I hate cleaning

My house is messier now than ever before. I'm not working full-time, so I should be cleaning it, right? Yet I have not desire. I'm not a hoarder. I do get to it eventually. I just hate it. I don't understand anyone who likes to clean.

Just thought I'd share.

Little things I didn't know about the 9/11 Memorial site

The tree that survived everything
(PHOTO CREDIT: digitalamber.net)

• The bronze bearing the names of victims is cooled to 78 degrees during the summer. This makes the names cool to the touch. 
• The bronze is also heated in winter. 
• The water in the falling will be heated in the winter so that it continue to flow. It is, BTW, chlorinated. 
• There is a single tree that survived the fall of both towers, the search and recovery and the construction of the memorial (see photo)
• The phrase "and her unborn child" appears following the names of at least four female 9/11 victims. This phrase is not searchable on the 9/11 memorial site. 
• The victims' names are etched through the bronze so that light may shine from underneath, illuminating each name into the night sky. 

NY Post

09/13/2011: A visitor creates a crayon rubbing of a
victim's name at the National 9/11 Memorial, NYC
(PHOTO CREDIT: digitalamber.net)

Yes, there is an official 9/11 Memorial gift shop. It must be a temporary set up, as it was extremely small and crowded. It was hard to move without hitting another human. The check-out line was long. I sent Nick into the line while I looked at the merchandise. The sign stating "A portion of your purchase will benefit the 9/11Memorial and Museum" assuaged my guilt about buying 9/11-associated items.

With two t-shirts, a magnet and a bumper stick in hand, I joined Nick at check-out and immediately noticed a woman standing just outside the gift shop exit. She was handing menus to a local Chinese restaurant. 

For a fleeting moment, she looked out of place. So close to this gaping wound on the city's the nation's landscape? Really, lady?  

Then I realized that this is New York.  Handing out flyers, menus, tickets, papers and product samples is guerilla marketing in its best and rawest form. 

Total spent: $36.87. 

Exiting the store, I was tapped on the shoulder by Amber Sutherland, a reporter from the NY Post. She wanted to know what I thought about people merchandising outside the 9/11 Memorial. I told her of my initial reaction inside the store, and my resolution in my head. That it's New York, and we live in a free country with freedom of speech, which comes with responsibility, including the need to be respectful. 

Her photographer, Bill Farrington, took my picture. He's originally from Springfield, MA and that we have a couple friends in common - including at least one who went to jail for embezzling. 

No article or photo in the Post though. It's either a none story or I broke the camera. 

How I almost saw the Book of Mormon, but didn't

I love The Book of Mormon. For the uninitiated, it's a multi-Tony Award winning musical by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez. Think South Park and Avenue Q. It's irreverent and hilarious and musically ambitious. I know the soundtrack by heart - almost. Enough to know I want to see the show.

So after going to the 9/11 Memorial, Nick and I went to lunch and had a couple beers. Not a musical theater fan, I think the beers helped me convince Nick to go over to the Eugene O'Neill Theater to enter to win tickets to see the Book of Mormon. For every show, two hours prior to curtain, the staff there allow people to enter their names for cast tickets that are not used. They are usually front row or box seats. Either way, it's worth the price of entry (which is nothing) to try for the tix, for which they charge just $32 each. We had two hours to kill before off-peak rates kicked in on Metro North, so we each entered to win - and both got into the standing room only line ($25 a pop).

No luck with the lottery, but when we got to the front of the SRO line, there was one ticket left. I was deliriously happy and had already pulled my credit card out when my husband said "Carol, the woman behind us is from Minnesota. We can get to New York anytime."

He was right. I let her have my spot. Turns out, she works for Apple Computers. She took us out for drinks to celebrate her good fortune.

At least now I know I have to be at the theater seven hours in advance of curtain to be guaranteed SRO. Maybe next week...

9/11 Memorial: The Sound of Healing

The design of the 9/11 Memorial is called "Reflecting Absence." The buildings are absent. So, too, are 2,983 human beings who found themselves at the WTC buildings, the Pentagon or on those three ill-fated flights that beautiful, awful day a decade ago.

What remains present is the cacophony of noise that combines into the dissonant first movement of a Lower Manhattan symphony.  It's layers of talking, jack hammering, singing and honking compressed with subways screeching, vendors selling, and sirens blaring. It's a soundtrack ebbs and flows throughout the 24-hours of each day, day after day, decade after decade. It's a bit like a radio station with John Cage as the music director.

On September 11, 2001, I imagined that Lower Manhattan's soundtrack had gone terribly off-key, starting with the roar of low-flying jetliners descending on the city's skyline and culminating with the screams of those who jumped and the crash of the Twin Towers.

So when I visited the 9/11 Memorial yesterday, I was under the misconception that the city's soundtrack had been paused at the very moment when the towers crashed yet the remaining screams had yet been vocalized. A memorial for the dead demanded, after all, requires respectful silence.

I was wrong. New York's soundtrack never paused. It simply developed by way of the strum und drang of 9/11 and the decade that followed.

Today, Lower Manhattan's soundtrack is in recapitulation. It's theme remains recognizable, taking into itself a new, refreshing sound layer - that of falling water. The reflecting pools that now occupy the footprints where the towers once stood provide a continual soothing of both the ears and the soul.

If you have the privilege of visiting the new 9/11 Memorial, take a moment to reflect upon that which is not absent. Close your eyes and feel the vibrations of the music pulsing through your ears. That is the music of recovery, rebuilding and forgiveness.

That is the sound of healing.

Backstage at the Carolina Herrara spring 2012 show - September 12, 2011

As the mom of a diagnosed anorexic, this photo is incredibly 1) sad, 2) offensive and 3) painful.

Casey Kelbaugh for The New York Times

Part 2 of Krugman

Krugman's latest post on 9/11. It appears he wanted to clarify his earlier comments. He's not taking anything back, mind you, just adding to what he already said. 

I still agree with him - and always have. My husband told me I was stupid when I opposed the wars. I have a tendency to back off when it appears I might not be right, so I kept silent at the time, but no more. 

Krugman is right

It takes a brave person to speak his mind and stand ready to take crap from the uninformed.

Paul Krugman is that person and here is his post.

He will be vindicated - someday.

Closest to how I feel today...

Colin McEnroe's 9/11 column