciting preparations for tomorrow’s Service Spectacular. There are about 20 people inside working on installing cameras, television screens, and mysterious black sercrecy curtains shrouding the Broadway entrance to Lerner. There are also a few important looking people on stage discussing logistics of the chairs and American flag paneling. More fairly passable cameraphone photos after the jump.

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The second installment of Bwog correspondent Alex Weinberg’s exploration of the mental attack of 9-11 conspiracy theorists.

On September 8th, I went to Ground Zero and met with a number of 9/11 conspiracy theorists. They were generally young, white, educated males who lived far away from New York City. They were all very polite, if not a little overenthusiastic. Essentially, if it weren’t for all the black camouflage and “9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB” signs, they could pass for normal people.

It was a sweltering 87 degree day, and there were about three dozen of them gathered in front of the WTC Path station, wearing black shirts and varying styles of pant. The queen bee was a big tall guy in a bright yellow t-shirt that said “SECURITY” across the back. As the head honcho, he controlled a megaphone as conspiracy theorists took turns shouting into it. Clearly, the greatest scientific debates of our time have occurred at 140 decibels. Radiating outward from the fray, some conspiracy theorists were sent to hand out flyers and spread the word to passersby. I was one them, and I was ready to talk.

Read more…

According to the University’s Upcoming Events calendar, Columbia isn’t formally organizing any 9/11 memorial services or moments of silence. There is, however, this commemoration at the New York Historical Society, as well as events being held all day today at the park adjacent to Ground Zero.

In which Bwog freelancer Rob Trump, who brought you a Chabon review and enlightened July 4 commentary, learns to love America.

Forgive me if this seems insensitive, but for the last few years I have been thoroughly sick of hearing, talking, and thinking about 9/11.  I was tired of pop-sociology articles and works of art still cropping up that explained just how we were changed forever.  I was done with post-9/11 America and declared to many people that I was ready for the post-post-9/11 era. (As an aside, I would like to take this moment, on a blog, to coin this era the “double post.”) Many sympathized with my viewpoint on this, and even more would probably support an expanded-scope restatement by a character in Don DeLillo’s new book Falling Man: “We’re all sick of America and Americans.  The subject nauseates us.”

There has been, in the last few years, a massive artistic output—fictional and not—that has some grounding in the September 11 terrorist attacks.  Of all these, the only moderately successful one I’ve consumed is Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, about a nine-year-old boy’s adventures around New York City after losing his father in the attacks.  Foer’s take, however, didn’t really engage the attacks on more than a personally tragic level, even going somewhat out of its way to avoid them.  DeLillo pulls no such punches.  Falling Man is a novel about 9/11 and what it did to people.

Knowing this fully, and having never read any DeLillo before, I approached Falling Man cautiously.  The very first pages concern Keith, a lawyer, walking out of the wreckage of the towers and home to his separated wife Lianne.  DeLillo sketches out his characters slowly, and to be honest, nothing about any of them really grabbed me right from the start.  It took me almost a week to get through the first 50 or 60 pages, but past that point the previously subdued quirks of the characters come to the fore, and the latter 200 pages went by in a couple days.  Keith is a risk-taker, but in a painfully calculated way; Lianne is chronically passive-aggressive; their young son is paranoid and spends his days searching the skies for more planes.  Other peripheral characters show up, and in every single character there is an interesting battle between several forces: how they were before the attacks, the changing effect that the attacks have had on them, and — perhaps most intruiguingly — how they want to believe the attacks have changed them and their lives. Read more…